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NSA Can't Search Its Own Email
cycoj writes "The NSA says that there is no central method to search its own email. When asked in a Freedom of Information Act request for emails with the National Geographic Channel over a specific time period, the agency, which has been collecting and analyzing the data of hundreds of millions of Internet users, says it can only perform person-per-person searches on its own email."
Perfect example of "do as I say, not as I do". But this isn't just a NSA problem, it is a government problem.
sudo make me a sandwich
FTFY
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
var irony = UInt64.MaxInt;
Requiem for the American Dream
The NSA says that there is no central method to search its own email.
[cough] Bullshit [/cough]
I'm sure GCHQ https://www.gchq.gov.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx will search your mail and that CESG https://www.gchq.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/CESG.aspx will advise you on how to fix your problem.
Maybe they should run all their internal email through their PRISM system, that way it can be searched for keywords and META data much easier. Problem solved.
That's such a line of shit.
It's not that they cannot search their emails. It's that they have chosen to not create a search mechanism, because they have found this excuse is accepted by the courts to deny information requests. They will use every trick available to them to avoid adhering to laws they don't like.
Do you really believe anything they say?
As an Exchange administrator, I can say that searching across an entire mail database is absolutely possible, and also very simple to do from the Management Shell. They're either lying, or just don't want to do it.
If I were in charge, and the agency responsible for technological espionage and information security told me they couldn't search through their own emails, I would fire them. Every single one of them. Bam. Agency dissolved, someone go think of a new TLA for the new agency. This is like a Navy that can't figure out how to dock a battleship, or a tax agency that doesn't know what all the valid exemptions are. Complete and utter incompetence.
What's saddest is that this almost certainly isn't true. They've got these capabilities. They're just trying to hide something ("everything" qualifies as something, for their purposes). *Maybe* they're telling the truth, if they've got some custom, highly-encrypted system where emails can only be decrypted by the users. But that doesn't seem like the phrasing used here.
What's saddest is that "we're completely fucking incompetent" is not just the excuse they went with, but that it actually works.
What a bunch of lying douches.
NSA doesn't fund their operations primarily with drug running anymore. Insider trading is the best source of funding. And they have all the information they need to do this.
Avoided the feature because of FOIA requests. There are a lot of loopholes for gov organizations to avoid sunshine requests if they really want to--part of it is making the information difficult to reach (can't get the info==do not have to comply). Also, FOIA compliance hinges on each institution's policy in regard to the information. They can set a two day retention policy so that if you request it four days from now they will delete it and reply that the information is not available. Government institutions are hostile to information requests--believe it or not. Power and control is paramount in these environments and arbitrary information requests from outsiders flies in the face of this disposition. [first-hand knowledge]
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock