"Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"

[Jay Holovacs]

I might suppose that a significant reason why the nuclear arms race did 
not come to blows was the balance of espionage between NSA/CIA/KGB etc. 
With accurate information on your enemy, one is less likely to be 
panicked into a preemtive strike.

Jay Holovacs <holovacs at ios.com>
PGP Key fingerprint =  AC 29 C8 7A E4 2D 07 27  AE CA 99 4A F6 59 87 90 

On Thu, 25 Jan 1996 hallam at w3.org wrote:

> By not taking adequate steps to inform itself of the Japaneese intentions the US 
> suffered the loss of a substantial part of the US fleet at Pearl Harbour. Had 
> sufficient resources been avaliable the naval codes could have been cracked in 
> time.  The closure of the Black chamber was a key reason why US espionage 
> efforts were inadequate at the start of WWII.
> 
> Given the choice between the US Army and the CIA plus NSA I would choose the 
> latter any day. The millitary hardware is useless without intelligence 
> operatives. Unless Perry is advocating an absolutist pacifist stance I don't see 
> that his stance is credible. I don't know many pacifists who oppose intelligence 
> gathering. 
> 
> Diplomatic trafic has always been considered fair game. Long may it remain so.
> 
> 
> 		Phill
> 
>