UNITED STATES : NSA'S PAINFUL INTERNAL AUDIT - Issue 372 dated 16/12/1999

UNITED STATES 02/12/1999

SPECULATION ON NSA HEARINGS

According to Intelligence Newsletter sources in Congress, NSA officials won't be heard before the House of Representative's Government Reform Committee [...]

UNITED STATES 18/11/1999

BARR WINS FIRST ROUND AGAINST ECHELON

Legislator Bob Barr has benefited from a favorable climate in the U.S. Congress to mark an important point in his [...]

UNITED STATES 04/11/1999

CIVILIANS BUCKING CHANGE AT NSA

National Security Agency insiders say the organization's new director, Lt.-Gen. Michael Hayden, who took up his job in March, has [...]

UNITED STATES 04/11/1999

WORK ON INFORMATION SECURITY "LARGELY FRUITLESS

" Several leading information industry specialists and academics have concluded [...]

UNITED STATES 21/10/1999

NSA AND NIST SHOW THEIR STUFF

Some of the leading lights in the field of information [...]

UNITED STATES 21/10/1999

HIGH TECH INTELLIGENCE SHOW

The National Security Agency is planning to give outside experts [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES EUROPE 21/10/1999

THE PITFALLS OF MASS-PRODUCED ENCRYPTION

During the G8 summit meeting in Moscow this week as ministers laid plans for future cooperation in fighting cybercrime several law enforcement and intelligence officials on the sidelines were instead weighing the consequences of mass-produced encryption. [...]

UNITED STATES 07/10/1999

FRESH TWIST IN CHINA EMBASSY BOMBING

American claims that the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7 by US Air Force fighters was [...]

UNITED STATES 07/10/1999

NSA'S SUPER COMPUTER

The computer manufacturer SGN based in Mountain View, California, has [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 07/10/1999

IBM AND MICROSOFT, THEIR SECRET ALLIANCES

In recent months the Pentagon and NSA have undertaken secret and direct negotiations with the bosses of IBM and Microsoft to get them to install systems enabling the intelligence community to gain access to encrypted data. [...]

UNITED STATES 23/09/1999

FRESH APPROACH TO ENCRYPTION

The hand of the U.S. Justice Department and Pentagon in shaping American policy on cryptography became ever-more evident when the [...]

UNITED STATES 26/08/1999

NSA WANTS TO WORK WITH BANKS

The National Security Agency (NSA) recently approached the American Bankers Association (ABA) with an offer to help set up an [...]

UNITED STATES 26/08/1999

COMPANIES LINKED TO U.S. INTELLIGENCE

A book published in the United States this month identifies American companies linked to the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence [...]

UNITED STATES 08/07/1999

WORLD-WIDE INTERNET SECURITY SCHEME

Washington is intent on creating a massive domestic and international Internet monitoring system, according to Intelligence Newsletter sources close to [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 08/07/1999

NEW HOME FOR GCHQ

Cheltenham borough council has approved final details for a new center for Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Designed by the [...]

UNITED STATES 08/07/1999

ENCRYPTION EXPORTS TO BE LIBERALIZED?

The President's Export Council Subcommittee on Encryption (PECSENC) met in [...]

UNITED STATES 24/06/1999

SECRET HELP FOR KOSOVARS

According to an Intelligence Newsletter source at the Pentagon who has just returned from the Balkans, a significant number of [...]

UNITED STATES 27/05/1999

CONGRESS MOVE TO CURB ECHELON

A Republican congressman from Georgia, Bob Barr, successfully introduced an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act on May 13 that [...]

UNITED STATES 27/05/1999

MONET, A NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

Three major American military facilities in the Washington region – those of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Defense Information Systems [...]

UNITED STATES 27/05/1999

UNIVERSITIES WIN TOP MARKS FROM NSA

The National Security Agency has singled out seven American universities [...]

CANADA UNITED STATES 22/04/1999

QUEBEC DATAMINING FOR NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) plans to use Nucleus software manufactured by the small Montreal-based company Sand Technology Systems for [...]

