'Tell your boss I owe him another friggin' beer:' Hot mic catches NSA boss praising FBI chiefs for supportive testimony on surveillance programs

The director of the National Security Agency was overheard offering a round of beer to the FBI's second-in-command following Tuesday's congressional hearing on the NSA's controversial surveillance programs.

The three-hour hearing had just wrapped up around 1 p.m. when NSA Director Keith Alexander turned to FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce and praised him for his testimony.

'Thank you, Sean,' Alexander said, according to a clip of the exchange that was first reported by Ben Doernberg .

'Tell your boss I owe him another friggin' beer,' he added.



NSA Director Keith Alexander speaks to FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce during a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence regarding NSA surveillance

'Yeah?' Joyce responded.

'Yeah,' said Alexander.

'Tell him to give it to me,' Joyce said.

Alexander and Joyce sat side-by-side during the hearing and took turns answering questions from lawmakers about the recently disclosed government surveillance programs.



Joyce repeatedly praised the programs as 'essential' tools for fighting terrorism in his remarks to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.



He also described four specific cases where the FBI used data obtained by the NSA programs to thwart terror attacks, including a bomb plot against the New York Stock Exchange and another against the city's subway system.



National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander (left) listens as FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyc testifies

Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce repeatedly praised the programs as 'essential' tools for fighting terrorism in his remarks to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

'We are revealing in front of you today methods and techniques,' he said. 'I have told you, the examples I gave you how important they have been. The first core al Qaeda plot to attack the United States post 9-11 we used one of these programs. Another plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange we used these programs.'

The hearing was called after former security contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of the secret programs to the Washington Post and The Guardian.