5 ms·

Are you telling me that a spymaster prioritized intelligence gathering?

pdpi 6y ago
Espionage and counter-espionage are two concerns that need to be balanced against each other. They’re both handled by the same organisations (sort of), so it’s reasonable to ask where those organisations are setting the balance
- owenmarshall 6y ago
  Fascinating question that I doubt we will ever know the answer to.
- BelenusMordred 6y ago
  Can't see what they'd ever gain from going public. Counter-intelligence is their job and I'd be highly surprised if they'd alert their opposition simply for some free PR. Far better to try work out what has been compromised and try feed misinformation into that data exfil for as long as possible. That's what we pay them to do, not gallivant around in the media tooting their own horn.
  - michaelt 6y ago
    > Can't see what they'd ever gain from going public 0. It went public with the initial Bloomberg article, so it was lost as a misinformation channel years ago. 1. To get the security problem fixed, thus protecting US interests 2. To support US foreign policy goals like "Europe should reject Huawei 5G equipment" with concrete evidence 3. To demonstrate that, if a US company thinks they've discovered a different supply chain attack attempt, that they're interested, competent to help, and able to speak to you. 4. To show potential hires that that they're protecting the country from real threats, and that there are opportunities to do work that's neither illegal nor unethical 5. To demonstrate to the taxpayer that they're doing their job
kmeisthax 6y ago
Intelligence operations like the NSA, CIA, etc operate under a dual mandate: 1) gather information on foreign governments and 2) keep domestic information secure. However, with everyone using the same software, both mandates are in conflict. Any attempt to secure domestic information by fixing security holes also diminishes information-gathering capability elsewhere. My personal opinion is that spymasters have decided as a class to leave things open in the name of keeping a job. Better to let China read your secrets than to lose access to China's.

pdpi 6y ago

Espionage and counter-espionage are two concerns that need to be balanced against each other. They’re both handled by the same organisations (sort of), so it’s reasonable to ask where those organisations are setting the balance

owenmarshall 6y ago
Fascinating question that I doubt we will ever know the answer to.
BelenusMordred 6y ago
Can't see what they'd ever gain from going public. Counter-intelligence is their job and I'd be highly surprised if they'd alert their opposition simply for some free PR. Far better to try work out what has been compromised and try feed misinformation into that data exfil for as long as possible. That's what we pay them to do, not gallivant around in the media tooting their own horn.
- michaelt 6y ago
  > Can't see what they'd ever gain from going public 0. It went public with the initial Bloomberg article, so it was lost as a misinformation channel years ago. 1. To get the security problem fixed, thus protecting US interests 2. To support US foreign policy goals like "Europe should reject Huawei 5G equipment" with concrete evidence 3. To demonstrate that, if a US company thinks they've discovered a different supply chain attack attempt, that they're interested, competent to help, and able to speak to you. 4. To show potential hires that that they're protecting the country from real threats, and that there are opportunities to do work that's neither illegal nor unethical 5. To demonstrate to the taxpayer that they're doing their job

kmeisthax 6y ago

Intelligence operations like the NSA, CIA, etc operate under a dual mandate: 1) gather information on foreign governments and 2) keep domestic information secure. However, with everyone using the same software, both mandates are in conflict. Any attempt to secure domestic information by fixing security holes also diminishes information-gathering capability elsewhere. My personal opinion is that spymasters have decided as a class to leave things open in the name of keeping a job. Better to let China read your secrets than to lose access to China's.