[cryptome] Re: Ask Zelda
- From: John Young <jya@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: cryptome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:28:23 -0400
It is still not clear, and may never be, how much of the Snowden
material is a deceptive ruse, and he may not know either. Nor
do the outlets to which he provided the material, none of which
had ror have the technical or espionage capability to evaluate,
test, judge what is legitimate, what is salted as disinfo, what is
illusory, what is sheer bluff -- all long-lived characteristics not
only of military affairs but specifically about comsec and
propaganda. The latter has always used the media for broadcasting
deception, willingly done so by media then discounted later, monetizing
the full spectrum of faith and infidelity.
Official and private skeptics of Snowden assert a classic deception
operation is underway, canards of deception themselves:
http://cryptome.org/2014/08/snowden-deception-question.htm
To be sure, it is likely Snowden quietly distributed material to others
with capabilities lacking in journalists and polemicists, either beforehand
or afterwards. This would be conventional operational security to
not put all eggs in the omelets of journalism alone.
There are hints in published accounts by Greenwald and Harding
that before Snowden gained Poitras' highly skeptical confidence
he was in contact with intermediaries who could vet his offerings
with technical and espionage skills -- none have come forward to
admit this prior Poitras-Greenwald-Gellman review but their names
are online awaiting disclosure.
Moreover, there seems to be parallel assessment of the Snowden
caches, however many there are -- dozens of fragments have been
shared according to published reports. But the alleged bulk of the
material remains unreleased, ranging from 58,000 to 1.7 million
items (pages or files). Gellman has never stated the size of the
cache provided to him, except citing one example of examining
200,000 pages to identify certain info.
And it is noteworthy that all the reported holders of Snowden
material claim to have checked with authorities before publication.
Smoke and mirrors, for sure of which Bamford is a master.
But then, Zelda, are we not all capable of playing the Zelda ruse.
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