The bloody Marines that guarded NSA HQ at the time would hit the bricks at 5AM and run around the barracks area in formation singing cadence songs while carrying their rifles overhead. before heading off to breakfast. I’m sure that really helped their ‘people skills’ when they were manning the entry points.
After living in barracks for flight crews where someone is always on crew rest, you got used to quiet. You listened to music on headphones, so you didn’t disturb anyone. This was before cellphones, so there were no ringing phones. Actually there weren’t even payphones in the living areas. It was a bit like a monastery.
]]>I never had to go visit our installation at the NSA, thankfully, before the company tanked. (Oops, sorry, “DARPA”, I keep forgetting those little niceties, as the butterbars rotating through there would remind me 😉 ). There was talk near the end of sending me out there, but then the company imploded. I was sad that the company imploded, but relieved I didn’t have to go out there to Maryland… flying is just such a hassle today, among other things. Sigh!
]]>I sort of doubt it took hours and included a lunch break, Steve, or that people kept reminding you about 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine, but many companies are intense about protecting their trade secrets.
The real point was, in the old days NSA was really insistent that people did not monitor US citizens, and that doing so was a violation of US law and military law. This was not mentioned in passing, this was a major bullet point in the briefing. Anyone, like General Michael Hayden, who went through that briefing would know that there was no question that these programs are illegal and unConstitutional. That is what is so upsetting to NSA veterans.
]]>Hell, that was true of the international data center of a major oil company I did contract work for. The reception desk assigned a person to lead me straight to the security office, who badged me in, explained what I was and was not allowed to do, and then assigned someone else to lead me directly to the meeting I was attending. (The building was immense. Without a guide, one could plausibly excuse wandering by saying “I got lost;” the guide was their way of preventing that.) After the meeting, it was the same process in reverse.
I would hardly expect less of an actual government security office, though fortunately I’ve never been to one.
]]>If there was an accidental intercept, you had to file a report and delete it. This stuff was checked.
If you make a call to or from a military base, it may be monitored. All US facilities overseas are subject to monitoring for security reasons. For years when I answered a telephone the first words I said were “This is an unclassified line.” It was an automatic reminder to people not to discuss classified material on the telephone, and to be aware that the phone might be monitored. The monitoring wasn’t a secret. People were told about it. That is very different from what is going on now with everything being monitored.
Like Bruce says – you can’t trust anyone anymore.
]]>Just a data point I found interesting. No real point to this comment otherwise. (Latest one — Bruce Schneier weighs in — and yes, Bruce’s NSA past is common knowledge in the Valley, though never acknowledged by himself or the NSA of course).
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