[Cryptography] Iran and murder

[John Kelsey]

Alongside Phillip's comments, I'll just point out that assassination of key people is a tactic that the US and Israel probably don't have any particular advantages in.  It isn't in our interests to encourage a worldwide tacit acceptance of that stuff.  

I suspect a lot of the broad principles we have been pushing (assassinations and drone bombings can be done anywhere, cyber attacks against foreign countries are okay when you're not at war, spying on everyone everywhere is perfectly acceptable policy) are in the short-term interests of various powerful people and factions in the US, but are absolutely horrible ideas when you consider the long-term interests of the US.  We are a big, rich, relatively free country with lots of government scientists and engineers (especially when you consider funding) and tons of our economy and our society moving online.  We are more vulnerable to widespread acceptance of these bad principles than almost anyone, ultimately,  But doing all these things has won larger budgets and temporary successes for specific people and agencies today, whereas the costs of all this will land on us all in the future.  

--John