[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 03/12/12
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:50:18 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:36:01 -0400
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: saftergood@xxxxxxx
Subject: Secrecy News -- 03/12/12
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SECRECY NEWS
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from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 22
March 12, 2012
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Secrecy News Blog:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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** IN 1976, NSA WAS TASKED TO HELP SECURE PRIVATE COMMS
** "LEAK": A NEW LOOK AT WATERGATE'S DEEP THROAT
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IN 1976, NSA WAS TASKED TO HELP SECURE PRIVATE COMMS
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As long ago as the Gerald Ford Administration, the National Security Agency
was directed to help secure non-governmental communications networks against
intrusion and interception by foreign -- or domestic -- entities, according
to a recently declassified presidential directive.
"The President is concerned about possible damage to the national security
and the economy from continuing Soviet intercept of critical non-government
communications, including government defense contractors and certain other
key institutions in the private sector," wrote National Security Advisor
Gen. Brent Scowcroft in National Security Decision Memorandum (NSDM) 338 of
September 1, 1976.
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdm-ford/nsdm-338.pdf
"The President further recognizes that U.S. citizens and institutions should
have a reasonable expectation of privacy from foreign or domestic intercept
when using the public telephone system. The President has therefore decided
that communication security should be extended to government defense
contractors dealing in classified or sensitive information at the earliest
possible time. He has also directed that planning be undertaken to meet the
longer-term need to protect other key institutions in the private sector,
and, ultimately, to provide a reasonable expectation of privacy for all
users of public telecommunications."
The directive ordered that "in confirmed threat areas," existing
communications networks involving classified information should be
transitioned from microwave circuits to secure cable "as soon as possible."
A broader plan to protect non-governmental communications was also to be
prepared.
"The President further directs the Director of the Office of
Telecommunications Policy, with the participation and assistance of DOD and
NSA, to prepare a detailed Action Plan setting forth the actions and
schedule milestones necessary to achieve a wide degree of protection for
private sector microwave communications. The Plan should identify needed
policy and regulatory decisions, describe in detail the roles of industry
and government, including management and funding considerations, and
integrate the schedule for these actions with the technical development
milestones."
"The Action Plan should be based on the fundamental objective of protecting
the privacy of all users of public telecommunications, as well as satisfying
specific needs of the government," the directive stated.
The 1976 directive was originally marked TOP SECRET / SENSITIVE (XGDS),
where XGDS stood for "exempt from general declassification schedule." It
was declassified on September 13, 2011. The document had been requested
through the mandatory declassification review process by Dr. John Laprise of
Northwestern University.
The directive prefigures an ongoing controversy over the proper role, and
the actual extent, of National Security Agency involvement in securing
public communications.
In response to a FOIA lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, the NSA said (and a court affirmed) that it could "neither confirm
or deny" a relationship between the Agency and Google. NSA has also refused
to release the 2008 National Security Presidential Directive 54, which
reportedly tasks the Agency with certain cybersecurity functions.
http://epic.org/foia/epic_v_nsa_google.html
"LEAK": A NEW LOOK AT WATERGATE'S DEEP THROAT
The Watergate scandal was a formative episode in American political culture
that powerfully reinforced public skepticism towards government and fostered
a heroic image of the intrepid reporter aided by his truth-telling source.
But the reality, as usual, is more complicated than the received narrative.
In a fascinating new book, "Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat," Max
Holland probes deep into the record of Watergate to illuminate some of those
complications.
http://amazon.com/Leak-Mark-Felt-Became-Throat/dp/0700618295/
The question that Holland sets out to answer is the nature of "Deep
Throat's" agenda. What drove FBI official Mark Felt to disclose sensitive
investigative information about the Watergate burglary and the ensuing
coverup to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post? What were his motivations
and what was he hoping to accomplish?
Holland pays close attention to what Felt told Woodward (and when), what
Felt could have told Woodward but did not, and what he told Woodward that
was not actually true.
His conclusion, spelled out at the beginning of the book, is that Felt's
actions are best understood in the context of the struggle over who would
succeed J. Edgar Hoover as director of the FBI. Felt hoped it would be him.
"More than any other single factor, the desperate, no-holds-barred war of
succession explains why Mark Felt did what he did, and to a considerable
extent, why the scandal played out in the media as it did," Holland writes.
"The contest to succeed Hoover was perceived as a once-in-a-generation
opportunity, and it brought out the worst in the Bureau and Mark Felt."
"The portrait of Felt that emerges when we follow this thread does not
resemble any of Bob Woodward's depictions," in Holland's judgment. "Felt
held the news media in contempt and was neither a high-minded
whistle-blower, nor was he genuinely concerned about defending his
institution's integrity."
"Woodward believed that he and Felt were on the same side, allies in the
struggle to expose the facts and larger truth. For Felt, however, their
relationship was simply a means to the end of becoming FBI director. If
that end was best served by salting the information he gave Woodward with
details that had only a casual relationship with the facts, so be it."
Strictly speaking, Felt's motives in leaking information are of secondary
importance, if not quite irrelevant. Holland cites an observation by
Timothy Noah that "If the free flow of vital information about our
government depended on the purity of heart of all concerned, we would know
very little. Happily, we are as likely to learn what we need to know
through the pursuit of cheap advantage."
Still, Holland says, "a recognition that Felt was seeking personal
advancement first and foremost would have led to heightened scrutiny of his
claims and a better version of the obtainable truth."
More broadly, a reader of the book will be reminded to question the motives
of sources, especially anonymous sources. Further, one may conclude that
the mantle of "whistleblower" is not one to be lightly claimed or bestowed.
(Some may feel that publishing collections of stolen email, for example,
does not qualify.)
"Leak" is a work of impressive scholarship, yet it is vividly told and quite
engrossing. Reading it on the subway, I missed my stop. The book benefits
from the intrinsic drama of Watergate, and from the enduring impact of
Woodward and Bernstein's book (and Redford's movie) "All the President's
Men." For better or worse, the story is one that transcends its time.
"Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat" by Max Holland was published last
week by University of Kansas Press.
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/hollea.html
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation
of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News Blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html
To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html
OR email your request to saftergood@xxxxxxx
Secrecy News is archived at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html
Support the FAS Project on Government Secrecy with a donation:
http://www.fas.org/member/donate_today.html
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Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@xxxxxxx
voice: (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood
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