National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander is operating in the one spot spies loathe more than anything: the limelight. Yet thanks to the recent furor over accusations that his agency eavesdropped on key European leaders, that’s exactly where the four-star general is trapped.

Alexander has been hammered over media reports, based on information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, that the agency has tracked the phone calls of millions of ordinary citizens in Western Europe for more than a decade.