Public Intelligence Blog

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the NSA’s Bigwigs. Here’s What Has Them Mad

By Steven Levy

WIRED, 01.13.14

EXTRACT:

I talk about that session in my story, but let me note a few general takeaways:

The dual mission of the NSA generates cognitive dissonance. Right on its home page, the NSA says its core missions are “to protect U.S. national security systems and to produce foreign signals intelligence information.” The officials repeatedly claimed they pursue both responsibilities with equal vigor. There’s a built-in conflict here: If U.S. industries distribute strong encryption throughout the world, it should make the NSA’s signals-gathering job much harder. Yet the NSA says it welcomes encryption. (The officials even implied that the tension between the two missions winds up making both efforts more robust.) Nonetheless, the Snowden leaks indicate that the NSA has engaged in numerous efforts that tamper with the security of American products. The officials resisted this characterization. Why, they asked, would they compromise security of products they use themselves, like Windows, Cisco routers, or the encryption standards they allegedly compromised?

Continue reading “Steven Levy: 2 Hours with NSA Chiefs — They Are a) Suffering Cognitive Dissonance and b) Seriously Pissed-Off”