Timothy C. May writes:
Since Perry has on several occasions said he does not want to hear about politics and other "off-topic" posts, and since he has written at least five of these posts just today (the "Gentleman do not" thread), I suggest he heed his own advice.
Well, the topic was initially quite cryptography related -- a discussion of the question of whether government cryptanalysis efforts are a "good idea". However, in my last message on the topic you probably saw that I noted that the issue had certainly slipped sufficiently from the local agenda that I personally noted that it was no longer appropriate for me to post on the topic. I don't intend to say anything more about it since it no longer was merely a discussion of whether we need an NSA. However, redirecting the topic, I will note that Phill's assertion that U.S. cryptographic intelligence versus the Japanese at the start of World War II was inadequate is just plain wrong. We had already broken virtually every important Japanese diplomatic and military code, including perhaps the greatest feat of cryptanalysis of all time, the breaking of PURPLE. See "The Code Breakers" for details. And yes, discussing historical cryptanalysis efforts is indeed part of the charter. Perry