Seeker Blog

John Hinderaker, with able help from informed readers, explains -

The administration, of course, has not complained that the New York Times damaged our security by revealing that the NSA is carrying out warrantless interception of communications between al Qaeda members overseas and people in the U.S.; the complaint is that the Times disclosed that the NSA is carrying out such interceptions at all. And, as many emailers have noted, the fact that the terrorists were unaware of the program is demonstrated by the fact that such calls were being made and intercepted.

One Powerline reader emailed some perspective that I was not aware of (the media coverage had revealed NSA code breaking via backdoors, etc.). If he is correct the damage is even more serious:

The damage caused by the NSA intercept case can be better understood by describing the technology involved.

As an introduction, my company produces software for securing high value electronic assets for major banks. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions in the world. In short, we thoroughly understand electronic security. The NSA program that captures electronic communication appears from all descriptions to have some very significant features previously not disclosed to the public.

First, the communications involved (email and phone) very likely used encrypted channels. Digital cell phones encrypt communications before transmission. Many email programs offer simple encryption options as do PDF files and the like. For many years, the security community has suspected the NSA had “backdoors” into commonly used encryption protocols. These standards include familiar technical terms, such as “SSL” browser security. The recent disclosures publicly (and loudly) confirm the NSA’s highly effective code-breaking technology. An article from 2003 describes the possibility as “theoretical”. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4130. By disclosing the insecure protocols, the Times simply tipped the enemy to switch protocols.

Second, the intercepts appear to have been supported by US infrastructure and telecommunications firms. Telephone companies (and Internet firms) use digital switching equipment (e.g. routers) to move bits across various networks. Were the NSA to have access to the underlying data stream from multiple Internet and long distance firms, it would have access to every piece of data streaming across the fiber optic cable and could “narrow” the search by filtering based on IP address or phone number. From now on the enemy will consider US telephone and Internet channels insecure under all conditions.

As we have seen in the past, the enemy adapts to sophisticated information gathering techniques. From a purely technical standpoint, this disclosure represents a significant disclosure of the tools, capabilities and methods of the NSA’s information gathering programs. If the breaking of the Japanese and German codes during WWII were published in the New York Times during the war, it would have devastated the American ability to intercept enemy communications. It would also have been treason.