Who bought off Zimmermann?

[John Young]

Emitting signal that "crypto works" is a hoary practice, nothing
more useful than a belief in an uncrackable means of comms,
used often in war and commerce and love affairs. Crypto-AG,
AES, PGP, Tor, OTR, offline exchange of keys, the list is
growing with each disclosure that something stinks in crypto
ex-cess.

Getting the best and brightest (BAB) to affirm that crypto works,
say by open and limited competitions as well as by confidential
testing results leaked, would be a part of that campaign.

Leaking other forms of attack, like metadata, would be another
part, bit by bit, authenticity heightened by obligatory redactions
and vetting by quiet government consultation.

Presume Snowden dribbling juicy comsec architecture and data,
witting or unwitting of their ulterior purpose as beautifully
crafted to appear suspicious to BABs but so tasty to be irresistable
as a floating British officer corpse stuffed with secret war
plans retrieved by the Germans.

Until all of Snowden's booty is released and carefully studied by
virulently suspicious and paranoid BABs not snared by sweet
contracts to muse and declare authenticity, it cannot be seen
as more than an ingenious ruse, likely with the complicity of
the BABs once believed to be poorly-paid angels dancing
on a pinhead.

The saluatory benefit of these ruses is to shock the shit out
of the lazy and arrogant comfuckers whose stake is put at
risk by being left out of the ruse, not easy to do if they are
lulled into complacency by admiration, handsome pay,
invites to classified dances, insured and pensioned by
NDAs, well, hell, why else raise a ruckus with ruses like
crypto lists and fora and history confabbing at NSA.

None of this is intended to impugn the few BABs who
remain outside secret circles, or at least appear to do
so in best and brightest ways. And don't invoke a hoary
NSL as basis for silence.

It does intend to impugn denial of the inevtiable
failure of crypto alone or in concert with infrastructure.
Remember that 1997 NSA paper foretelling the fail.
Was that a ruse too?

If I was a BAB looking for a edge on the competition
for ruses, I might blurt that crypto deception is the
essence of crypto, that is why it works so well.