Schneier: Homeland Security Needs Cops

[John Young]

In the September Atlantic Monthly Bruce Schneier explains
yet again why cryptography is not the solution to security;
what's needed are private cyber cops like his:

  http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/09/mann.htm

Amazing how Bruce's philosopy matches that of those
he once combated in the "crypto wars." He recants crypto
security to remind that there is never to be found lasting
security, as with the TLAs worldwide, except by well-paid
vigilance of those who know best how to protect us. He 
may be right, or he may smell Starbucks.

Quote:

When I asked Schneier why Counterpane had such Darth
Vaderish command centers, he laughed and said it
helped to reassure potential clients that the company had
mastered the technology. I asked if clients ever inquired
how Counterpane trains the guards and analysts in the
command centers. "Not often," he said, although that
training is in fact the center of the whole system. Mixing
long stretches of inactivity with short bursts of frenzy,
the work rhythm of the Counterpane guards would have
been familiar to police officers and firefighters
everywhere. As I watched the guards, they were slurping
soft drinks, listening to techno-death metal, and waiting
for something to go wrong. They were in a protected
space, looking out at a dangerous world. Sentries around
Neolithic campfires did the same thing. Nothing better
has been discovered since. Thinking otherwise, in
Schneier's view, is a really terrible idea. 

Unquote

Heroes, by god, what we need are more poster boy heroes.