41 ms·

Now just imagine what's Top Secret RIGHT NOW.

ww520 15y ago
The X-Ray phone app they released last month?
praptak 15y ago
Probably a little less than back then, the incentives are not so strong. During the Cold War it was like in Harry Potter: "one cannot live while the other survives", now the struggle for power in the world is less intense, it's more about influence and profit rather than destroying the other side.
- its_so_on 15y ago
  well, China manufactures all America's stuff. I will leave it to you how the Soviet-era threat of Nuclear bombs compares, to an American, with the threat of not getting any more stuff.
  - jmesserly 15y ago
    This is a common misconception. The US is the world's largest manufacturer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#Manufacturing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#Ma... Now, it's true that as a percent of GDP, China is the largest manufacturer. But per capita it is either Japan or Germany (depending on which charts I was looking at), with US not far behind. (Unfortunately as the world's largest national economy, a beggar-thy-neighbor export policy doesn't work so well for us.)
- mturmon 15y ago
  Sounds good at first, but remember, the U.S. just spent around around $3e12 on wars in the Middle East, developing all kinds of technology along the way. Some of it has to be surveillance tech like this. Even a small fraction of this number would pay for a lot.
- brown9-2 15y ago
  I wouldn't be so sure, especially since 9/11/2001: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/national-security-inc/ http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articl...
7952 15y ago
Perhaps the secrets are in terms of processing capability. They have high resolution synthetic appeture radar. Im guessing that civilian applications only scratch the surface of what that could be capable of.
ratsbane 15y ago
Good question. Maybe this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%28signals_intelligence%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%28signals_intelligence...
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- nawariata 15y ago
  Hardly a top secret if you can read about it on the wikipedia.
- drumdance 15y ago
  I would love to know the story behind the Stuxnet worm, but I doubt it will be declassified in my lifetime.
InclinedPlane 15y ago
The big sooper secret spy satellites are elint sats. We have a pretty good idea of the imaging and radar capabilities of satellites but the electronic evesdropping capabilities is much less widely known.

ww520 15y ago

The X-Ray phone app they released last month?

Probably a little less than back then, the incentives are not so strong. During the Cold War it was like in Harry Potter: "one cannot live while the other survives", now the struggle for power in the world is less intense, it's more about influence and profit rather than destroying the other side.

its_so_on 15y ago
well, China manufactures all America's stuff. I will leave it to you how the Soviet-era threat of Nuclear bombs compares, to an American, with the threat of not getting any more stuff.
- jmesserly 15y ago
  This is a common misconception. The US is the world's largest manufacturer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#Manufacturing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#Ma... Now, it's true that as a percent of GDP, China is the largest manufacturer. But per capita it is either Japan or Germany (depending on which charts I was looking at), with US not far behind. (Unfortunately as the world's largest national economy, a beggar-thy-neighbor export policy doesn't work so well for us.)
mturmon 15y ago
Sounds good at first, but remember, the U.S. just spent around around $3e12 on wars in the Middle East, developing all kinds of technology along the way. Some of it has to be surveillance tech like this. Even a small fraction of this number would pay for a lot.
brown9-2 15y ago
I wouldn't be so sure, especially since 9/11/2001: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/national-security-inc/ http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articl...

7952 15y ago

Perhaps the secrets are in terms of processing capability. They have high resolution synthetic appeture radar. Im guessing that civilian applications only scratch the surface of what that could be capable of.

ratsbane 15y ago

Good question. Maybe this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%28signals_intelligence%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%28signals_intelligence...

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
nawariata 15y ago
Hardly a top secret if you can read about it on the wikipedia.
drumdance 15y ago
I would love to know the story behind the Stuxnet worm, but I doubt it will be declassified in my lifetime.

InclinedPlane 15y ago

The big sooper secret spy satellites are elint sats. We have a pretty good idea of the imaging and radar capabilities of satellites but the electronic evesdropping capabilities is much less widely known.