A Former NSA Chief Caught SPAC Fever, and Investors Got Burned

During his time with the US Army, General Keith Alexander ran top-secret spy operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, led the US’s efforts to develop offensive cyber capacity and, as director of the National Security Agency, endured criticism over the expansion of mass surveillance. But the cyber spymaster is quick to admit that he suffered a costly intelligence failure in unfamiliar territory: Wall Street.

Two years ago, Alexander took his startup, IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company promised a novel approach: monitoring networks for cyberthreats in real time and sharing anonymized data about them to preempt hacks. Its path to the public markets was also novel: Instead of a traditional initial public offering, IronNet merged with a special-purpose acquisition company.