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PALO ALTO, Calif. The director of the National Security Agency said Monday that he understands why Silicon Valley companies have beefed up security to keep out government agencies, including his own.

The statement, during a speech by Adm. Michael Rogers at Stanford University, marked a small olive branch amid rising tension between technology companies and Washington following disclosures about the extent of electronic surveillance by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Adm. Rogers said technology companies took steps to enhance encryption in order to assure consumers that their personal data is safe from prying government eyes. In addition, some companies felt embarrassed after slides leaked by Snowden suggested the companies had cooperated with U.S. spies.

Adm. Rogers, who took over the NSA in April, has been charged with repairing those relations.

In the most recent clash, Apple and Google in September said they would no longer be able to unlock smartphones, even if ordered by a court, for law enforcement. James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Robert Hannigan, head of the U.K. equivalent of the NSA, said the moves are enabling criminals.

Im not one who jumps up and down and says either side is fundamentally wrong, Adm. Rogers said in response to a reporters question Monday. I understand what drives each side to their viewpoint.

Still, Adm. Rogers said he wondered if there might be some mechanism that would allow the government to circumvent the encryption schemes in special circumstances. It was unclear if he endorsed such a policy.

The NSA is trying to mend bridges in Silicon Valley partly out of necessity. The agency relies on young math and computer science experts to power its intelligence operation. Many of those techie kids go to Stanford and then work at technology companies.

Adm. Rogers, whose visit was part recruiting pitch, acknowledged he cant pay these students as much as Facebook or Twitter , but he can offer them something thats bigger than you are.

There are also the cool spy toys. Were going to give you the opportunity to do stuff you cant legally do anywhere else, he said.

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NSA Director Offers Olive Branch in Silicon Valley Speech

Nevermind the surveillance spat between the US government and the tech titans of Silicon Valley: NSA Director Mike Rogers wants to mend fences.

National Security Agency director Adm. Michael Rogers tells Stanford why its students should consider a career with the NSA. Seth Rosenblatt/CNET

STANFORD, Calif. -- The director of the National Security Agency has a message for Silicon Valley: We come in peace.

Adm. Michael Rogers visited the home of most of the world's dominant tech firms for the second time in the seven months since he took the reins of the NSA from longtime leader Gen. Keith Alexander. In his pitch to around 100 professors, students and reporters gathered to hear him answer questions at Stanford's Encina Hall, he promised attendees he would be in the Valley twice a year and implored potential hires that working at the NSA offered rewards that no benefits package from Google or Apple could match.

He said there was more to what the NSA offered than patriotically serving the US. "We're going to give you the opportunity to do some neat stuff you can't do anywhere else," he said. "We're going to give you responsibility early, that's part of our culture."

Rogers' appeal comes at a time of high tension between Silicon Valley and the US government. Documents first leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden in June 2013 have led to a cascading series of spying revelations that have soured governmental relationships here.

Tech firms responded by tightening and accelerating their implementation of encryption to prevent customer data from being spied on without a warrant. Google and Yahoo said last summer they are working on tools to encrypt webmail, which is notoriously difficult to obfuscate. Most recently, Apple and Google announced in September that data stored on their mobile operating systems, which power the vast majority of smartphones around the world, will be encrypted by default.

Government agencies have responded by accusing tech firms of helping criminals and terrorists by embracing advanced encryption standards. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said in October tech firms should build encryption with backdoors for the US government, while today the new director of Britain's top spy agency, Government Communications Headquarters, said that Internet technologies are used as "command-and-control networks of choice" for the bad guys.

Rogers took a less strident tone, acknowledging that tech firms might have good reasons for responding the way that they have.

"It doesn't do us any good to villainize either side of this argument," Rogers said to a smaller group of reporters and Stanford students after the question-and-answer session had ended. "Reasonable people can come to different conclusions about what is appropriate and not appropriate," he said.

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New NSA director renews pitch to Silicon Valley

National Security Agency director Mike Rogers speaks at Stanford University, Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, in Stanford, Calif. Rogers told professors and students that U.S. intelligence is depending on Silicon Valley innovation for technologies that strengthen the Internet and staff to provide national cybersecurity. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) ( Marcio Jose Sanchez )

STANFORD -- U.S. intelligence depends on Silicon Valley innovation for technologies that strengthen the Internet and staff to provide national cybersecurity, National Security Agency director Mike Rogers told Stanford University professors and students on Monday.

While the federal government is never going to match Silicon Valley salaries, "we are going to give you the opportunity to do some neat stuff, things you probably aren't going to be able to do anywhere else," Rogers said.

Rogers, who also heads up U.S. Cyber Command, said he visits the region at least every six months to tap into local talent and stay attuned to the latest innovations.

Audience members including cryptographer Whitfield Diffie, center, listen to NSA Chief Mike Rogers at Stanford University, Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) ( Marcio Jose Sanchez )

During a question and answer session, Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, asked Rogers how he can explain disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the agency secretly broke into communications on Yahoo and Google overseas.

Rogers said his agency does not violate U.S. privacy laws here or abroad working with partner intelligence agencies.

"I'm comfortable with what we do, with our partners," he said.

Mark Jaycox, an Electronic Frontier Foundation legislative analyst who watched the speech versus a webstream, said Rogers, who was sworn in in April, has not addressed most privacy concerns raised in recent years.

"Unfortunately, Admiral Rogers hasn't yet engaged on many of the NSA's more egregious activities like disrupting national standards for encryption or the NSA's hacking of American companies' internal databases."

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