More Balto Sun on the NSA: Infowar
The last part of the Baltimore Sun's series of articles on the NSA arrived today. It concentrated upon the prospect for a bloodless "Infowar." The article began with a hypothetical attack beginning on January 17, 2001, the tenth anniversary of the US bombing of Baghdad. In the attack, bad, computer related things happen like stock markets crash and all of the money is drained from the accounts of the sailors in the US Navy. The article then uses this as a beginning for a long contemplation of the NSA's future. Many of the details are well-known to cypherpunks. The NSA is poking around with drug interdiction, economic intelligence and computer security. The Russian linguists are being retrained. Etc. The article ends with a story told by Senator Rudman of NH. He says that 100 years ago, the houses were wood and we needed fire stations on every corner. Now, they're made of brick and concrete and come with sprinkler systems. The Fire Union might argue that you still need a fire station on every corner, he told the reporter, but that's not necessarily true. So, perhaps Clipper is a form of job insurance? True perfect security would not only hurt SIGINT, but it would remove the need for crypto firemen. If you want to have a system that gives some people access and not other people, then you need a lot of folks to stand around, sign forms and generally make sure that everything is running smoothly. Strong cryptography is automation. GAK requires a large bureaucracy to administer it. The article also has some anecdotes about how the agency protected US firms abroad. One company was alerted that its European competitor was bribing the Latin American officials who were choosing the winning bid. Also, when the Peso collapsed, the US negotiators had access to some information that the Mexican government wasn't being as forthcoming as they should have been about the country's assets. They used this information in negotiations. --Peter Wayner You can purchase the complete articles from the Baltimore Sun by dialing 410-332 6962. The price is $3.95. (See my second post for more info on an earlier article about Crypto AG).
PW on the NSA:
The article also has some anecdotes about how the agency protected US firms abroad. One company was alerted that its European competitor was bribing the Latin American officials who were choosing the winning bid. Also, when the Peso collapsed, the US negotiators had access to some information that the Mexican government wasn't being as forthcoming as they should have been about the country's assets. They used this information in negotiations.
I'd like to point out how specious this supposed "benefit" is if the NSA is actually now involved in economic espionage areas as this implies. (@#$%^&*, I must have missed the senate meeting where they modified the charter, maybe it was the same one where they came up with Clipper) suppose you get a message from our government with the implication it came from the NSA: "Mr. businessman, we have information that so-and-so bidder is involved in bribery". well, what can you do with this? why should you give it any merit? the NSA has its own hidden agenda. they could saying things to netscape like, "so-and-so cryptography is not secure. don't use it". should netscape listen to them? isn't it obvious there could be a conflict of interest, to say the least, and a delightful opportunity for further spook "shadow" manipulation techniques, which they get their wet dreams about? the problem is that many businessmen are just as gullible and braindead as the american public, and will roll over or listen with rapt attention just like americans do when they hear the phrase, "national security". there are many businessmen who think they are being "patriotic" by listening to their government and cooperating with it in shadowy deals for the purpose of promoting "national security". frankly I think this is as close to being a traitor to the true spirit of democracy as one can come without ever being considered one by rational adults. (oh, well, the distinction about rational adults has somewhat blurred in this century..) Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" actually has the initials NSA.. so frankly, I would recommend that any businessmen who get "shadow" tips from the government about how to run their business like PW describes to tell them to ---- off. unless you're a patriot of course. then you should turn me in for writing this message. if the government actually had proof about their claims, that would be a different story. then I'd tell them to "---- off" *after* I got the relevant info <g> .. but seriously this is not going to be a problem with spooks, who love the following style of proof and information transmission: "[x] is true because we know it is true, but exactly why is a matter of national security which we can't tell you. nevertheless because of [x] you should do [y]. in fact you are compelled to do it as a US patriot." just call it "proof by spook phlegm" that's what we now have: a government of, by, and for the @#$%^&* spooks.
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Vladimir Z. Nuri