[109286] in Cypherpunks
National distrust
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Frederick Burroughs)
Tue Mar 16 23:51:10 1999
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 20:09:55 -0500
From: Frederick Burroughs <riburr@shentel.net>
To: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@ns.minder.net>
Reply-To: Frederick Burroughs <riburr@shentel.net>
The report from the House Select Committee on China, due out this month
after thorough sanitization, is being used by some members of Congress
to criticize President Clinton's stance on China. Allegedly, the Clinton
administration was lax in preventing the transfer of nuclear weapons
technology. Charges of "espionage", "leaks", "technological transfers",
"breaches of national security" and "cover ups" are forcing
congressional scrutiny over the details of this report.
Apparently congessmembers, unused to the high caliber exchange of ideas
that is normal in academic correspondence, mistook email for espionage.
Undoubtedly, if the House select committee were to look at the email
being exchanged with almost any academic institution we would hear the
shrill, "breach of national security". This is more a symptom of
congressional ignorance than anything else.
In publicly using this report as leverage against the President,
Congress has unwittingly committed an unprecedented breach of national
security. Within the coverpages of the House select committee's report
on technological transfers are the methods and details by which the US
government spies on it's own citizens in an atmosphere of distrust.
Employees of the nation's national laboratories consent to a certain
amount of monitoring and oath taking as terms of their employment.
However, the methods and degree of government intrusion, as detailed in
this report, are beyond the pale. A serious morale problem is incubating
in the national labs, and the heavy-handed surveillance now being
imposed only builds distrust. Distrust is the most serious breach of
national security.
Other countries see an opportunity brewing.
