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The NSA cracked the Kryptos sculpture years before the CIA (2013)
- caf 11y agoThe CIA Fine Arts Commission? Is there an FBI Jazz and Bebop Directorate?
- leoc 11y agoIt seems they've been busy: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-w... .
- daturkel 11y agoWas curious about this so I googled, but the results are less interesting than I'd hoped. "CIA’s fine arts program—administered by its Fine Arts Commission since the 1960s—has benefited over the years from donations of sculptures and paintings that celebrate historical accomplishments in intelligence. The commission reviews donation proposals and, when it finds them appropriate, officially recommends works for acceptance." via: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol52no2/cias-intelligence-art-collection.html https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...
- dang 11y agoThere have been a number of good HN threads (sorry I don't have links) on the CIA's history of promoting arts and letters—often by artists and writers who became distinguished later, indicating rather good taste at the CIA.
- DrStalker 11y agoOr perhaps indicating that the CIA knows how to make an artist famous without it being traced back to them.
- developer1 11y agoThis is what citizens' tax dollars pay for. How nice that public funds can so easily be used to pay people to do nothing.
- ColinDabritz 11y agoI feel having people near this statue pause to reflect on the nature of art and beauty is some of the best use of my tax dollars in that area.
- jarin 11y agoWould you rather federal employees work in some Kafka-esque grey cinder block 1984 Ministry type building?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- stephengillie 11y agoI, for one, would prefer to have my tax dollars spent commissioning statues and other art, rather than buying bombs or weaponry of any sort.
- andreyf 11y agoFalse dichotomy.
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- Steko 11y agoWas half-expecting the story to say that the NSA just went to their tape database and re-listened to all phone calls made between Sanborn (sculptor) and Scheidt (CIA crypto resource).
- dmcginty 11y agoI feel like this headline is misleading. They've solved the first three parts, but not the last. I was really hoping that this article was going to say something about progress on the last section, commonly called K4. If anybody is interested in Kryptos, I highly recommend Elonka Dunin's page: http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/ http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- UnoriginalGuy 11y agoThey might have solved K4 but the method used might be extremely classified, for example if it is AES-256 encrypted and they solved it, yeah, mass panic.
- datashovel 11y agoDoes anyone know precisely what is at the location of the coordinates? First thing I thought to do, as soon as I saw that 4th puzzle was unsolved, was to look at a map of the coordinates: https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B057'06.5%22N+77%C2%B008'44.0%22W/@38.9518207,-77.1458225,84m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0 https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B057'06.5%22N+77%C2%... Looks like it's a place on a sidewalk on the premises, so perhaps it's where a clue exists that makes it possible to solve K4?
- aristus 11y agoIt's in a courtyard inside the Langley headquarters.
- datashovel 11y agoThanks for the reply. I was thinking more along the lines of high-resolution images of what is on the sidewalk at precisely those coordinates, or in the vicinity of those coordinates. Or if anyone on HN reading this thread has actually been there to see first-hand what's at those coordinates.
- aristus 11y agoInside that building is a no camera zone. :) getting imagery is tough.
- aristus 11y agoI have been there. It's a tall rusty sculpture in a courtyard well inside Langley HQ. The only odd thing I noticed is that some letters are over or below the line. Can't take pictures or rubbings so not much else to report.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoSuperb example of inter-agency knowledge sharing and co-operation. So hopefully Iranian intelligence officers can work out how to have multiple handlers and multiple income streams and - cha-Ching! / bad mood /