Re 'It's also possible that a fake NSL was served by agents working for some foreign security service posing as FBI"
Security in any corporation would usually have a few former gov workers. Such efforts would be easy to uncover. If not every other nation and competitor would be filling US server rooms with "FBI don't touch" hardware and getting raw data from the depths of US brands using actors, dot com servers, a van and a printer.
Since the US is not full of reports to be on the look out for fake US gov staff with vans full of hardware to install, its possible that humans do look into such gov requests by calling other US gov officials they know before compliance.
Or someone in the brand just says its real and all cleared staff are to comply?
Re 'I'm curious what sort of legal argument they used to get this type of wide scale monitoring approved by the FISA court."
It could be to contain the staff who don't really understand the FISA/FBI/NSA/NSL aspects and might walk to the media for a chat.
It was the FBI, it was very legal. That adds domestic protections against any talking about ongoing domestic case loads to the media.
That makes it sound like it was an everyday 24/7 ongoing operation to look for files already in the US court system by sorting everything 24/7.
The signal to any whistleblower and wider US press is you don't get no "protections" as it was legal.
Even a small amount of 1.357 billion is still a big number to be part of the merging middle class who want to be seen with only Apple or the next Apple like brand.
They don't want a local brand. They don't want average MS or a low cost EU brand that positioned with ads to be sold in bulk to the working poor to make up profits.
Some luxury devices are still allowed others attract unwanted questions and can be reported. That expensive foreign car might imply an extra cash flow and might not be worth been seen with. An above average German luxury car with below average styling could go more unnoticed given brand awareness.
But the phone is still the luxury device to be seen with or allowed to be enjoyed without comment.
The only question for China is it really worth NSA/GCHQ tracking its staff around sensitive sites thanks to been sold on the need for foreign designed luxury phone.
The US shows are made in Canada and sold back to Canada as an import:) Win on the low production costs and win again with the full price for the content when sold back into Canada.
Its the local tax issues that draws in productions and nice city locations that work with crews that ensure the "national" rankings.
International cast, crew, average plot, remake, its all about the cash spent in conversion and final tax policy.
Once done the international project has made in Canada on it to keep the tax rate in country.
If any other nation with pretty cities and locations did the same they could get the same ranking as Canada.
The win is in transaction fees. Then add in a layer for gov tracking.
All the US currency transaction reporting, suspicious activity reports, monetary instrument logs and structuring tracking gets coded in.
re "A few times a month I trip an alarm in my normal work and have to justify my actions to our compliance group."
Internally the NSA don't have an alarm for that. Nobody could do any gov work if "alarms" or encryption got installed at that level and had to be cleared every few hours.
Everything is decrypted and reduced to plain text. Thats the mission to decrypt and read, sort and index. The select humans allowed in to read and search the material are the "security".
The idea is to allow the NSA workers to dig deep into all the raw data and find the gems that every other branch of the US gov and mil missed due to a lack of skill or clearance.
That information is then passed back in such a way to be "plausible" in any other US computer system when tasked or actioned.
East Germany faced such a walk out of all their spies in the West as raw data in the 1950's. They fixed it by splitting the data up so no one person could ever see all the data lists alone again. A complex buddy and the need for senior staff to be present if such data was requested stopped walk outs
The GCHQ faced the issue of a cleared person with access to photocopier without a counter and daily uncounted paper refills. The ability to just copy secret vault material was limited only by the size of a folder to carry paperwork home in everyday. The GCHQ fixed the issue by securing the hardware and been more staff aware.
In the digital age the NSA has to trust its staff, contractors and people the contractors offer as trusted or who other agencies pass as trusted.
The skilled staff ratio to material gathered is just getting so complex, jargon packed or in need of translation that a lot of contractors have to be ready to look. Its all plain text to help that work flow of a global collect it all policy. Then add in the sorting of the domestic collection.
The fix is to encrypt internally and only trust tested NSA staff again. That would remove the contractors funding and they have political friends to get their access and contracts back.
