-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Okay here's the scoop on the Ames/clipper bit, from the guy who wrote it. Permission to distribute is granted as long as it is reproduced in it's entirety. Termcomp.zip, the electronic version of TERMINAL COMPROMISE is available for ftp at ftp.netsys.com under /pub/novel for those who asked. - From p00506@psilink.com Fri Mar 25 08:04:37 1994 Date: Fri, 25 Mar 94 11:01:56 -0500 To: talon57@well.sf.ca.us From: "Winn Schwartau" <p00506@psilink.com> Organization: Inter.Pact Subject: Ames/Clipper Connection More About Clipper and Ames by Winn Schwartau March 25, 1994. The Ames/Clipper item I wrote in the Feb. 1994 issue of Security Insider Report has apparently caused quite a hub-bub. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is looking for more, the general media has picked it up, and the net is buzzing. As a result, I have been asked to put a few words out regarding this story. First of all, it is a story, one that was told to me by a person whom I know well, respect, and was at the actual meeting where the subject of Ames/Clipper was discussed. In RISKS 15.67, Dorothy Denning said that she didn't think that the Clipper Ames story/rumor made sense. While I am sure that the people to whom she spoke told her what she wrote, I was given the story by my source who WAS AT THE MEETING. Does that make it all true? No, it doesn't. And the item in Security Insider Report contained strong caveats at both the beginning and the end of the article. It was NOT printed as 100% accurate: it was printed as I was told it, and it was read and approved prior to publication by the source. I, too, have sought for confirmation, and been unable to find it. So, when Dorothy said she couldn't, that's no surprise. I have enclosed the piece that originally appeared in SIR. I fail to understand Dorothy's inability to accept possibilities and capabilities. That's one of the basic tenets of intelligence and a strong defensive posture. I find it very easy to accept that the intelligence community is considering everything that Ames might have spilled, including Clipper. What is so strange about that? That's their job! In the same issue of SIR, I examined how the FBI used technology to monitor Ames'computer. In the next issue of SIR, I will be looking at Ames' hacking abilities and skills which possibly lend credence to the possi bility that Clipper was compromised. The tale is still unfold ing. "Ames and the Clipper Connection" (From The February, 1994 Issue of Security Insider Report) Let me preface this item with a caveat. I received a call from a very well placed and highly reliable person in Washington who passed on the information. I asked if there was any way I could confirm what he told me, and I was told no. It's too sensitive. Nonetheless, it is so intriguing that SIR readers expect and would want to know what people are thinking about, even if it turns out not to be true. We in our industry deal with possibil ities and capabilities and since this discussion did take place, I'm passing it on as it happened. If this item has any shred of truth to it, well . . . decide for yourself. My contact, we'll call him something original, like 'Joe', was asked to attend a meeting where representatives from the FBI (he wasn't clear if it was the Counter Intelligence 3 [CI-3 from Half Street who keep track of Soviets and Russians] or from FBI HQ), the CIA and the National Security Agency. All told more than a dozen and less than twenty people assembled in an off-site "neutral" location to figure out what to do. It seems, according to a number of people at this meeting, that alleged CIA traitor Aldrich Ames, had access to the Clipper keys. Whoah! I nearly fell off my keyboard when I heard that. "You mean he knew the crypto-secrets behind the whole thing?" I asked. "Why would a Humint [Human Intelligence] guy know the secrets of Clipper?" "He had access to them; it would have been a normal part of his job to be in that loop." So what this group of initialed reps are allegedly attempting to do is: 1. Determine how much access Ames had to Clipper. 2. Determine if he did have access, did he in fact take advantage of it. 3. If he did get some Clipper secrets, is there a record of that access? 4. Then, what did he do with them? The fear, understandably, is that Ames might have compromised the entire Clipper/Capstone/Tessera program. The words I also heard were, "If there's only even a 1% chance that Clipper has been compromised, the whole thing's over. We have to start from scratch." So, according to my sources, the spooks-that-be are looking for a fast alternative to Clipper and Skipjack, under the theory that Ames may have blown the whole wad. Civil libertarians might shout with glee if this turns out to be true, but I think it's a hell of way to win a ball game. Bitter sweet irony. Sure, I'm not in favor it, and I am indeed nervous about 'the other shoe' but this is not the way I wanted Clipper to go away. I repeat: as of today, this is only a story, there is no confir mation. If SIR readers have anything to add, please let us know in any way you can. (C) 1994, Winn Schwartau and Inter.Pact NOTE: As of March 24, 1994, my sources reconfirmed that the story as I told it is 100% accurate. (Security Insider Report is published monthly by Inter.Pact Press, 11511 Pine St., Seminole, FL 34642. Voice: 813-393-6600, Fax 813-393-6361, email wschwartau@delphi.com. Hardcopy sub scriptions are $99/Yr. and electronic site licenses are available for selected organizations.) Brian Williams Extropian Cypherpatriot "Cryptocosmology: Sufficently advanced comunication is indistinguishable from noise." --Steve Witham -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLZNPndCcBnAsu2t1AQEsJwQAhLOSV4jLiGgTGNELeZipoXqNTMjUROfo /iCGCKzJJEhk3d25/9jyZsqj7Y0O83j1+oGdqvGB/HyUeHAh/jzNSWwOFaYhBpqJ kWIIjt9YNSRBc+e7ua1bKOD6ZajYw1aOyot8yCjwO0GSZwXdWQHWgd2TkTFobHvH 8CN9hjQ84gs= =x6t+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----