What Is Making The NSA's Top Officials Angry

NSA headquarters. Image: Wikimedia Commons

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the NSA’s Bigwigs. Here’s What Has Them Mad -- Steven Levy, Threat Level/Wired

My expectations were low when I asked the National Security Agency to cooperate with my story on the impact of Edward Snowden’s leaks on the tech industry. During the 1990s, I had been working on a book, Crypto, which dove deep into cryptography policy, and it took me years — years! — to get an interview with an employee crucial to my narrative. I couldn’t quote him, but he provided invaluable background on the Clipper Chip, an ill-fated NSA encryption runaround that purported to strike a balance between protecting personal privacy and maintaining national security.

Oh, and I was not permitted to interview my Crypto source at the agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. I was crushed; I had grown obsessed with the vaunted triple fence surrounding the restricted area and had climactic hopes that I’d get inside. Instead, the meet occurred just outside the headquarters’ heavily guarded perimeter, at the National Cryptologic Museum. (I did buy a cool NSA umbrella in the gift shop.)

Read more ....

My Comment: Edward Snowden has forced the NSA to respond in a manner that they never thought they would be put in a position to do .... to respond to a scandal that keeps on growing instead of leading the charge to get out of it .... and that is their number one beef (plus all the leaks .... and more leaks to come).