So the NSA stays open for business. Does the CIA leak? What are they doing with the same level of gathering thats different and still secure over the same decades?
It gets better AC, only FSB or GRU.
"How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History" (OCT 20, 2016 ) http://www.esquire.com/news-po...
'... the firm said, worked in a way that suggested affiliation with the GRU. Cozy Bear was linked to the FSB."
All that 'immediately discovered", 'several sloppy mistakes" and emoji litter got left.
Such an easy trail of litter for "unprecedented open-source counterintelligence".
Any device in the hands of any trusted, known friend would have had security service code pushed down when turned on/tested/activated.
Any "new" friend could be used by the security services to deliver an altered device.
Consumer device globally ship with access to police and security services designed in.
Consider all the data the collected globally. Then how todays guided drone missions are defined.
Load that mission data up into an autonomous robot and map out the global free fire zones.
Its like Vietnam, if enough hardware gets used a part of the map has to be cleared.
What Operation Linebacker could not do, lots of new robots will do.
Run optical behind the robot? It will always be facing the front. Make sure the comm link is always facing up to only accept comms from US platforms in outer space?
Add a crypto super computer chip to each unit that is unique to each unit? Only the real local commander will be able to control to that unit, guaranteed.
Make the unit autonomous so the enemy cannot send false commands. Use gps and pattern recognition to ensure the robot knows where the free fire zone is.
re 'So wars will be won by "
The first side to make a cheap workshop device that interacts with some part of the hardware or the comm link.
The robot stops or defaults into medic mode and runs back to its contractors.
Adding more and more hardening makes a heavy robot. Less range, less on time in the field, the need for more equipment to repair or get the unit back in the field.
Its a bit like the race for the perfect big tank in the 1930-80's.
Massive workshops with complex parts near the front to try and repair complex faults everyday. More and more parts what to be pre positioned or the supply chain gets long. Air supply? Trucks? Robot drones delivering complex robot parts just in time everyday?
If the robot is autonomous it can be lured with bait. If it has a comm link, it can be hacked.
Like blitzkrieg or Enigma, its all good until the enemy works it all out.
How many stories have we had on this topic?
Lets go back down the stories and their new Bear related findings, spies, moles, data diodes and the private sector.
Starting with "How Hackers Broke Into John Podesta and Colin Powell’s Gmail Accounts" https://motherboard.vice.com/r...
"It’s unclear why the hackers used the encoded strings, which effectively reveal their targets to anyone."
and finally "None of this new data constitutes a smoking gun that can clearly frame Russia"
So the first hint of something that is not very spy like?
Lets try the other link: https://theintercept.com/2016/... (September 14 2016)
"https://theintercept.com/2016/09/13/colin-powell-emails/"
has "a hacker that many allege to have ties with Russian intelligence." and thats all.
Finally past the two slashdot links and down at
"How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History" (OCT 20, 2016 ) http://www.esquire.com/news-po...
Lets keep reading past the 56k modems and 1950's see whats new.
"immediately discovered two sophisticated groups of spies" They are not great spies if they are "immediately discovered" by the private sector.
"soon able to reconstruct the hacks and identify the hackers." If the entry was so easy to reconstruct, it could be anyone with the skills.
"each of the attackers seemed unaware of what the other was doing" so more than one group used methods out in the wider public at random times?
Sounds like a few different groups are active.
So groups with "immediately discovered" methods must be the GRU and KGB?
"But several sloppy mistakes"... Do spies make so many "sloppy mistakes"? Use of their own language and emoji? The Germans added their support to 'Fancy Bear" from years ago. Well understood methods by "different" groups that the private sector was well aware of?
The "hackers forgot to set" - that sounds like spies? Such a "rapid public reconstruction" and in public so the media could follow along?
Then onto the NSA, data diodes, and a small hint at a real spy could be in play with "an old-fashioned mole passed on the tools."
