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http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/

(Note to the conspiracy theorists: it's covered under the GPL, and source is available.)

It seems to me that Microsoft's objective is to prevent the U.S. Government from using Linux or other GPLed products. A recent example of the sort of thing Microsoft is worried about is the NSA Linux project which is GPLed (of course) and the use of Linux at places involved in government-sponsored research like Los Alamos.

If the government starts large-scale development in a GPLed environment then companies like Microsoft will be affected in several ways:

• they will lose government sales
• the government will be effectively underwriting the development efforts of one of their competitors: the Free Software community
• GPLed code will spread virally throughout government development projects thereby affecting areas not immediately affected
• government contractors will use government-compatible systems (GPLed)
• government contractors will be under increasing pressure to GPL their code or possibly face accusations of incorporating GPLed code into a proprietary product

From here the whole thing can snowball out of (Microsoft's) control. Personally, I like the idea.

But at the same time, we insist that the government be involved in every other aspect of our lives, trusting them with far more potentially pernicious powers in those areas. I'm here referring to Hayek's Road to Serfdom. While this is a more libertarian forum than the population as a whole, I wonder why the solution to DCS1000 seems to be outrage that they are betraying the trust we gave them. If they can't be trusted with the power, why trust them with the prerogative to acquire the power? Why put them in a position to betray our trust if we don't trust them? Or if we do trust them with the prerogative to acquire the power, why not with the power itself? This doesn't seem like a coherent position, to both trust and withhold trust.

If we were really concerned with limiting the powers of government, on the idea that we can't trust its executors, we would paraphrase Madison, Hamilton, and Jay not Benjamin Franklin (the latter portion, about receiving neither, is apocryphal -- it was added by people disturbed by the suggestion that, even if we got security, we would not deserve it if we so abandoned our freedom. Not that I think Moonwick is such a one; the tenor of his comment suggests that he was merely paraphrasing the misquotation of another who could not accept the radicalism of Franklin's statement.)

P.S., So if I'm doing a doctoral dissertation on James Madison, does that make this post flame-bait, insightful, or a troll?

But even this is problematic. This sort of encryption wouldn't be too hard to break (the intelligent folk on this subject have already posted), and the Evil Men in Suits would just have more types of fish to look for in their net; so Osama bin Laden isn't about to touch it.

"But isn't the site suggesting that we use this to force the Evil Men in Suits to read our spam?" Yes, but this isn't a feasible idea. Once they've broken the code, they'll just look for those search terms (or more likely in this case, phrases); the context in which they occur wouldn't greatly increase the load on their system. Unless we also encrypt things like "Bill Clinton loses SS protection in a few years; wanna start something?" they won't bother looking. And in that case, why not just send it in the clear? Because this method is so transparent, the Evil Men in Suits aren't about to spend any extra time on spam, seeing as bin Laden won't transmit using it.

But even this is problematic. This sort of encryption wouldn't be too hard to break (the intelligent folk on this subject have already posted), and the Evil Men in Suits would just have more types of fish to look for in their net; so Osama bin Laden isn't about to touch it.

"But isn't the site suggesting that we use this to force the Evil Men in Suits to read our spam?" Yes, but this isn't a feasible idea. Once they've broken the code, they'll just look for those search terms (or more likely in this case, phrases); the context in which they occur wouldn't greatly increase the load on their system. Unless we also encrypt things like "Bill Clinton loses SS protection in a few years; wanna start something?" they won't bother looking. And in that case, why not just send it in the clear? Because this method is so transparent, the Evil Men in Suits aren't about to spend any extra time on spam, seeing as bin Laden won't transmit using it.

But even this is problematic. This sort of encryption wouldn't be too hard to break (the intelligent folk on this subject have already posted), and the Evil Men in Suits would just have more types of fish to look for in their net; so Osama bin Laden isn't about to touch it.

"But isn't the site suggesting that we use this to force the Evil Men in Suits to read our spam?" Yes, but this isn't a feasible idea. Once they've broken the code, they'll just look for those search terms (or more likely in this case, phrases); the context in which they occur wouldn't greatly increase the load on their system. Unless we also encrypt things like "Bill Clinton loses SS protection in a few years; wanna start something?" they won't bother looking. And in that case, why not just send it in the clear? Because this method is so transparent, the Evil Men in Suits aren't about to spend any extra time on spam, seeing as bin Laden won't transmit using it.

