Hacking and reprogramming all the base stations is impossible. Its not the same as reprogramming the phone. Its the difference between learning French and getting everyone in the world to learn French.
Since I work in this digital cellular business, I think I can confidently say that Perry *does* know what he is talking about. He's right -- it's not enough to simply reprogram your phone, you must take care of the other end too: the base station. NSA has already let it be known that any cellular system that can provide end-to-end encryption will not be exportable. It is not exactly clear what this means, given that once you provide a transparent *data* (as opposed to vocoded voice) bearer service, the users can do whatever they want on an end-to-end basis without the carrier's further cooperation or permission. I guess they figure this won't be a common practice. And they have indicated their willingness to allow export of *phones* with strong encryption -- but not the base stations. This underscores the uselessness of implementing strong encryption only on the mobile. Phil