The private company at issue IronNet Cybersecuritywas founded by Alexander, who ran the spy agency from August 2005 until March 2014. IronNet Cybersecurity offers protection services to banks for up to $1 million per month. Patrick Dowd, the NSA's current chief technology officer, had been working with Alexander's private venture for up to 20 hours per week.

Reuters reported Tuesdaythat the deal was over."While we understand we did everything right, I think there's still enough issues out there that create problems for Dr. Dowd, for NSA, for my company," Alexander said.

It's the second potential conflict of interest surrounding the former spy chief this month. Newly released documents show that during his tenure as director, Alexander personally had thousands of dollars invested in obscure technology companies that could have financially benefited as a result of his actions running the NSA, sincethe spy agency is involved in electronic surveillance, code busting, andcomputer protection and intrusion, among other things.

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After review, NSAs CTO can no longer work part-time for agencys former chief