Actually, that's also prohibited, explicitly. Did you really think that if you thought of that, that its watchdogs would not? Really, now...

From the NSA FAQ:


Couldn't the Agency simply ask its allies to provide them with information about U.S. persons?

We have been prohibited by executive order since 1978 from having any person or government agency, whether foreign or U.S., conduct any activity on our behalf that we are prohibited from conducting ourselves.

Therefore, NSA/CSS does not ask its allies to conduct such activities on its behalf nor does NSA/CSS do so on behalf of its allies.

Semi-topical: Anyone else see this blurb about a webcast happening today. I'd be willing to donate money/food/mice/nubile virgins/etc. to anyone who can post an IP address of this webcast. Seems like double secret probation to me.

It's about time the government

• got some software that does what they want, not what M$ wants (or what some hacker in Russia wants)
• advocated the use of standards (non-MS TCP, non-.doc)
• reaped some payoff from (arguably) the most successful government program yet (ARPAnet)

I'm not entirly sure why our friends to the north are treated differently, it may have something to do with having a "free" boarder between us. (Some people also therorize that it is because Canada is the "51st state" ;-)

I don't think the Queen of England (or a Canadian for that matter) would have much luck being hired by the NSA, but the Canadian would have much greater luck, being "trusted". Looking on their web page, any and all positions avaliable with the NSA, require you to be a US citizen (http://www.nsa.gov/programs/employ/index.html) as well as get a background check.

According to the package list it includes rsh and WU-FTPd.

Come on, an ultra-secure system with rsh and WU-FTPd?

Okay, so it says WU-FTPd is untested, but there is no excuse for using rsh.

This makes me skeptical of the whole thing.

The NSA is actually encouraging people to get involved with the discussion and source code of the OS at this link! Who would of thought the NSA would do something like this? Sure creates a little bit of a different picture of the big security bully that we've all grown to hate.

Security-enhanced Linux is being released under the conditions of the GNU General Public License (GPL). The release includes documentation and source code for both the system and some system utilities that were modified to make use of the new features. Participation with comments, constructive criticism, and/or improvements is welcome.

Another way to obtain work overseas is to work for a government agency like the NSA which deals with foreign nations. I know they have a few bases in Germany (though I think the French forced us out a fews years back). The US Gov't is starving for tech people and is initiating programs to reward IT professionals who work for them.

If you don't like the idea of working for the government, you could work for a government contractor that deals with overseas matters. You won't be working for the USA gov't directly and you'd probably make more money.

Who's the client? I could tell you who it is, but then I'd have to kill you :).

Don't you worry, I'm sure there's a room somewhere in Fort Meade with a tape of every post dating back to the very beginning...

Microsoft Museum
The Microsoft Museum is mainly focused on the history of Microsoft, although it does have quite a bit of information and exhibits on the history of computing and computer software. The whole place is decorated in Microsoftie colors. It's located on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. Unfortunately it's not open to the public, but I got to attend a party there while I was interning for The Great Satan of Software. However, they do have a fairly nice website that's available to the public.

National Cryptologic Museum
The NCM is run by the NSA and is located on/near Ft. Meade in MD. It gives a good overview of the history of crypto and includes a lot of information on early computing and the role it played. They also have a small public library with plenty of old books that deal with crypto. It's open to the public and has a gift shop where you can buy plenty of things with the NSA logo on them.

http://www.nsa.gov/programs/employ/reason.html

Quote:

Because of the nature of our work, the employment process is thorough and lengthy, so you should apply to NSA several months in advance of your availability date. Applicants must undergo an extensive background investigation, psychological and polygraph exams, and several interviews....

I can give you a personal anecdote (hearsay) about my dad (he passed away in 1977, so this is 25+ year old info, but probably still relevant). My father was convicted of drunk driving back in the late 60's while he was still in college in Arizona. I think that DUI (first offense) was probably a misdemeanor back then, but due to the conviction he lost his driver's license for quite a while (although not permanently). I believe he was in the Air Force at the time, but don't know if he was tried under UCMJ or AZ state law (probably state law, if the AF caught him DUI on base it probably would not cost him his license, but instead days/months in the stockade or whatever). My mom remarked to me several years ago that he constantly got hassles over the DUI conviction when he later joined NSA, as it always came up in security clearance reviews, polygraphs, etc. However it was obviously not a "career killer" type thing.

