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Honestly. I think people would be absolutely shocked at what is going on under the surface. And it's not just nuclear physics. The nsa is quite likely 20-30 yea

by kjrose 5y ago

Honestly. I think people would be absolutely shocked at what is going on under the surface. And it's not just nuclear physics. The nsa is quite likely 20-30 years ahead of publicly known mathematics, the black market is already has logistics that work make FedEx blush. So much is kept secret and kept secret for a reason.

bitexploder 5y ago
This is just wild-ass guessing though, which is fun, but not informative. Do you have even a shred of evidence the NSA is ahead in the last 20 years? Talking theoretical crypto, algorithm design, etc. of the observers and folks in the academic side of this field many suspect academia more or less caught up to the NSA, for example and they would be best positioned to guess that. Call me a skeptic the NSA is categorically ahead these days.
- kjrose 5y ago
  Yes. I do. Many, many years ago I worked for a related agency.
mikewarot 5y ago
The NSA might be 20 years ahead in math, but they sure seem to be at least 40 years behind in computer science for some reason. If they actually lived up to the name, our government's computers would be secure, and not exfiltrating secrets every month. Multilevel Security was a response to lessons learned in 1973, which worked, quite well. Those lessons were apparently ignored when Unix and PCs took off, and far too many people never looked back. Some history - https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SEv2-c08.pdf https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SEv2-c08.pdf
- whatshisface 5y ago
  >If they actually lived up to the name, our government's computers would be secure, and not exfiltrating secrets every month. The NSA is primarily an offensive organization. They spend almost no time on securing US networks or devices. It's like how the FBI catches spies, not the CIA.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    That is a recent shift. They used to take their dual mandate a lot more seriously. In fact that used to be the primary mission, before the offensive cyber command was integrated into the dual hat scheme. This was largely a behind the curtains shift, one with minimal input from congress and largely off the radar of voters. The interactions of NSA and NIST reveal that the NSA is not just an offensively postured organization, they are perfectly willing to destroy US security in the large if it allows them to deliver tasty intercepts in the small.

by kjrose 5y ago

bitexploder 5y ago

This is just wild-ass guessing though, which is fun, but not informative. Do you have even a shred of evidence the NSA is ahead in the last 20 years? Talking theoretical crypto, algorithm design, etc. of the observers and folks in the academic side of this field many suspect academia more or less caught up to the NSA, for example and they would be best positioned to guess that. Call me a skeptic the NSA is categorically ahead these days.

kjrose 5y ago
Yes. I do. Many, many years ago I worked for a related agency.

mikewarot 5y ago

The NSA might be 20 years ahead in math, but they sure seem to be at least 40 years behind in computer science for some reason. If they actually lived up to the name, our government's computers would be secure, and not exfiltrating secrets every month. Multilevel Security was a response to lessons learned in 1973, which worked, quite well. Those lessons were apparently ignored when Unix and PCs took off, and far too many people never looked back. Some history - https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SEv2-c08.pdf https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SEv2-c08.pdf

whatshisface 5y ago
>If they actually lived up to the name, our government's computers would be secure, and not exfiltrating secrets every month. The NSA is primarily an offensive organization. They spend almost no time on securing US networks or devices. It's like how the FBI catches spies, not the CIA.
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
  That is a recent shift. They used to take their dual mandate a lot more seriously. In fact that used to be the primary mission, before the offensive cyber command was integrated into the dual hat scheme. This was largely a behind the curtains shift, one with minimal input from congress and largely off the radar of voters. The interactions of NSA and NIST reveal that the NSA is not just an offensively postured organization, they are perfectly willing to destroy US security in the large if it allows them to deliver tasty intercepts in the small.