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<pre wrap=""><div class="moz-txt-sig">On Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 07:49:57AM +1100, Dave Horsfall wrote:
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<pre wrap="">The NSA (No Such Agency) was created by presidential decree back in 1952;
it was so secret that even its name was a secret. And thank you, Mr
Snowden, for telling the world what they were really doing...</pre>
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<br>
How many of us remember when the agency "came out" from having its
existence and name secret? At national meetings, e.g. the American
Mathematical Society's annual national meeting, where we wore name
tags, the ones just identifying place of work as "Defense
Department" were a giveaway that someone worked for the agency. Then
one year there was an invited talk at the national AMS/MAA joint
meeting by the agency's director of mathematical research (I am
sorry that I cannot remember his name, it was a notable event!)
titled "The Agency That Came In Out of The Cold".<br>
<br>
But the window into what was happening inside the agency was still
small and cloudy... Nowadays existence is well known, uniqueness is
not so well known, and the window is still pretty limited. But I
have been astounded by the widespread reaction to Snowden's release
of information, where people who have been working in computing for
decades said they were surprised. From decades ago I can remember
discussions where we were sure that (a) whatever was the most
powerful computing in the world, at least a sample of it was located
in Fort Meade, and (b) if "they" wanted to read anything you had
stored or transmitted as bits they would surely be able to.<br>
Bob Wilson<br>
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