How did the other data get out? "Using commercial cloud services to "exfiltrate" data out"
So we are back to ip ranges? "Confident" in URL's and all that code litter that expert "spies" left for the media, private sector and "open-source counterintelligence" to find. Don't forget the easy to find emoji as part of the litter:)
If the NSA says the big US brands they work with are safe, buy them and enjoy the US industry standards.
Stop making networks interesting. Put PR on the internet when the project is done and ready for sale.
Until then keep everything secret.
Doing code work for years on internet facing networks on hardware designed for easy police and security service access is just a big risk.
Too many nations, their staff, ex staff, cults and smart people have the keys or know of the trap doors and backdoors.
AC the ads you see on web sites push the malware down onto Microsoft operating systems. Don't let ads run or use Microsoft. Also consider the motherboard and CPU as an issue now too..
Re " how to effectively use stuff like this in the classroom continues to be a hard problem."
The problem is teaching math and science and now computing to all students and hoping to get different results.
A generation of teachers want to be seen as been inclusive so the whole class has to slow down and write code, create apps, build robots.
The new idea is to get entire grades all learning "computers" and "code" so they can all have an equal chance at enjoying math and all write apps or build robots.
Just like with the early computers, desktop publishing, "internet", games, laptops, tablets as past educational fads over the decades.
The shock to the UK was in the late 1970-80's with the US tech gap and the origin of ARM. The UK pushed education, ARM, networks in classrooms, games, science.
Did it educate the whole nation and make the UK some computer tech hub to equal or out pace the USA?
Only the very best students did as well in the 1960-2000's and got to the top.
After all the spending, hype and support the bulk of the students knew of a computer and enjoyed playing games, could do their taxes with a computer, knew of a GUI. Some might recall Basic, Ada, java or pascal years later.
Most of the students would have been more happy with the funding going to vocational work, arts, music, sport, cooking, tourism, local business.
The rush for computers became Microsoft and Apple, the chips Intel and Motorola. The UK produced games but that was for global consumption on other nations hardware and software.
Another generation of UK educators want to spend big on hardware and support. Somehow this will make more average people interested in science and more will pass easy exams together. The UK will be better as more very average students get to be happy about understanding how to "robot" or "app".
They will then consume Web 2.0, Google, Microsoft and Apple as they always did.
Think of British Leyland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... but for educational apps and robots.
In Capitalist West gov dictates cyber security to you.
Do US brands really want yet more US gov inside their networks?
In the US political orgs still have the freedom to run any hardware and software they want.
Its the US gov workers who actually have to be security aware.
"Penguins for President?" "Web server/platform combinations 2004 presidential candidates " http://www.linuxjournal.com/ar...
In the US you still have the party political freedom to run a political campaign.
Linux, Microsoft, Apache, FreeBSD and others have all been used over the years to run great campaigns and get the voters out.
""Keeps your secrets" vs
"Do no privacy"
"National Security Agency"
"Secret Intelligence Service"
Who wants code by private sector teams that allowed 5 eye nations to get all the plain text for years? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A third way.
Limit your US staff to a legal, branding and PR role only. Have just enough US staff to keep the US gov happy.
Lawyers to ensure complacence and keep political donations flowing. Former US gov workers with clearances to keep PRISM like networks compliant.
PR kept in house to ensure good optics at every public event, the happy, well arranged images for social media.
Move all long term design work well away from the USA to nations that offer merit based academic advancement. Build your real campuses and design teams globally and pay less tax too.
Any campus in the US can just be for tax, gov grants and networking distances. Staffed with robots, remote link to smart staff globally. The new local "hi" tech jobs are in security, keeping the power on, swapping out robots and keeping the site looking pretty.
As a bonus send parts kits back to the USA and stamp on "Made in the USA" for any "no bid" gov or mil contracts. A few robots putting 2 larger parts together and then into a box will get that "Made in the USA" complacence.
Having to have staff just to make up some gov quota is going to get too expensive to hide from shareholders even in the short term.