P.S. I was born in Baltimore (mom didn't trust the Fort Meade hospital) & my brother was born in Fort Meade itself s(she changed her mind I guess) so I should probably make a pilgrimage to the NSA museum someday, if only to see the area where I spent the first two years of my life... I wonder if they give tours of Fort Meade proper (doubtful)?

#include "disclaim.h"
"All the best people in life seem to like LINUX." - Steve Wozniak

• The nearest equivalent to the FBI ... is the RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP also provides the services provided in the US by the Treasury Police, including dealing with "crimes about currency," and the protection of heads of state and diplomatic persons.
• The RCMP used to also perform services equivalent to the CIA, but this group was spun out, becoming CSIS - Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.

  There was a scandal where RCMP "spooks" burned a barn where purportedly nefarious people were planning ill; the "public" view was that this made the RCMP look bad, and so the RCMP wanted no more to do with the "spooky" activities. When they're the "secret service," who can really be sure???. The public face on this was thus:

  The establishment of the civilian Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the disbanding of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service by an Act of Parliament in 1984 recognized the differences between security intelligence activities and law enforcement work. The 120-year old interlocking of Canada's security intelligence service with the federal police force was brought to a close.

• The nearest equivalent to the NSA is the Communications Security Establishment, an "establishment" in the Department of National Defence.

  See also the CSE Unofficial Web Page, which has a rather interesting discussion of the organization.

  They are a mixed civilian/military group largely devoted to "signals analysis," and include pretty much the same functions associated with the NSA, notably not including having their own chip foundries. (Unless there's one hiding somewhere in Labrador!)

  Notable "listening" sites include Gander (a formerly notable airport), Alert (the most northerly inhabited place in the world), Masset, and Kingston. My father used to work next door to CSE headquarters, the Sir Leonard Tilley Building.

Of course! How else would the NSA be able to spy on everyone world wide?

Sheesh, when will you Clinton-hating (and for that matter, any-president-hating) people learn. The pres doesn't have that much power! Read the constitution. Clinton is especially crippled, with a minority congress and a bit of low popularity due to Lewinsky and Co. As for all of your other problems with clinton (the suspicious deaths and such), I have two things for that: 1) mostly a load of crap, and 2) anything that isn't a load of crap is something that ALL politicians do (which is true of Lewinsky as well... even FDR had his own intern :).

However, I do like the fact that you're looking for conspiracies. That's healthy. You're just looking in the wrong place. Politicians are too public, too obvious, and too short-termed (pres only has 8 years...) to really be involved in a massive conspiracy. I'd look at the NSA if I was you - that is the group that we know next-to-nothing about. The one that is supposed to guarantee national security at any price necessary. And honestly, with the exception of this nuclear loss fiasco, I'm of the opinion that the NSA must be doing a pretty good job. Think about it - how many radicals and fundamentalists are there who hate the US? There are so many middle eastern fanatics who are more then willing to sacrifice there lives to hurt the US, and these people have guns, bombs, and possibly even nukes (nuclear data is one thing, but have you ever looked into how many nuclear DEVICES are missing? it's very scary...). And there are, of course, home-bred wackos - those good old fashioned US citizens who like to blow up government buildings for some reason or another. Between all these people, I'm honestly surprised that more buildings aren't blown up! The NSA must actually be doing a decent job. (BTW, clue for the clueless - NSA = National Security Agency).

Oh, and if you want a laugh, visit www.nsa.gov. It's absolutely HILARIOUS! There is an NSA faq and everything!

Given that:

• [ A ] HavenCo is explicitly designed for regulatory arbitrage
• [ B ] Sealand was chosen by HavenCo specifically for :
  • [ i ] theoretical sovreignty
  • [ ii ] relative advantages for physical security
• [ C ] HavenCo is a commercial venture
• [ D ] HavenCo is also a political statement
• [ E ] Many countries (including USA, UK, France, Russia, and China) have all acted aggressively to prevent regulatory arbitrage (ie, double tax treaties, etc)

Then:

• [ 1 ] What precautions have been taken to ensure that HavenCo physical assets and human resources will be protected from predatory legal and/or physical assault?
• [ 2 ] Have any "pro-active" plans to co-opt national intelligence agencies, to prevent possible destruction of HavenCo physical and human assets (ie, developing a relationship with the CIA so that the NSA doesn't call "national defense" and activate SEAL teams to neutralize a potential "national security risk")?
• [ 3 ] In the event that physical security is breached, and it becomes necessary to incinerate the Data Vault, have "live tests" been done to verify that, indeed, the data is unrecoverable (uncompromisable)?

Sometimes the people sending the messages screw up and make mistakes, such as distributing a pad more than once or using a defective random number generator. The NSA cracked a large number of KGB/GRU messages (see VENONA) when the Soviets ran low on one time pads and issued duplicate one time pads. The rumor is that the person responsible for this disaster was shot.

here.

A. EU support of eschelon is cut, but the rest of the network remains, no pollitical [sic] change in the US.

The NSA will always continue to monitor communications regardless of whatever political compromise is struck. SIGINT is part of NSA's very reason for existance. From NSA's FAQ:

"We collect, process, and disseminate intelligence information from foreign electronic signals for national foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes and to support military operations. The requirements driving NSA's collection are set at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. NSA also is tasked with preventing foreign adversaries from gaining access to classified national security information."

As long as there is the NSA, there will be SIGINT. You just won't know about it. We're all kept in the dark as a matter of "National Security".

If you read the Telopolis article, you'll note that: "According to the five page proposal, all future interceptions must "have a legal basis, be in the public interest and be strictly limited to the achievement of the intended objective". My guess is that we'll agree to this, and continue monitoring under the the protection of 'public interest' and 'national security'. Result? Status quo.

And, as an aside - I've formerly held security clearances - it is amazing all of the mundane stuff that is labeled 'classified'... Don't want that embarassing fact to slip? Well, classify it!

-jerdenn

There's one in the National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, MD. Actually they have a few of them, but they have one out in the open so that you can mess with it and encrypt/decrypt stuff. It's quite amusing to play with, but you gotta wonder how long it took to send any message of serious length with it. Think of typing on a REALLY SLOW manual typewriter with a pencil in your other hand writing stuff down. If you're ever in the area check it out.

http://www.cryptome.org
http://jya.com/crypto-free.htm
Learning About Cryptography
Ritter's Crypto Glossary and
Dictionary of Technical Cryptography
Encryption & Security Tutorial
N.A. Crypto Archives
International PGP site
NSA National Cryptologic Museum
EFF
attrition.org crypto archive
Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram

and last, but not least (the archive i developed) ....

PacketStorm Crypto Archives

there are lots and lots of excellent tutorials, docs, glossaries, and links to many of the great crypto sites in the world at all of the URLs above.

for the best info on NSA, ECHELON, misc paranoia, you should first check out Cryptome/JYA. i archived quite a bit of stuff related to your questions at the packetstorm site too - packetstorm.securify.com/crypt/nsa/.

feel free to email me directly if you like too. over the years, i have had some interesting experiences with the NSA, BXA, etc - primarily regarding my hosting of crypto archives, and personal investigations of NSA, ECHELON. if you want to discuss these things, get the pgp key for ken.williams@ey.com from www.keyserver.net, and send your key(s) and crypted msgs to tattooman@genocide2600.com

For those who are interested, there is a pretty spiffy website called the National Cryptologic Museum offered at the nsa site.

For those who are interested, there is a pretty spiffy website called the National Cryptologic Museum offered at the nsa site.

Geeknews has a segment on an Oz IT Security firm (InterSect Alliance) which was started by a couple of ex-spooks from DSD, the Australian equivalent of the NSA. They're aparently investigating the possibility of a government-strength C2 audit module for Linux. A chance to push open source into those really paranoid government agencies? So much for microsoft saying linux has 'poor security functionality' because it has no 'C2 government strength' security.

--

--

Pay range at the NSA for tech jobs is from $33,538 (£20,369) to $69,278 (£42,075), while at GCHQ it's from $26,707 (£16,221) to $56,791 (£34,492).

