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Embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned from his post Monday night, a few short weeksafter the Justice Department informed the White House that it believed he could be subjected to blackmail.

The Washington Post reports that Sally Yates, then-acting attorney general, informed the White House of the possible breach late last month. Yates was later fired because of her refusal to support Trumps travel ban.

Yates and others were concerned that Flynn had been in contact with a Russian diplomat through texts and calls and discussed sanctions against the country because of its interference with the 2016 election through hacking.

The thing that seemed to have done Flynn in, though, was that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials about these communications with Sergey Kislyak, Russias ambassador to the United States.

The Vice President then embarrassingly repeated the misinformation in television appearances.

The Post reports that in a Feb. 8 interview with the outlet, Flynn categorically denied discussing sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, repeating public assertions made in January by top Trump officials. One day after the interview, Flynn revised his account, telling The Post through a spokesman that he couldnt be certain that the topic never came up.

Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology, Flynn said in his resignation letter.

Trump, who is almost loyal to a fault to his choices for cabinet positions, reportedly said that Flynn had to go because he lied to him and Pence (and not because our national security was at risk for playing footsie with the Russians).

Flynn, it should be noted, was fired by President Obama. Fox News reports that his military career ended when Obama dismissed him as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. Flynn has said he was pushed out for holding tougher views than Obama about Islamic extremism (this was a man who once said, fear of Muslims is rational). But Fox reports that a former senior U.S. official said the firing was for insubordination, after Flynn failed to follow guidance from superiors.

I think misleading the vice president was the key, said Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway on the Today show on Tuesday morning.

SOURCE: Washington Post, Fox News

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NSA Adviser Michael Flynn Reportedly Fired By Obama, Now Out Under Trump - News One

Retired Gen. Keith Alexander, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) said he was left "really impressed" with President Donald Trump after the recent closed-door White House meeting on cybersecurity.

"What I saw was a president who was now very focused and asked each person questions, listened to them, weighed what they said and how they said it... took in advice, commented back," Alexander said at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. "That's the president our nation needs -- somebody who is looking how to solve cybersecurity issues... He understood they're important, that we've got to fix government, got to get government and industry to work together."

Alexander was at the helm of the NSA when former government contractor Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA's sweeping surveillance programs. He stepped down from the post in 2014 and now serves as CEO of the company he founded, IronNet Cybersecurity.

The White House cybersecurity meeting took place on January 31, the same day Trump was expected to sign a cybersecurity executive order. The EO signing, however, was unexpectedly canceled without explanation. Several current and former government officials with a range of viewpoints on cybersecurity were present at the meeting, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Dan Coats, Trump's now-embattled national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn and counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Tom Bossert.

Alexander told ZDNet that different points of view were expressed during the meeting, but it was "not confrontational at all."

In his remarks on stage, Alexander outlined some of the potential changes he'd like to see in federal cybersecurity policies. All agencies regardless of size should get sufficient resources to protect their digital assets, he said, pointing to the vulnerability of agencies like the Office of Management and Budget.

A review of all federal agencies, he said, suggests "we left them on their own to defend themselves as if they were individual people out there .. but they're not."

"Reading the Constitution, it says 'for the common defense,'" he continued. "It doesn't say for the defense of only those that are really big and critical -- for the rest of you, good luck."

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Former NSA chief: Trump is "the president our nation needs" on cybersecurity - ZDNet

An employee uses a Microsoft Corp. Surface tablet computer at the company's Office and Experience Center during a media event for the opening of the workspace in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, March 4, 2016. Bill H.C. KwokBloomberg via Getty Images

National Security Agency workers can now safely use Microsoft Surface tablets devices for data mining, intelligence gathering, or more humdrum work like checking email.

Microsofts ( msft ) Surface tablets and the tech giant's Windows 10 operating system are now officially part of the NSAs list of approved technologies that its employees can use when dealing with classified information.

It should be noted that as of now, the only Windows 10 devices that the NSA deems safe to use for its workers are the Surface tablets. The NSA has not yet approved other any other Windows 10-powered personal computers built by third-party vendors like HP Inc. ( hpq ) or Dell Technologies to its list of sanctioned devices .

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The NSA, through its Commercial Solutions for Classified Program , routinely evaluates various corporate technologies to see if they meet the agencys tough guidelines for cyber security. Companies that want to be added to the NSAs list of approved technologies must show that they built their products to comply with various government cyber security standards and sign an agreement requiring them to fix vulnerabilities in a timely fashion, according to the NSA.

The CSfC program listing demonstrates Windows 10, as well as Surface devices (the only Windows 10 devices currently on the list), when used in a layered solution, can meet the highest security requirements for use in classified environments, wrote Rob Lefferts, a Microsoft director of program management for Windows Enterprise and Security, in a corporate blog .

For more about Microsoft, watch:

Besides Windows 10 or Surface tablets, several other Microsoft products are part of the NSAs approved list of technologies, including its Server 2016 software, the BitLocker encryption service, and older versions of Windows.

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NSA Gives Thumbs Up to Microsoft Surface Tablets - Fortune

Beverly Ann Beall, a retired National Security Agency briefer and world traveler, died of cancer Jan. 14 at her Stuart, Fla., home. She was 78 and lived in Stevenson.

Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Mabel Councilman, a homemaker, and her husband, Avery Gordy.

