[938] in Cypherpunks
Re: a great revelation from the bowels of NSA
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (smb@research.att.com)
Tue Jun 8 11:59:39 1993
From: smb@research.att.com
To: Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 93 11:43:16 EDT
>>"We tried to come up with a technique that would not require
>>legislation," said Clint Brooks, advisor to the director of the
>>National Security Agency,
>Another ominous, foreboding quote.
I think this neither ominous nor foreboding. This statement was
apparent within a week or so of the original announcement. The only
thing new about it is that it confirms what I've thought for over a
month: that the executive branch is trying to do an end run around the
legislature.
Well, it could be innocent; it just takes longer to get legislation
passed. Yeah, that's it...
Of course, NSA does have another option -- they can disclose how
cheaply they can crack DES. (That they can crack it I don't doubt; my
only question is what it costs them per solution, including
amortization of capital costs.)