UNITED STATES 22/04/1999

THOMAS WILSON

After naming an Air Force general, Michael Hayden, as head of the NSA last month (IN 353/354) president Bill Clinton [...]

UNITED STATES 22/04/1999

FORMER NSA DIRECTOR TO PROMOTE EXPORTS

President Bill Clinton announced on April 14 that he was [...]

UNITED STATES 08/04/1999

PENTAGON FAULTED FOR INADEQUATE C4I

A committee of independent experts chaired by Jim McGroddy, who was an IBM vice president in charge of research until [...]

UNITED STATES 11/03/1999

NEW BOSS AT NSA

As Intelligence Newsletter predicted in its last issue (IN 353), [...]

UNITED STATES 11/03/1999

NSA VOICES FEARS IN CRYPTOGRAPHY

Speaking before a House judiciary sub-committee on March 4, NSA [...]

UNITED STATES 11/03/1999

TOO MUCH COLLECTION, LACK OF ANALYSIS

In a speech to the Central Intelligence Retiree's Association (CIRA) last fall, John Millis, staff director of the House Permanent [...]

UNITED STATES 25/02/1999

WHO WILL FILL NSA SLOT?

With U.S. Air Force lt.-gen. Kenneth Minihan due to step down as director of the National Security Agency (NSA) in [...]

UNITED STATES 25/02/1999

REVELATIONS OF INTELLIGENCE "BIBLE"

Intelligence expert Jeffrey Richelson is to publish the fourth edition of his "bible" of American intelligence-gathering, The US Intelligence Community [...]

UNITED STATES 25/02/1999

HOW THE NSA "WEAKENS" ALGORITHMS

In the latest of his electronic Crypto Gram publications dated Feb. 15, cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, head of the Minneapolis-based [...]

UNITED STATES 11/02/1999

THE DRIVE FOR AGILE INTELLIGENCE

The recent publication of the book "Top Secret Intranet" (Prentice Hall, NJ., ISBN 0-13-080898-9) by a former top-level NSA official, [...]

UNITED STATES 28/01/1999

NSA'S POST-COLD WAR PROFILE

Significant new details on how the National Security Agency is organized in the post-Cold War era have emerged from new [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES IRAQ 14/01/1999

TOUGH TEST FOR U.S. CODE-BREAKERS

The huge electronic spying operation carried out since 1996 in Iraq by the United States, Israel, Britain and several other countries via UNSCOM raises a lot of questions. One concerns its effectiveness. The results appear to have fallen short of [. [...]

UNITED STATES 14/01/1999

NSA'S HAND IN SHAPING RESEARCH

The National Security Agency has always played a key role in the United States by spurring research – both in-house [...]

UNITED STATES 31/12/1998

DE-CLASSIFYING THE OBVIOUS AND THE LESS SO

Over the last several years the National Security Agency has declassified a variety of facts about operational and administrative matters, [...]

UNITED STATES 10/12/1998

NSA-FBI COMPUTER SECURITY PUSH

Authoritative sources have confirmed that the NSA and FBI are beginning to engage massively in monitoring domestic computer security "incidents." [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 26/11/1998

DEFSMAC A QUIET HERO IN ANTI-PROLIFERATION FIGHT

A flurry of recent ballistic weapons tests highlights the importance of an obscure intelligence organization that is soon to celebrate its 35th anniversary in helping the U.S. to monitor new missile developments across the world. [...]

UNITED STATES 26/11/1998

ANNUAL RSA CONFERENCE

For the first time, the 1999 version of the renowned [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 29/10/1998

LOOKING FOR LOST CODES

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) appears highly intrigued by the [...]

UNITED STATES 29/10/1998

INTERNAL ESPIONAGE?

A former NSA and CIA legal counselor, Elizabeth Rindskopf, publicly [...]

UNITED STATES RUSSIA 29/10/1998

THE CASE AGAINST AN AMERICAN SPY

An affidavit issued by the FBI after it proceeded with the little-noticed arrest of former Army intelligence officer David Sheldon [...]