"We Will:
Be the preferred provider of information systems security solutions. We will provide the leadership, trusted products, and services necessary to protect national security and sensitive information."
From Goal 1, National Cryptologic Strategy For The 21st Century

--
Rovaani

Secure Computing:
In the early 1970s the National Security Agency engaged a division of Honeywell's Air Space Defense Group to build what became the first firewall. From that beginning, the company spun off from Honeywell as a stand-alone organization in 1989, moved into the commercial firewall space in 1992,and went public in 1995.
Secure Computing's history

NSA:
"The ability to understand the secret communications of our foreign adversaries while protecting our own communications--a capability in which the United States leads the world --gives our nation a unique advantage."
--NSA Mission Statement.

China:
"As a country, you really have to be in control of your own destiny," Keller says. "They don't want a sole source situation, especially when that sole source is coming from another country.They want to localize the product. And of course, there are issues of security. If you don't have control of the source code,there are security issues to be concerned about. It's a very important decision for them. Linux allows them the freedom to address all those issues."
Upside article on Red Flag Linux

Does anybody make any non-tech assosciations? It can't be this obvious right?
I mean, while everyone's talking why not bsd, how this is good or bad, contracts, business, bla bla bla........IS EVERYONE BLIND OR SOMETHING....or maybe it's just so obvious, that there's no way it could be......but i can ***guarantee*** that in the event of a real national security threat (like china bombing taiwan--as oppossed to ouzama bin laden), the NSA **will** be in charge.......the NSA is the guarantor of the US's existence. Whether conspiratorial or not, the effect is the same. These people live to destroy any real or perceived threat to national security, even if that threat takes the shape of a global community of programmers. This is about control, and both China and the NSA are steering in their own directions.

As my grandma still says, that's ka-ka. I bet Pinker could play hell with those syllables.

we have every evidence to believe that the military IT sector is incompetant, or at the very least careless. Sure, the NSA hires as many engineers as they can get their hooks into, but consider the trial of Wen Ho Lee from Livermore Labs.

He allegedly conned his co-workers into logging him into systems above his security clearance, and is charged with using his augmented access to abscond with directions for building THE BOMB. if he is deliberately being made into a pawn in some kind of obscene international game, the SFbay area papers are doing a pretty good job because he looks guilty as hell.

Can you convincingly argue that some manager in the US military power structure or in research WANTED to give the PRC the blueprints to build a fusion weapon as a budget gambit? I mean, there are some crazy people out there, but most of them I know are bearish on increasing the nuclear stockpile.

Short of secret alliances to build gravity lasers with space aliens, this is pretty much the most embarrassing thing that could happen to the US nuclear weapons program, short of blowing up Chicago by accident. But it got out anyway! Team that up with the recent hi-profile NASA failures, and I think that the preponderance of evidence suggests that the US government is as careless/incompetant as ever (pick your adjective).

bottom line, if HAL was out there, somebody would have slipped up or intentionally spilled the beans.

Alright, so I'm getting ready to go to college, and while doing a fastweb search for scholarships, I noticed that the NSA was offering an undergraduate training program for students planning on majoring in computer science, language, or mathematics. I hate the NSA as much as just about any other slashdotter, and so I probably won't be applying myself, but I thought it was still pretty interesting.

Check out the info page at http://www.nsa.gov:8080/programs/emp loy/utp.html

Pretty creepy stuff...

Long live cryptography!

Most of the issues mentioned involving hidden messages in various formats such as jpg's and audio files are not new news however I feel any information published is good to know from an educational perspective as well as a model for those paranoid types who are concerned with big brother based programs such as Echelon and Carnivore.

Applied Cryptography offered some nice information as did Information Security Management Handbook but for relevance as to the extent of big brother watching, some should go to the NSA's website and read up on their archives including Venona, and the Enigma machines to get a grasp of how deep government goes in to get their information and how you can address minimal measures on your own to avoid having your information snooped.

Last September I also wrote a quickie document on Circumventing Carnivore that mentions some of these methods to pass information off without it getting caught up on a steriod induced governmental sniffer. Sure it may not be Harvard type material but it should create interest to anyone not too familiar with encryption, ciphertext, algorithms, a simple how to.

As for the title disappearing crypto I hardly doubt it is disappearing in fact with all the hype surrounding PKI's, and the media's ever mentioning of `[H]ackers* I can see many more books, FAQ's, and companies rushing to release more information on crypto from all levels be it beginners to mathematicians based levels.

/me bounces to fatbrain to place an order with info obtained from creditcard.com crackers (of course I'm kidding)

Sexy Unix Chick

Hrm. I can't help thinking of the so-called "stealth fighter", which was apparently fully operational in the late 70s/early 80s (erm, I haven't checked the exact dates on that).

