From: IN%"perry@piermont.com" 9-JAN-1996 12:05:32.69 Alex Strasheim writes:
If this is true, it's great news. It would mean that the NSA is adopting both cypherpunk analysis and tactics. Who would have thought? An NSA remade in Tim May's image.
I suspect that the NSA was thinking in our terms long before many of us were aware of cryptography. I actually think that in many cases, their behavior is perfectly rational. Their goals are merely different. If you are in SIGINT, I believe that the possibility of totally losing a valued intelligence tool must heavily weigh on your mind. Of course, they are hardly monolithic, and different groups at the NSA necessarily have different goals. Once SIGINT becomes much harder regardless of their previous attempts to stop it, I suspect that the NSA will become a friend and not an impediment. By that time, of course, the "we have to protect our people" types will be the only ones producing results and getting funding, and the "we have to gather information" types will have long ceased to produce. Thats probably a decade or more off, though. --------------- I suspect that the NSA can basically be divided into four groups: A. Those who are interested in protecting American individual liberties, and are thus (possibly potential) allies. This bunch may have a subgroup of those who already are allies, who have unfortunately been rather unsuccessful (or perhaps we simply haven't seen their successes). B. Those who realize about the potentials for individual liberty from cryptography, but believe that something else about America is more important. For instance, they may believe that the voters in a democracy should be able to institute whatever rules they like. Various left- and right-wing viewpoints are also possible here; the former would include worrying about lost tax dollars because of wanting big government, the latter would include concerns about pornography, etcetera. C. Those who are in the NSA because they want power, and strong cryptography's dissemination would hinder this. This group is likely to be concealed as one of the other groups. D. Those who haven't thought about it, and are simply following orders. I suspect that this is the largest group; while the overall level of intellect at the NSA may be higher than in the average population, the intelligence mindset of "need to know" may be keeping many people from realizing everything the NSA is doing. -Allen