UNITED STATES 15/10/1998

NSA'S HIGHER COMPUTER-SECURITY PROFILE

The National Security Agency's increased role in helping industry tighten its information and computer security practices was underscored by the [...]

UNITED STATES 01/10/1998

THE FACTS AND FIGURES OF ANTI-DRUG WAR

A recent report by the General Accounting Office stated that the U.S. currently spends over $295 million annually on gleaning [...]

UNITED STATES 17/09/1998

THE HIDDEN COST OF ASKING NSA'S HELP

The National Security Agency is being asked increasingly by the government's civilian branches to simulate attacks on their computer systems [...]

UNITED STATES 03/09/1998

HOW THE INFOWAR GROUPS OPERATE

Previously classified National Security Agency (NSA) briefing slides have shed light on the structure and tasks of two of the [...]

UNITED STATES 03/09/1998

SOFT LANDING FOR EX-SPIES

The National Security Agency launched a program two years ago to pension off some of its older staff by finding [...]

UNITED STATES 30/07/1998

HOW TO PROTECT INFRASTRUCTURE

A conference on "critical infrastructure protection" that was held in Washington on July 15 within the venerable walls of the [...]

UNITED STATES 16/07/1998

ENCRYPTION WITH A "PRIVATE DOORBELL"

Thirteen U.S. computer companies announced on July 13 that they had made a new "breakthrough" on the encryption export front. [...]

FRANCE 16/07/1998

SCSSI TO BE BEEFED UP?

The French government is thinking of considerably beefing up the Service Central pour la Securite des Systemes d'Information (SCSSI) to [...]

UNITED STATES 02/07/1998

THE THREATS AND TRANSPARENCY GAME

In a hearing before a Senate panel on June 24, CIA director George Tenet and NSA boss Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minihan [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES EUROPE 18/06/1998

NEW PUSH FOR NETWORK SECURITY

Not too long ago the intelligence and defense sectors were alone in worrying about the security of information systems, and the question was handled on a national level. But with the growth of the Internet the issue now involves every [. [...]

MONGOLIA 18/06/1998

HAND-IN-GLOVE WITH NSA

The National Security Agency recently set up listening posts in Outer Monogola to intercept Chinese army communications. The advent of [...]

UNITED STATES 18/06/1998

HOW THE U.S. GOT IT WRONG

The U.S. intelligence community's failure to provide warning of the recent Indian nuclear tests stemmed from a combination of analytical, [...]

UNITED STATES 04/06/1998

NSA PUSHES ISRAELI COMPUTER PRODUCT

The National Security Agency, which prides itself on ensuring the use of American-made chips and printed circuit boards for its [...]

UNITED STATES 21/05/1998

AGENCIES SLAMMED FOR LOSING THEIR EDGE

The skills of the U.S. intelligence community have "dwindled since the break-up of the Soviet Union," according to the House [...]

UNITED STATES 19/03/1998

A GLIMPSE AT AMERICAN SIGINT

A key element in the management of the U.S. signals intelligence effort, the National SIGINT Committee, has undergone a number [...]

UNITED STATES 05/03/1998

MERGER MANIA IN ENCRYPTION TRADE

Experts are wondering whether a current wave of mergers in the U.S. encryption business can be interpreted as a sign [...]

UNITED STATES 19/02/1998

HOW NIST AND NSA POOL THEIR EFFORTS

Speaking before the U.S. Senate subcommittee for technology and space on Feb. 10, Raymond Kammer, the new director of the [...]

UNITED STATES 05/02/1998

RICHARD WILHEM

Retired U.S. Navy captain Richard Wilhem, who was the head of NSA's Information Warfare program in the early 1990s, has [...]

UNITED STATES 05/02/1998

NSA TAKES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Clinton Brooks, who had served up to now as special [...]

UNITED STATES 22/01/1998

THOMAS MCDERMOTT

Former deputy director for information systems security at the National Security Agency (NSA), Thomas McDermott has been named senior vice [...]