Anyway, certain gov't TLAs always seem to be about 10 years ahead of what they're telling the rest of us. I wouldn't be surprised if the NSA has had open source drew barrymore since the E.T. days.

__________

How can you know how hard a mathematical attack against an encryption algorithm will be? AFAIK the only algorithm known to be safe against pure mathematical attacks is a one-time-pad XOR.

And for that matter, how can you know the difficulty of cryptanalysis of a specific message encrypted by an algorithm, unless you happen to work for No Such Agency (link broken?).

...at http://www.nsa.gov:8080/about_nsa/mission .html they are in the business of "The ability to understand the secret communications of our foreign adversaries while protecting our own communications -- a capability in which the United States leads the world -- gives our nation a unique advantage." So now we know.

You can read a very short discussion of the Navajo code talkers on the NSA Museum's page at
www.nsa.gov/museum/talkers.html.

They must not be using their codebreaking machines to run this site, as it seems the /. Effect has struck again. :-)

I suspect you have confused the Navajo with some other Native American tribe, as the Navajo are not nearly extinct but are, in fact, the largest tribe in the US.

The Navajo live in the Four Corners region of the southwest (the intersection of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico) on a large reservation. You can easily find their reservation on a map of Arizona.

While the Navajo population had been reduced to about eight thousand after the United States' war with them -- run by the infamous Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson -- concluded in 1864, their numbers greatly recovered upon their return to northern Arizona. They are now the largest Native American tribe, having approximately ninety thousand members according to the 1990 census. And they continue to speak Navajo.

You can read a very short discussion of the Navajo code talkers on the NSA Museum's page at www.nsa.gov/museum/talkers.html.

If you are interested in general information about the Navajo, including their history and rituals, check out: www.ancestral.com/cultur es/north_america/navajo.html.

Perhaps such a patent can serve to prevent businesses and other organizations from making use of such technology, at least in the US. Or maybe it allows the NSA to pick up some bonus revenue.

There's an Enigma machine along with lots of related items at the National Cryptographic Museum in Columbia, MD. A lot of interesting things, including an old Cray with a whopping 32 megs of RAM!

I thought the most interesting thing was the newspaper clippings describing the museum's opening. Apparently, the NSA opened it without telling anyone -- and denied knowledge of any such museum for months afterwards.

Bounty hunters frequently violate the law in their apprehension of fugitives. They are just overlooked by law enforcement, however. On the other hand, if law enforcement broke laws in the apprehension of a fugitive, they would liable to lawsuits and whatever case against the fugitive could be thrown out.

I know that's kind of a stretch, I'm just trying to illustrate the point that just because we (american citizens) are allowed to do things doesn't mean that government agencies are allowed to do those same things. Look at http://www.nsa.gov:8080/about_nsa/miss ion.html. I think, technically (I make no claims about reality), the NSA isn't supposed to eavesdrop on americans, because there purpose is as kind of a foreign intelligence umbrella organization. Plus, I don't think they are (again, technically) allowed to eavesdrop on us. Fourth amendment and all.

NSA is the Baltimore Gas Electric (BGE) company's 2nd largest customer, and the 2nd largest user of electrical power in Maryland. NSA's yearly electrical bill is more than $21 million. Under a partnering agreement, in exchange for an annual credit to the NSA electric bill, BGE can request NSA to operate on-site emergency generators to produce electrical power during severe peak demand periods. This significant partnership with NSA allows BGE to serve additional customers and decreases the need for "rolling blackouts" in the area during peak demand periods.

I was this over on HNN a while back, related to Echelon and a patent the NSA has for "document retrieval" which would, according to the information on their site, ignore the type of stuff people were sending for "Jam Echelon Day".

Basically, it can figure out what a document is about in spite of things such as keywords being planted in the document (ala the Jam Echelon plan), and is not dependant on the language of the document. It works by relating the document to a database of other document fragments, they say.

The NSA's website has some information about it, and this is the patent itself.

If this stuff exists and works, then Jam Echelon was a waste of time on the technical side - but I think the main point was to raise awareness, and that it has done.

And isn't it good to know that They are reading The National Enquirer as well!

http://www.nsa.gov:8080/do cs/efoia/released/ufo/ufo5.pdf