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McCain not calling on NSA's Alexander to resign

Sen. John McCain’s office says he's not urging National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander to step down, even though a German magazine quoted the senator saying as much on Sunday.

“Senator McCain believes that there needs to be accountability for the Snowden leaks, but he is not calling for the resignation of General Alexander, who is retiring soon,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told POLITICO.

Germany’s Der Spiegel published an interview with McCain, quoting McCain as calling for a “wholesale housecleaning” over the revelations by contractor Edward Snowden about secret NSA programs. Der Spiegel’s transcript of the interview says that McCain was asked specifically if Alexander should resign.

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However, Rogers noted that McCain was asked whether “they” – Alexander, President Barack Obama, and Congress’s intelligence committees – should resign. So, Rogers said, McCain was arguing for general accountability in Washington, as opposed to specifically whether Alexander himself should step down.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Arizona Republican cited the example set by Marine Commandant Gen. Jim Amos, who fired two generals over lax base security, as an example of how rarely top leaders are held personally responsible in Washington.

A Spiegel editor said the edited form of the Q&A was sent to McCain's staff Friday and approved before publication.

"SPIEGEL submitted its interview with Senator John McCain to his office on Friday morning to clarify the Senator's position. It was approved by McCain's staff in the exact version that was published, word for word," the magazine said in a statement issued to POLITICO.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this post.

UPDATE (Monday, 12:57 P.M.): This post has been updated with comment from Spiegel.