How The NSA Began

President Truman signs the National Security Act, July 1947 (Truman Library)

The Secret Story Of How The NSA Began -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

Congress was surprised to find that a federal intelligence agency they'd scarcely heard of was bigger and more powerful than one that they'd created.
 
In 1982, James Bamford published The Puzzle Palace, an unprecedented journalistic look at the National Security Agency. This is an opportune moment to revisit it. Current readers can't help but be struck by its portents of things to come. As well, the sudden interest in the NSA following the Edward Snowden leaks has exposed a huge gulf between what surveillance state nerds know to be public information and what the general public actually knows about the secretive agency.

Perhaps an impromptu book club would narrow the gap. I'll offer brief reflections as I go, and anyone who wants to read along and comment can get the book here.

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My Comment: Considering how much it has grown since the late 1940s .... one can only imagine how big and omnipresent the NSA will be 50 years from now.