From: Lodewijk andré de la porte <[1]l@odewijk.nl>
     To: Sean Lynch <[2]seanl@literati.org>
     Cc: "[3]cypherpunks@cpunks.org" <[4]cypherpunks@cpunks.org>


     > his documents are genuine. I see no reason for the NSA to be
     substantially
     > more competent than, say, the OPM.
     There's absolutely no reason to think the NSA doesn't have a
     layered/multi-cell operation wherein a mere contractor is not given
     access
     to nation-essential secrets. If there's a foreign spy you want him
     to

   ​They do have such a layer system.  The problem is the fluidity of the
   people.  Soldiers become Contractors become Government Employees become
   Contractors ad​-infinitum.
   Once cleared, the system has not managed to remain opaque from within.
   In times past it was -- and that successful model was condemned as
   having "not prevented" the Sept 2001 bombing.  Thus the stovepipe
   security model was banished; "war effort" requires exorbitant high
   staffing increases which led to inevitable, and predictable lowering of
   tactics, techniques and procedures.
   That trend has since reversed (I would argue pre-Snowden) and the beast
   is once again slowly shrouding itself within and increasingly outward.
   As with any good Corporate makeover, with a kinder gentler face.
   [[ my removal of your excellent government employee summary is not
   because of any disagreement - whether military or civilian employee,
   the vast majority are of a mind you described.  But, as has been
   eloquently stated Power Corrupts Absolutely. ]]

     shows a certain amount of rot in NSA_Public. The recent Trident leak
     shows

   '​NSA_Public' is an excellent​

   ​characterization.  That which we know of the Agency will forever be
   shadowed by it's hidden complexities.  Having exposed a portion of one
   small stovepipe, the tubing now changes and reworks itself hiding the
   un-discerned exposed parts, and more closely guarding the vast
   un-exposed bulk.
   ​I use my description of "small" ​completely intentional.  The scale of
   the "Snowden Topics" is minor compared to the remaining unknowns.
   Carefully protected within the 'NSA_Closed'.  Not only by the regrowing
   stovepipes, but as well by the people you aptly described as genuinely,
   legitimately, and correctly striving to maintain the integrity of the
   beast.  Just as they don't understand the oppositions claims aptly
   describing the illegitimacy of the beast, neither will the opposition.
   Sadly the two are closer in philosophical agreement than either
   realize.  And probably won't without the benefit of hindsight, whatever
   sort of post-empirical change allows for the creation of a commonly
   agreed on framework of reference.

References

   1. mailto:l@odewijk.nl
   2. mailto:seanl@literati.org
   3. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org
   4. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org