Slashdot Mirror
NSA Tasked With 'Policing' Government Networks
Novus Ordo Seclorum writes "The NSA has a new assignment. No longer merely responsible for signals intelligence, the NSA now has the task of defending against cyber attacks on government and private networks. 'The plan calls for the NSA to work with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to monitor such networks to prevent unauthorized intrusion, according to those with knowledge of what is known internally as the 'Cyber Initiative.' Details of the project are highly classified. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a former NSA chief, is coordinating the initiative. It will be run by the Department of Homeland Security, which has primary responsibility for protecting domestic infrastructure, including the Internet, current and former officials said. At the outset, up to 2,000 people -- from the Department of Homeland Security, the NSA and other agencies -- could be assigned to the initiative, said a senior intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.'"
Why do the words "Stazi", "SS", "Gestapo", and "Praetorian Guard" jump to mind?
It seems that this has happened before in history -- where you give one (or more) "secret police" power over everyone with no true checks and balances. From my understanding (which admittedly may be very flawed), the Department of Homeland Security answers exclusively to the executive branch, and now it also seems to control a (fairly large) group of intelligence officers. Do the words "consolidation of power" mean anything? No?
Well then how about: "this is the dawn of a new Galactic Empire!"?
I live in england, my school monitors my internet use, has over 30 surveillance cameras, including in our study area, has finger print activated doors and has my finger prints on file.
America's got nothing on us, don't worry, I'm leaving my school ASAP, insisting they delete all the information and if they don't provide me with satisfactory use they have I'll sue them.
Except of course when the ATF (Treasury Department), Secret Service(DHS), DEA (Justice Department), etc, etc, etc is the federal police department.
***What that means is the CIA is all about getting information from people, be it by attempting to place spys or turning other agents or whatever***
Not really. That's part of their job, but mostly they are supposed to integrate public information (e.g what they read in foreign newspapers and hear on local broadcasts overseas) with information from the other two dozen intelligence agencies into a single, coherent whole.
***The DHS is a good idea at the high levels***
You're certainly entitled to have an opinion on that. But I have my own which is that it is an absolutely terrible idea. It's goal inevitably will be to restrict freedoms (including some purportedly guaranteed in the constitution). It will, I predict, be totally ineffective in making the homeland more secure. Who is going to protect us from the DHS? (Quis custodiet ...)
I don't have any problem with NSA and the intelligence agencies although there are way too many of them. If you ask me, we need more intelligence analysts and fewer unworkable anti-ballistic missile systems.
But I have little use for a central police department. The Secret Service has a relatively decent record (They do counterfitting as well as protection), and ought the be retained. The FBI doesn't have that good a record. Neither does the ATF. The DEA is worse (we lost the war on drugs decades ago. We should find an enemy and surrender). And the DHS is a disaster. We should take a decade and rebuild this mess from scratch. I won't be terribly troubled if we lose 80% of it in the makeover..
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Well, no. At first, SELinux was a full disty because you needed kernel hacks. Now, the kernel hacksfeatures are in the standard kernel, but you still need additional userland components to use them.
Or, better yet, you can get Solaris 10, add in Trusted Extensions, and get all the power of SELinux and a multilevel X server, with Common Criteria and FIPS certifications.
I can only think of one reason for a school to have such extensive monitoring systems... not to keep the children safe... but rather to train them to think such monitoring systems are normal right from the beginning of their lives.
Think about this for a moment please! Am I really overlooking another possible reason?