UNITED STATES 22/01/1998

CROWELL LANDS AT CYLINK CORP

In contact with several companies in the computer field since he retired in September (IN 322/323), the former deputy director [...]

SWEDEN 08/01/1998

AUTHORITIES FIND LOTUS "FLAW"

The Swedish government has just discovered that the encryption software in the Lotus Notes (IBM) system includes a "flaw" that [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 18/12/1997

HOW TO MODERNIZE INTELLIGENCE?

A top-line panel has recommended a shake-up in American intelligence that would include such revolutionary moves as uncoupling the Directorate of Intelligence from the CIA and reducing it drastically in size. The panel, chaired by former National Security Agency director [. [...]

UNITED STATES 04/12/1997

SWEEPING OVERHAUL FOR NSA

The National Security Agency is radically overhauling the structure of its Directorate of Operations, ending the latter's 45-year-long practice of [...]

UNITED STATES 20/11/1997

PLUGGING HOLES IN INFORMATION SECURITY

Unveiled on Nov. 5 after several months of sometimes story debate, the report that the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure [...]

UNITED STATES 20/11/1997

WILLIAM CROWELL -- A CLARIFICATION

William Crowell, the former deputy director of the NSA who retired in September, hasn't been hired by SRI Consulting as [...]

UNITED STATES 06/11/1997

WILLIAM CROWELL

Less than two months after he retired as deputy director of the National Security Agency (NSA), William Crowell has been [...]

UNITED STATES 09/10/1997

CISCO WINS NSA CONTRACT

The U.S. magazine Federal Computer Week has revealed that the [...]

UNITED STATES 26/06/1997

AMERICAN SIGINT BASE TO CLOSE DOWN

The last major American signals intelligence facility in Germany may close down in the near future. The Senate Select Committee [...]

UNITED STATES 26/06/1997

NEW WAYS TO HIT "HARD TARGETS"

In a recent talk with newsmen, Keith Hall, director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), outlined a number of new [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES EUROPE 12/06/1997

STANDARDS A WEAPON IN INFOWAR

Up to now, standards and norms on a national or world level traditionally emerged from a long bureaucratic process established by engineers isolated in their specific technical fields. For some time now, however, this backwater world has become a strategic [. [...]

SWEDEN 30/04/1997

WHY THE SWEDISH TREE FELL

The American journalist Allan Francovich, reputed for his investigative documentaries on covert U.S. intelligence operations, the Gladio Stay Behind network [...]

UNITED STATES 13/03/1997

BETTER SHIELD FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

Set up last December, the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP) that aims to hammer out a national strategy [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 13/02/1997

CRYPTOGRAPHY'S LEAP INTO COMMERCIAL ARENA

By the end of this year cryptography will have definitely quit the intelligence and defense spheres in which it has been carefully enclosed up to now and thrown itself into the commercial era. The RSA Data Security Conference which was [. [...]

UNITED STATES 16/01/1997

STEELE TESTS WATER FOR GORE

Robert Steele, pioneer in the use of open sources by U.S. intelligence, has angrily protested over two decisions taken by [...]

UNITED STATES 14/11/1996

BALANCING ACT BETWEEN DCI AND SENATE

The 1997 Intelligence Authorization Act signed by President Bill Clinton in October will lift U.S. spending on intelligence to a [...]

UNITED STATES 14/11/1996

LIFTING THE VEIL ON NRO

The US National Reconnaissance Office has released further details about its budget, personnel, organization and future plans. Among the details [...]

UNITED STATES 17/10/1996

THE LAST OF VENONA'S SECRETS

The final batch of Venona documents that provide information on Americans, Britons, Australians and others who gave the Soviet Union [...]

UNITED STATES 19/09/1996

LATEST ADVANCES IN TRANSLATION MACHINES

Thomas Pedtke, who holds the job of Associate Chief Scientist at the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC), gave an interesting [...]

UNITED STATES 18/07/1996

A "LOCKBOX" TO KEEP CODES

The U S company Trusted Information Services (TIS) was one of the first to criticize the Clipper Chip when it [...]

