The response was far from a revelation, but it did serve as a more personal delivery of the NSA's standard transparency reports. That, Richards explained, is kind of the point. "Until somewhat recently, relatively little information about NSA was public," she explained. "One of my goals is to share what NSA does to protect civil liberties and privacy. This will take time, but we must start somewhere... ...we have to start somewhere to begin to rebuild that trust." Over the course of the Q&A Richards touched on the importance of protecting privacy, providing greater transparency and even addressed the accusations that NSA employees steal and share nude photos of suspects. "There have been very limited cases of intentional misuse by a handful of individuals," she said. "These have been investigated by NSA's Inspector General and reported to Congress." It's not a lot, but it is something.

If the tone of the Q&A's questions are any indication, it'll be awhile before the public is ready to trust the NSA again, but Richards is optimistic about the future. "The fact that the NSA created my job highlights the value and importance NSA leadership places on privacy and civil liberties protections." The session didn't last long (nor did it reveal anything particularly interesting), but Richards hopes to use Tumblr for more Q&As in the future. Want to read this one? Click on through to the source link and scroll down.