[Cryptography] Security clearances and FOSS encryption?

[Jerry Leichter]

On Jul 14, 2014, at 6:24 AM, Mrten <mrten+cryptography at ii.nl> wrote:
>> I have no way of knowing how true this person's statements actually were,
>> and if true, how broadly such attitudes were held and at what levels of the
>> organization.  The fact is, one person who had worked in this field came
>> away with this understanding of how to produce reliable software.  It was
>> *that* that I found chilling.
> 
> This seems to be a perfect example of a miscommunication, depending on the
> actual wording of the question of course:
> 
> One person thinks "software errors" when he hears "bugs", and the other person
> thinks "listening device".
> 
> Looking back, could that have been the case?
Well, it's been over 30 years.  But I doubt it - it was not just a quick one-off question, we talked about it a bit.  And then I spoke to coworkers about it.

I suppose if you think the only vulnerabilities in your software are the ones deliberately introduced by attackers then this attitude may be reasonable to some degree.  But it's a peculiar point of view for any software professional to hold.
                                                        -- Jerry