The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)

[mirimir]

What's new here, really? NSA has always had the best, fastest, most, etc, etc hardware. This is just their "new box". The old stuff just wasn't worth upgrading any more, and they were running out of space. Also, the Chinese are hot on their tail.

[Baserk]

Originally Posted by EncryptedBytes

...
Intelligence agencies do not control government officials, their primary purpose is to advise decision and policy makers, who in turn can ignore their intelligence completely. The point is the NSA can't go rouge, congress, and other areas of government are well aware of what is going on, someone needs to give them the green light at the end of the day. ...

You really think Congress was well aware of NSA practices like the AT&T tap room in San Francisco (and others like in Los Angeles, Seattle etc) and that the whole spectrum of communication that was tapped there was only targeting foreign communication/to-and-from terrorists?
If ordered to do so by the government but at the same time actually restricted by law, going rogue is tricky to define.
(I don't think the NSA cares much for rouge )

[mirimir]

The NSA has reportedly asserted that it's not bound by US law. They're above all that, or in another dimension, or whatever. At least, that's what I got from Puzzle Palace.

[LockBox]

I grew up in an age where we were taught that the U.S. was not a surveillance state like the Soviet Union, etc. etc. Well...

We have become what we once feared.

That building is a symbol of a greater sickness.

[mirimir]

Originally Posted by LockBox

I grew up in an age where we were taught that the U.S. was not a surveillance state like the Soviet Union, etc. etc. Well...

We were all taught stuff. Much of it, I now believe, was inaccurate and misleading. But, in any case, you could be proud of your nation's intelligence capabilities.

[dw426]

Originally Posted by EncryptedBytes

No its obviously not the only form of encryption used as symmetric algorithms can only get you so far. That being said I do feel you are over analyzing the situation. What good would it be to collaborate with many inter agencies, private sector organizations, etc establishing encryption standards only to backdoor those very standards which are put in place in many vital areas of the nation? Additionally which also is the NSA's primary duty to protect? Knowing a way to backdoor everything also means your adversary given enough time will also find that backdoor. The Rijndael variant used in AES has been around and hammered globally well over a decade now. The only noticeable vulnerabilities are in the number of rounds currently in the standard may need to be updated, or non practical related-key attacks... though the cipher itself is fine and no reason to switch anytime soon.



Intelligence agencies do not control government officials, their primary purpose is to advise decision and policy makers, who in turn can ignore their intelligence completely. The point is the NSA can't go rouge, congress, and other areas of government are well aware of what is going on, someone needs to give them the green light at the end of the day.



Yes they do, more powerful computers equals faster cracking speeds.

Just because there are already established standards, doesn't mean they aren't working on something new and not sharing it..that's called having an advantage. Remember the Enigma machine? Oh, no, the NSA doesn't control government officials, that's what corporations do, at least here. But if you think for a split second Congress knows every little thing the NSA is doing, and gives them the green light on everything, you are sorely mistaken.

They don't even know many operations of the CIA, and the CIA is quite watered down compared to the NSA. That's not conspiracy talk, that's straight fact. It's also how things like Sept 11th occur, which is exactly how it did happen, agencies keeping things to themselves for far too long. They don't have to be "rogue", it's simply the nature of the beast.

Let me tell you a little secret about your run of the mill government official, they're the biggest hindrance an intel agency can have, If you went to them to green light everything, you'd hardly ever get anything done.

[dw426]

Originally Posted by mirimir

We were all taught stuff. Much of it, I now believe, was inaccurate and misleading. But, in any case, you could be proud of your nation's intelligence capabilities.

No, once upon a time we weren't in this position. Believe it or not there was a time when you really weren't considered a suspect before you ever even did anything wrong, and a time that the government actually had checks and balances. Those days are long gone. As far as our nations capabilities, we're steadily losing our advantage in many areas.

[Hungry Man]

Are you saying that the government is keeping the government honest?

I'm not saying the NSA doesn't hide certain projects and I'm not saying they do.

I think it's likely that they or DARPA or someone is working on next-gen encryption, but I also don't think that that means they have holes in their encryption.

[mirimir]

Just FYI:

-http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-Organization/dp/0140067485
-http://www.amazon.com/Body-Secrets-Ultra-Secret-National-Security/dp/0385499086
-http://www.amazon.com/Pretext-War-Americas-Intelligence-Agencies/dp/0385506724
-http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Factory-Ultra-Secret-Eavesdropping-America/dp/0385521324

[Daveski17]

Originally Posted by LockBox

I grew up in an age where we were taught that the U.S. was not a surveillance state like the Soviet Union, etc. etc. Well...

We have become what we once feared.

That building is a symbol of a greater sickness.

I've got news for you mate, it's not just happening in the US!

[dw426]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...-denies-wired/

Ladies and gents, damage control is kicking in. When the public denials start rolling in, you know the truth is rearing its ugly little head.

@Daveski: No, it's not. More and more countries are doing this now or have been for some time.

[Cudni]

As the conversation turned political, thread closed. Thank you all.