Non-US Encryption Is 'Theoretical', Claims CIA Chief In Backdoor Debate (theregister.co.uk)

Iain Thomson, writing for The Register: CIA director John Brennan told U.S. senators they shouldn't worry about mandatory encryption backdoors hurting American businesses. And that's because, according to Brennan, there's no one else for people to turn to: if they don't want to use U.S.-based technology because it's been forced to use weakened cryptography, they'll be out of luck because non-American solutions are simply "theoretical." Thus, the choice is American-built-and-backdoored or nothing, apparently. The spymaster made the remarks at a congressional hearing on Thursday after Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) questioned the CIA's support for weakening cryptography to allow g-men to peek at people's private communications and data. Brennan said this was needed to counter the ability of terrorists to coordinate their actions using encrypted communications. The director denied that forcing American companies to backdoor their security systems would cause any commercial problems.

Comments

Lies from Spies

[schneidafunk]

Well of course he's going to say this nonsense, no surprise there. What is surprising is hearing about it from a british newspaper without a bleep in U.S. news. I imagine apple, microsoft, google and the likes will have a response soon.

Good thing all mathematicians are American then

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> (for crypto) there's no one else for people to turn to (mofos)

Well, it's a good thing that all mathematicians have always been and will always be American then.

Re:Dumfounded at the ignorance

[pushing-robot]

When it comes to intelligence agencies, never attribute to ignorance that which can adequately be explained by malice.

Re:The "response" should be an indictment.

[NatasRevol]

In theory, yes.

In practice, not a fucking chance.

Can't decide

[fyngyrz]

I can't decide if Brennan is stupid, or if he thinks everyone else is stupid.

I readily admit this is not an uncommon reaction of mine when I read of the things presented by elected and appointed officials. The US government is a madhouse.

Re:Can't decide

[Jawnn]

I can't decide if Brennan is stupid, or if he thinks everyone else is stupid.

Judging by the universal cringe displayed by all the analysts and technicians who an actual understanding of crypto, I'd go with "a little of both". I just can't believe he's so clueless as to not understand that math doesn't recognize lines on a map, nor can I quite believe he didn't expect to get called out on his bullshit. Either way, it was a dumbass thing to say.

Re:Can't decide

[bluefoxlucid]

If he's incompetent, the President should dismiss him from his post. (Executive)

If he's lying, Congress can impeach him.

Being so severely wrong so often is hazardous to your health.

Re:Can't decide

[Cro Magnon]

I can't decide if Brennan is stupid, or if he thinks everyone else is stupid.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Re:Can't decide

[whoever57]

I can't decide if Brennan is stupid, or if he thinks everyone else is stupid.

He thinks enough people are stupid, and, unfortunately, he isn't wrong about that.

Re:Can't decide

[cayenne8]

I just can't believe he's so clueless as to not understand that math doesn't recognize lines on a map, nor can I quite believe he didn't expect to get called out on his bullshit.

Well, it isn't HIS cluelessness that is the problem here..is the his audience...the US Senators/CongressCritters that he speaks to in these hearings.

See, they are the ones that pass the laws that could mandate weakening software and forcing backdoors.

He may know perfectly well that this is a false and stupid thing to say, but it IS something the TLA's want badly...so, he tells them this and they think that it won't cause harm to US businesses, and they have, instead, just helped to fight the terrorists...and have their constituents be happy about this.

It is the ignorance of the lawmakers that you have to worry about.....and unfortunately they're getting their information from a guy like this, that wants what he wants, no matter the cost to business or the constitution.

Re:Can't decide

[Anonymous Coward]

I can understand how you'd make that mistake, but he's not clueless. It's much worse than that.

He's a man who knows that no one can challenge the power that he's amassed for himself, because the establishment is on his side. Surveillance is just a fact of life now, some people aren't going to give up their Facebook accounts until they die and he's grinning like the shit-eater he really is, because he's getting paid to take away the same freedoms they claimed they were "defending" after September 11th happened. People are legally required to pay money out of pocket straight into the hands of the same people who are supressing their rights to privacy and free speech.

If you knew that you were taken care of for life and there were no consequences to anything you did, no matter how horrendous, how would you act? These are the same people that had pictures of their torture at Abu Ghraib published around the world, a thousand-plus-page report on their methods published around the world and what did people do? Fuck all nothing, that's what. Brennan has that grin because he knows nobody is challenging him any time soon, period.

Re:The "response" should be an indictment.

[Immerman]

O course not. They're exempt under the thoroughly time-tested doctrine of "we have wealth and power, so the law doesn't apply to us unless we piss off someone even wealthier and more powerful"

Re:Jobs Creator

[PCM2]

What's the saying? "When strong crypto is outlawed in the US, only non-US companies will have strong crypto"?

Re:It's politics, stupid

[fyngyrz]

You have to be not actually dumb to get high up in government

o U.S. President George Walker Bush.
o U.S. Senator Ted Stevens.
o U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann.
o U.S. Representative Todd Akin.
o U.S. Representative Joe Barton

I rest my case. I could go on, but it's really quite painful to think about.