Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #161205

Re: enigma

Show all headers | View raw

"Joe Pfeiffer" <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
> mausg@mail.com writes:

>> I am told that couples that work in GCHQ or with the NSA (really, same
>> place) aare forbidden to talk of their work, even at home

> Absolutely true.  All classified material is on a need-to-know basis in
> addition to whatever their classification level is; if your spouse
> doesn't have a need to know, you can't discuss it with him or her.

Even more, one does *not* discuss classified information in an environment 
where others, not possessing both the appropriate clearance *and* 
need-to-know, might overhear the discussion.  Most residential occupancies 
fail to meet this requirement (think of how easy it would be to turn your 
telephone into a listening device).

That restriction can be frustrating.  A good example of that comes from the 
early 1980s when the gov'mt discovered that classified information was 
leaking from the US embassy in Moscow.  NSA swapped out every device that 
touched classified information, including everything from computers and 
radio equipment down to non-data IBM Selectric typewriters and searched for 
the bug they believed to be be there.  One of the NSA engineers, working by 
himself on a weekend found the bug (it *was* in the Selectric typewriters!) 
but had no way to tell *anyone* (including other NSA people involved in the 
investigation) about it until Monday morning.  (For details, Google "Project 
GUNMAN" and download the redacted report from the NSA website.) **

A few years back there was a directive to <appropriate people> to avoid 
discussing classified material when in an auto equipped with OnStar or a 
similar 2-way audio system.  The directive was issued when auto rental firms 
began to offer autos with OnStar.

I may have posted this previously - but several years ago I had the 
opportunity to discuss the work at Bletchley with one of the hut leaders. He 
noted that for years many of the people who had worked there got together 
from time to time to have dinner, but would never discuss Bletchley or the 
work there because the material was still classified somewhere north of Most 
Secret.

Eventually the Powers That Be decided that the cat was out of the bag and 
released the people from their oath of secrecy, but somehow missed the 
gentleman with whom I was discussing Bletchley.  At the next dinner all the 
other people at the table were talking about their work, but my aquaintance, 
who had never received the release letter, did not.  (His wife claimed that 
he turned green upon hearing material that he still considered to be highly 
classified.)

Joe

** For extra credit, download *both* the redacted report (with large areas 
blanked out) and the "clean" version that's been edited to avoid the rough 
spots left by redaction.  I find it very interesting to see which 
now-unclassified paragraphs of the original (very highly classified) report 
were clasified as "Unclassified," "Secret," or "Top Secret;" these marking 
are absent from the cleaned-up document. 

Back to alt.folklore.computers | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

enigma mausg@mail.com - 2016-03-17 13:46 +0000
  Re: enigma Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-03-17 14:07 +0000
    Re: enigma philo <philo@privacy.net> - 2016-03-17 10:00 -0500
    Re: enigma mausg@mail.com - 2016-03-17 15:29 +0000
    Re: enigma Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-03-17 22:23 +0000
      Re: enigma Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com> - 2016-03-17 21:12 -0500
      Re: enigma mausg@mail.com - 2016-03-18 12:39 +0000
        Re: enigma scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2016-03-18 13:15 +0000
          Re: enigma Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2016-03-18 13:30 +0000
            Re: enigma Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-03-18 15:39 +0000
        Re: enigma Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-03-18 08:26 -0600
          Re: enigma Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-03-18 18:26 +0000
          Re: enigma "Joe Morris" <j.c.morris@verizon.net> - 2016-03-18 19:00 -0400
            Re: enigma Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2016-03-18 17:19 -0700
              Re: enigma Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2016-03-18 17:27 -0700
            Re: enigma Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-03-18 17:47 -0700
              Re: enigma JimP. <blue@cwahi.net> - 2016-03-18 20:04 -0500
                Re: enigma Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-03-18 21:28 -0600
            Re: enigma hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-03-19 11:14 -0700
              Re: enigma Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-03-20 09:02 +0000
        Re: enigma Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-03-18 17:47 -0700
          Re: enigma JimP. <blue@cwahi.net> - 2016-03-18 20:06 -0500
            Re: enigma mausg@mail.com - 2016-03-19 11:01 +0000
              Re: enigma "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-03-19 10:06 -0400
                Re: enigma Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-03-19 16:17 +0100
                Re: enigma greymaus <mausg@mail.com> - 2016-03-19 17:45 +0000
                Re: enigma "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-03-19 14:00 -0400
                Re: enigma sidd@situ.com (sidd) - 2016-03-19 15:48 -0400
              Re: enigma Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-03-19 15:10 +0000
              Re: enigma Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2016-03-19 12:31 -0500
            Re: enigma Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-03-19 07:28 -0700
            Re: enigma cb@elaine.df.lth.se (Christian Brunschen) - 2016-03-19 18:05 +0000
              Re: enigma Jon Elson <jmelson@wustl.edu> - 2016-03-21 13:56 -0500
                Re: enigma Andy Burns <feb2017-usenet@adslpipe.co.uk> - 2016-03-21 19:47 +0000
  Re: enigma "capek@ieee.org <Peter Capek>" <peter.capek@gmail.com> - 2016-03-20 23:16 -0700
    Re: enigma Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-03-21 05:55 -0700
      Re: enigma JimP. <blue@cwahi.net> - 2016-03-21 12:07 -0500
        Re: enigma Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-03-21 13:51 -0700

csiph-web