Extra staff to look after staff that will need on the constant support and on the job training over all years they are employed on full wages?
What are the options? Risk a hire on merit? Or get unskilled "workers" to support for decades on full wages? Fill with part time staff with no access to vital areas?
Best just to find useful staff globally to grow the brand and be "seen" to be supportive in the USA.
They have contracts with the US gov, mil to worry about. Just reading a site with a codeword that gets stored on their computer is an issue. They know their work and home internet is been logged as part of work "security".
They know that for the next promotion their internet logs might be looked into for the term "polygraph" over years. Other terms might be of interest to a gov or mil trying to find staff who can still think for themselves and "read" about events.
They get told not to read sites. All part of working for and protecting "freedom".
"The most vocal" is usually just faith based or virtue signalling or need to push a political tech narrative to gain as a contractor.
The sale of more security products, services due to super "hackers" from other nations got pushed a lot over the past weeks.
The idea that leaks got "faked" vs actual staff having to quit. Staff don't quit over fake news.
"Will reading WikiLeaks cost students jobs with the federal government?" (December 9, 2010) http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CR...
"Don’t Look, Don’t Read: Government Warns Its Workers Away From WikiLeaks Documents" (Dec 4 2010) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12...
US blocks access to WikiLeaks for federal workers (4 dec 2010) https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
The other aspect is just domestic US gov/mil propaganda been allowed in with the relaxing of the Smith–Mundt Act. A lot of sock puppet accounts.
The next step will be a flood of US gov workers pushing a "story" under ideas like 'H.R. 5181: Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016" https://www.govtrack.us/congre...
So wait for a new big US bureaucracy with a fun name like "Information Analysis and Response" to really get vocal and create prolific posters:)
Freedom is been enthusiastically supported by many sites in many free nations.
Walk outs from huge political parties, think tanks, gov's, mil's will always find groups who will support whistleblowers.
Publication in full is now been taken up by more groups.
Given no legal pathways to get irregularities looked into, its the role of a free press to ensure the wider public has the tools to request request investigations.
Top party political officials don't quit over fake news.
Slashdot Mirror
Re 'It's also possible that a fake NSL was served by agents working for some foreign security service posing as FBI"
Security in any corporation would usually have a few former gov workers. Such efforts would be easy to uncover. If not every other nation and competitor would be filling US server rooms with "FBI don't touch" hardware and getting raw data from the depths of US brands using actors, dot com servers, a van and a printer.
Since the US is not full of reports to be on the look out for fake US gov staff with vans full of hardware to install, its possible that humans do look into such gov requests by calling other US gov officials they know before compliance.
Or someone in the brand just says its real and all cleared staff are to comply?
Re 'I'm curious what sort of legal argument they used to get this type of wide scale monitoring approved by the FISA court."
It could be to contain the staff who don't really understand the FISA/FBI/NSA/NSL aspects and might walk to the media for a chat.
It was the FBI, it was very legal. That adds domestic protections against any talking about ongoing domestic case loads to the media.
That makes it sound like it was an everyday 24/7 ongoing operation to look for files already in the US court system by sorting everything 24/7.
The signal to any whistleblower and wider US press is you don't get no "protections" as it was legal.
Even a small amount of 1.357 billion is still a big number to be part of the merging middle class who want to be seen with only Apple or the next Apple like brand.
They don't want a local brand. They don't want average MS or a low cost EU brand that positioned with ads to be sold in bulk to the working poor to make up profits.
Some luxury devices are still allowed others attract unwanted questions and can be reported. That expensive foreign car might imply an extra cash flow and might not be worth been seen with. An above average German luxury car with below average styling could go more unnoticed given brand awareness.
But the phone is still the luxury device to be seen with or allowed to be enjoyed without comment.
The only question for China is it really worth NSA/GCHQ tracking its staff around sensitive sites thanks to been sold on the need for foreign designed luxury phone.
