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Biometrics are recommended if the data is not classified. Remember this is for people working on sensitive information. This is what the NSA's original missio

Biometrics are recommended if the data is not classified. Remember this is for people working on sensitive information. This is what the NSA's original mission was, to keep people safe and strengthen the American defense posture from the single person up to the entire infrastructure that we rely on day-to-day. The mission has shifted to offense after 9/11 so there's conflicting goals here (can't patch something we're using against the bad guys)

nojito 5y ago
NSA was always about offense and is strictly for international offense. The only shift after 9/11 was getting the three agencies to actually talk to each other.
- vajrabum 5y ago
  It says on their mission statement that they do SIGINT and information assurance (i.e. IT security) and there is plenty of public evidence that they do both. Plus they've been deeply involved with designing cryptographic protocols and equipment for the US govt for a very long time which is part of SIGINT but it's not the offensive part. https://www.nsa.gov/about/mission-values/ https://www.nsa.gov/about/mission-values/
AlexCoventry 5y ago
The NSA was created in a reorganization of US SIGINT/COMINT services, because SIGINT/COMINT during the Korean War had been unsatisfactory. Its primary mandate has always been COMINT. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-figures-publications/publications/korean-war/koreanwar-sigint-bkg/#14 https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-fi... > The Brownell Committee suggested that the creation of AFSA could be seen as a "step backward," and recommended that the power of the director, AFSA, to centralize COMINT be increased. > In October, Harry Truman authorized a reorganization and renaming of AFSA, and in November, the secretary of defense authorized the replacement of AFSA by the National Security Agency.
wil421 5y ago
No it wasn't. Take a look at the movie Enemy of the State that was released in 1998, 3 years before 9/11. In the movie the NSA is monitoring all calls, has NRO satellites that tail them, and a bunch of other Tinfoil hat stuff that was confirmed by the Snowden leaks a decade later. The biggest fiction in the movie was their ability to connect the dots and do stuff in real time as depicted. The NSA director even said they were appalled how the agents were portrayed and went on PR campaigns to defend them selves. They were always spying but not ruthless killers as depicted in the movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)

nojito 5y ago

NSA was always about offense and is strictly for international offense. The only shift after 9/11 was getting the three agencies to actually talk to each other.

vajrabum 5y ago
It says on their mission statement that they do SIGINT and information assurance (i.e. IT security) and there is plenty of public evidence that they do both. Plus they've been deeply involved with designing cryptographic protocols and equipment for the US govt for a very long time which is part of SIGINT but it's not the offensive part. https://www.nsa.gov/about/mission-values/ https://www.nsa.gov/about/mission-values/

AlexCoventry 5y ago

The NSA was created in a reorganization of US SIGINT/COMINT services, because SIGINT/COMINT during the Korean War had been unsatisfactory. Its primary mandate has always been COMINT. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-figures-publications/publications/korean-war/koreanwar-sigint-bkg/#14 https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-fi... > The Brownell Committee suggested that the creation of AFSA could be seen as a "step backward," and recommended that the power of the director, AFSA, to centralize COMINT be increased. > In October, Harry Truman authorized a reorganization and renaming of AFSA, and in November, the secretary of defense authorized the replacement of AFSA by the National Security Agency.

wil421 5y ago

No it wasn't. Take a look at the movie Enemy of the State that was released in 1998, 3 years before 9/11. In the movie the NSA is monitoring all calls, has NRO satellites that tail them, and a bunch of other Tinfoil hat stuff that was confirmed by the Snowden leaks a decade later. The biggest fiction in the movie was their ability to connect the dots and do stuff in real time as depicted. The NSA director even said they were appalled how the agents were portrayed and went on PR campaigns to defend them selves. They were always spying but not ruthless killers as depicted in the movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)