UNITED STATES 26/06/1996

704TH'S WORK FOR NSA

Recent leaks in the U.S. indicate that the 704th Military Intelligence Brigade based at Fort Meade, Maryland, provides major support [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 09/05/1996

DEUTCH FORGES A REAL "COMMUNITY"

John Deutch's plan to overhaul American intelligence that was presented to Congress in late April aims to meld a profusion of agencies with often overlapping powers into a genuine, unified and more effective "intelligence community" with a much smaller workforce. [...]

UNITED STATES 18/04/1996

FIXING AGENDA FOR TCA

The Technical Collection Agency that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said in its IC21 report (IN --) should [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 18/04/1996

A CIA TRAITOR'S IMPACT

The United States still hasn't told the British government exactly how much damage CIA traitor Aldrich Ames inflicted on British [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 07/03/1996

DRAWING NEW MAP FOR U.S. INTELLIGENCE

The high-level panel set up under former defence secretary Harold Brown to assess the performance of the American intelligence community has rejected any massive overhaul of U.S. intelligence. The panel, named the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the [. [...]

UNITED STATES 09/11/1995

AUDITING NRO'S BOOKS

In response to a barrage of fire against the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), CIA director John Deutch has told the [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 26/10/1995

NEW BLUEPRINT FOR U.S. SIGINT

The National Security Agency has undertaken a major rehaul of its signals intelligence operations which reflects the collapse of the Soviet threat, budget reductions and personnel cutbacks in the U.S. intelligence community and an increased commitment to collecting SIGINT to [. [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 12/10/1995

NEW BOSS AT GCHQ

David Omand, a 48-year-old leading official at Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD), is strongly tipped to become the new head [...]

FRANCE 12/10/1995

A COMPUTER SPY UNMASKED

For years Jean-Bernard Condat has undoubtedly been France's best-known computer hacker. Appearing on television talk shows, launching provocative operations and [...]

UNITED STATES 14/09/1995

BANKING SYSTEM IGNORES DANGER

The National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies are persuaded that American banks either ignore the danger of hackers [...]

UNITED STATES ISRAEL 31/08/1995

ISRAEL ANGLE IN FOSTER CASE

James Norman, a senior editor at Forbes magazine for five years, was suddenly fired two weeks ago in connection with [...]

UNITED STATES 14/06/1995

CALL FOR SEPARATE SPACE BUDGET

With the American intelligence and defence community hotly debating the future of American space programs, an independent expert, John Pike, [...]

UNITED STATES 31/05/1995

JOHN DEUTCH

The new Director of Central Intelligence, John Deutch, made his first public appearance on May 23 in Washington during a [...]

UNITED STATES 31/05/1995

THE NSA'S TURN

Following the Association of Old Crows' success in staging its [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 12/04/1995

BAD NEWS FOR GCHQ

A committee looking into the capability, tasks and management structure at GCHQ Cheltenham at prime minister John Major's bidding is [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 29/03/1995

SECRETS OF MENWITH HILL

British defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind recently signed a so-called Public Interest Immunity certificate claiming that any "official disclosures" in court [...]

UNITED STATES 14/12/1994

NSA GETS LEG-UP FROM HPCC

Many experts are convinced the National Security Agency's main reason for climbing aboard the Clinton administrations's High Performance Computing and [...]

Spotlight UNITED STATES 30/11/1994

THE MARCH TO "OFF-THE-SHELF" INTELLIGENCE

Many high-level officials from the National Security Agency turned up at the latest seminar staged in Washington by Open Sources Solutions, the company headed by Robert Steele which has worked in recent years to encourage intelligence services to use open [. [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 16/11/1994

LAYOFFS AT GCHQ

At least 500 jobs will be eliminated at the GCHQ SIGINT base because of government belt-tightening. GCHQ bosses hope the [...]