She was a graduate of Southern High School and attended college courses through the federal government at the NSA.

She joined the NSA out of high school and worked there until her retirement. She then became a travel agent and worked in several agencies in the Baltimore area.

Mrs. Beall, who was known as Bebe to her family, was a member of Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, where she enjoyed golf and games of bridge. She traveled the world on cruises and hiked in jungles of Cambodia and Vietnam. She belonged to the Town and Country Garden Club and had an interest in orchids.

She took trips to Maryland and Delaware beaches, and enjoyed fishing and searching for sea glass. She also did needlepoint and played pinochle with family members, and enjoyed walking along the boardwalks.

"She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside," said her niece, Carol Hearrell of Farmington Hills, Mich.

Mrs. Beall survived two husbands. Wade Allen Poole died in the early 1970s. Her second husband, Richard Olin Beall, died in 2013 after they had been married for 30 years. Mr. Beall was the son of Sen. J. Glenn Beall Sr.

Mrs. Beall had requested that no funeral be held.

In addition to her niece, she is survived by a daughter, Laura Poole Mathiesen of Annapolis; two stepdaughters, Margot Beall King of San Francisco and Charlotte Ashley Beall of Seattle; a companion, Allen Durling of Annapolis; four grandchildren; and other nieces and nephews.

Jacques Kelly

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Beverly Ann Beall, NSA worker and travel agent, dies - Baltimore Sun

National Security Adviser Flynn resigns Related content

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Embattled White House national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, an abrupt end to a brief tenure.

His departure came just after reports surfaced the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.

"I inadvertently briefed the Vice President-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology," Flynn wrote, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN.

"I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way," he wrote. "I know with the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and the superb team they are assembling, this team will go down in history as one of the greatest presidencies in US history."

The move comes less than a month into the job, making him one of the shortest-serving senior presidential advisers in modern history.

Gen. Keith Kellogg will be the interim national security adviser, multiple sources tell CNN. He most recently served as National Security Council chief of staff.

A senior administration official said Kellogg, retired Gen. David Petraeus and former Vice Admiral Bob Harward are possible replacements for Flynn.

Petraeus is going to the White House Tuesday, according to sources inside and close to the administration.

"He is making a run" for the job, one source said, but noted "he has a lot of baggage."

The sudden exit marks the most public display yet of disarray at the highest levels of the new administration, which has faced repeated questions over a slew of controversies and reports of infighting among senior aides during its first three weeks.

The resolution had been heading this way for three days, an administration source told CNN.

More than whether he really had a conversation with the Russians about sanctions, the key issue internally was whether he told the truth to Pence, the source said.

The White House concluded at the very least, Flynn didn't mean to mislead the vice president, but may have because he couldn't remember what he said to the Russians.

"Not remembering is not a quality we can have for the national security adviser," the source said.

An administration source said that Trump "hung in there" when it came to Flynn, but there was a "flood of information" that finally made it clear he had to resign.

Asked if Trump is disappointed, another administration official said: "He's moving on."

A pair of Democratic lawmakers -- Reps. John Conyers, Jr., top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the House oversight Committee -- sent a request for a "full classified briefing" on the circumstances surrounding Flynn to the Justice Department and FBI Monday night following Flynn's resignation.

"We in Congress need to know who authorized his actions, permitted them and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. We need to know who else within the White House is a current and ongoing risk to our national security," they wrote in a statement.

They added: "This new disclosure warrants a full classified briefing by all relevant agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, as soon as possible and certainly before Thursday, February 16. We are communicating this request to the Department of Justice and FBI this evening."

The shakeup now leaves Trump without one of his closest and longest-serving advisers. Flynn had counseled Trump on foreign policy and national security matters since early in the 2016 presidential race.

Flynn was not able to definitively refute a Washington Post story late last week that his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak included communication about the sanctions. It is illegal for unauthorized private citizens to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of the US.

The controversy intensified after the report put Vice President Mike Pence and several senior White House advisers in an uncomfortable position, as they had denied in TV interviews weeks earlier that Flynn discussed sanctions with the ambassador. Some administration officials said Flynn must have misled Pence and others.

"The knives are out," a White House official told CNN on Friday, noting that "there's a lot of unhappiness about this."

Many expressed concern at the idea that Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, would discuss sanctions with a foreign official whose calls are regularly monitored by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

A US official confirmed to CNN on Friday that Flynn and Kislyak did speak about sanctions, among other matters, during a December call.

But after the call was made public, Pence told CBS News on January 15 that Flynn did not talk with Kislyak about the sanctions, which the Obama administration recently levied due to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 elections.

"They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia," Pence told CBS News.

On Friday, an aide close to the national security adviser told CNN that Flynn could not rule out that he spoke about sanctions on the call.

The White House official blamed much of the outcry against Flynn on a Washington culture always in search of a scalp, but people within Trump's orbit did little to defend Flynn during appearances on Sunday news shows.

Stephen Miller, White House policy director, was asked directly about Flynn's future on a number of Sunday talk shows. Miller responded by saying he was not the appropriate official to ask.

"I don't have any answers today," Miller said in response to questions about whether Flynn misled the vice president. "I don't have any information one way or another to add anything to the conversation."

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NSA adviser resigns amid controversy over Russia - News8000.com - WKBT