Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 07:39:06 -0400
From: John Young <jya-AT-pipeline.com>
Subject: Electronic Surveillance


The correct URL for the Office of Technology Assessment
reports on electronic surveillance is:

   http://jya.com/esnoop.htm

The UK Sunday Times a week ago had a long report on 
NSA's "spy station F-83" at Menwith Hill, the UK/USA 
electronic interception pact, the rising European furor about 
ECHELON and demands of politicians in several 
countries for investigation:

   http://jya.com/nsa-f83.htm

Several journalists note that this long-running violation 
of privacy is of greater interest to foreign targets than to 
Americans who blithely believe they're not despite evidence 
reported over decades. A comprehensive view of NSA and
allied foreign agencies and their methods for bypassing laws
against domestic spying is provided by:

   The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's Most Secret
    Agency
   By James Bamford
   Penguin, 1983 (paper)

More recently the topic is reported in "Secret Power," by
Nicky Hager. See a condensed version:

   http://jya.com/echelon.htm

To balance these reports it would be beneficial to have similar
investigations of other nations' electronic spying operations, 
but we know of none of comparable thoroughness to Bamford and
Hager. We'd like to hear of them if there are. There are a few 
news reports of French, Israeli, Chinese and others' electronic 
espionage but little more than accusations.

Last Thursday in a Congressional hearing an assistant secretary
of defense testified that widespread use of strong encryption may 
be the only way to protect U.S. national security from electronic 
spying, a reversal of current administration policy and more in
accord with European advocacy of strong encryption to protect
against ECHELON.

This information warfare, as many note, defines the range of 
technology needed for national security. For the US Defense 
Department's strategy see:

   http://jya.com/iwd.htm




     --- from list technology-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---