Cai Mingpo, the financier helping to build the bridges between France and China

Thomas Kaplan, the billionaire pushing Abu Dhabi's interests in the Middle East

NSA'S PAINFUL INTERNAL AUDIT

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SPECULATION ON NSA HEARINGS

BARR WINS FIRST ROUND AGAINST ECHELON

CIVILIANS BUCKING CHANGE AT NSA

WORK ON INFORMATION SECURITY "LARGELY FRUITLESS

NSA AND NIST SHOW THEIR STUFF

HIGH TECH INTELLIGENCE SHOW

THE PITFALLS OF MASS-PRODUCED ENCRYPTION

FRESH TWIST IN CHINA EMBASSY BOMBING

NSA'S SUPER COMPUTER

IBM AND MICROSOFT, THEIR SECRET ALLIANCES

FRESH APPROACH TO ENCRYPTION

NSA WANTS TO WORK WITH BANKS

COMPANIES LINKED TO U.S. INTELLIGENCE

WORLD-WIDE INTERNET SECURITY SCHEME

NEW HOME FOR GCHQ

ENCRYPTION EXPORTS TO BE LIBERALIZED?

SECRET HELP FOR KOSOVARS

CONGRESS MOVE TO CURB ECHELON

MONET, A NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

UNIVERSITIES WIN TOP MARKS FROM NSA

QUEBEC DATAMINING FOR NSA

THOMAS WILSON

FORMER NSA DIRECTOR TO PROMOTE EXPORTS

PENTAGON FAULTED FOR INADEQUATE C4I

NEW BOSS AT NSA

NSA VOICES FEARS IN CRYPTOGRAPHY

TOO MUCH COLLECTION, LACK OF ANALYSIS

WHO WILL FILL NSA SLOT?

REVELATIONS OF INTELLIGENCE "BIBLE"

HOW THE NSA "WEAKENS" ALGORITHMS

THE DRIVE FOR AGILE INTELLIGENCE

NSA'S POST-COLD WAR PROFILE

TOUGH TEST FOR U.S. CODE-BREAKERS

NSA'S HAND IN SHAPING RESEARCH

DE-CLASSIFYING THE OBVIOUS AND THE LESS SO

NSA-FBI COMPUTER SECURITY PUSH

DEFSMAC A QUIET HERO IN ANTI-PROLIFERATION FIGHT

ANNUAL RSA CONFERENCE

LOOKING FOR LOST CODES

INTERNAL ESPIONAGE?

THE CASE AGAINST AN AMERICAN SPY

NSA'S HIGHER COMPUTER-SECURITY PROFILE

THE FACTS AND FIGURES OF ANTI-DRUG WAR

THE HIDDEN COST OF ASKING NSA'S HELP

HOW THE INFOWAR GROUPS OPERATE

SOFT LANDING FOR EX-SPIES

HOW TO PROTECT INFRASTRUCTURE

ENCRYPTION WITH A "PRIVATE DOORBELL"

SCSSI TO BE BEEFED UP?

THE THREATS AND TRANSPARENCY GAME

NEW PUSH FOR NETWORK SECURITY

HAND-IN-GLOVE WITH NSA

HOW THE U.S. GOT IT WRONG

NSA PUSHES ISRAELI COMPUTER PRODUCT

AGENCIES SLAMMED FOR LOSING THEIR EDGE

A GLIMPSE AT AMERICAN SIGINT

MERGER MANIA IN ENCRYPTION TRADE

HOW NIST AND NSA POOL THEIR EFFORTS

RICHARD WILHEM

NSA TAKES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

THOMAS MCDERMOTT

CROWELL LANDS AT CYLINK CORP

AUTHORITIES FIND LOTUS "FLAW"

HOW TO MODERNIZE INTELLIGENCE?

SWEEPING OVERHAUL FOR NSA

PLUGGING HOLES IN INFORMATION SECURITY

WILLIAM CROWELL -- A CLARIFICATION

WILLIAM CROWELL

CISCO WINS NSA CONTRACT

AMERICAN SIGINT BASE TO CLOSE DOWN

NEW WAYS TO HIT "HARD TARGETS"