The US shows are made in Canada and sold back to Canada as an import :) Win on the low production costs and win again with the full price for the content when sold back into Canada.
Its the local tax issues that draws in productions and nice city locations that work with crews that ensure the "national" rankings.
International cast, crew, average plot, remake, its all about the cash spent in conversion and final tax policy.
Once done the international project has made in Canada on it to keep the tax rate in country.
If any other nation with pretty cities and locations did the same they could get the same ranking as Canada.
The win is in transaction fees. Then add in a layer for gov tracking.
All the US currency transaction reporting, suspicious activity reports, monetary instrument logs and structuring tracking gets coded in.
re "A few times a month I trip an alarm in my normal work and have to justify my actions to our compliance group."
Internally the NSA don't have an alarm for that. Nobody could do any gov work if "alarms" or encryption got installed at that level and had to be cleared every few hours.
Everything is decrypted and reduced to plain text. Thats the mission to decrypt and read, sort and index. The select humans allowed in to read and search the material are the "security".
The idea is to allow the NSA workers to dig deep into all the raw data and find the gems that every other branch of the US gov and mil missed due to a lack of skill or clearance.
That information is then passed back in such a way to be "plausible" in any other US computer system when tasked or actioned.
East Germany faced such a walk out of all their spies in the West as raw data in the 1950's. They fixed it by splitting the data up so no one person could ever see all the data lists alone again. A complex buddy and the need for senior staff to be present if such data was requested stopped walk outs
The GCHQ faced the issue of a cleared person with access to photocopier without a counter and daily uncounted paper refills. The ability to just copy secret vault material was limited only by the size of a folder to carry paperwork home in everyday. The GCHQ fixed the issue by securing the hardware and been more staff aware.
In the digital age the NSA has to trust its staff, contractors and people the contractors offer as trusted or who other agencies pass as trusted.
The skilled staff ratio to material gathered is just getting so complex, jargon packed or in need of translation that a lot of contractors have to be ready to look. Its all plain text to help that work flow of a global collect it all policy. Then add in the sorting of the domestic collection.
The fix is to encrypt internally and only trust tested NSA staff again. That would remove the contractors funding and they have political friends to get their access and contracts back.
So the NSA stays open for business. Does the CIA leak? What are they doing with the same level of gathering thats different and still secure over the same decades?
It gets better AC, only FSB or GRU.
"How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History" (OCT 20, 2016 )
http://www.esquire.com/news-po...
'... the firm said, worked in a way that suggested affiliation with the GRU. Cozy Bear was linked to the FSB."
All that 'immediately discovered", 'several sloppy mistakes" and emoji litter got left.
Such an easy trail of litter for "unprecedented open-source counterintelligence".
Re "prevent spying both with outside signals"
Most nations are aware of efforts like the 'Vienna Spy Stations Summer Series"
https://cryptome.org/2015/08/S...
https://cryptome.org/2015/08/S...
Any device in the hands of any trusted, known friend would have had security service code pushed down when turned on/tested/activated.
Any "new" friend could be used by the security services to deliver an altered device.
Consumer device globally ship with access to police and security services designed in.
Consider all the data the collected globally. Then how todays guided drone missions are defined.
Load that mission data up into an autonomous robot and map out the global free fire zones.
Its like Vietnam, if enough hardware gets used a part of the map has to be cleared.
What Operation Linebacker could not do, lots of new robots will do.
Run optical behind the robot? It will always be facing the front. Make sure the comm link is always facing up to only accept comms from US platforms in outer space?
Add a crypto super computer chip to each unit that is unique to each unit? Only the real local commander will be able to control to that unit, guaranteed.
Make the unit autonomous so the enemy cannot send false commands. Use gps and pattern recognition to ensure the robot knows where the free fire zone is.
re 'So wars will be won by "
The first side to make a cheap workshop device that interacts with some part of the hardware or the comm link.
The robot stops or defaults into medic mode and runs back to its contractors.
Adding more and more hardening makes a heavy robot. Less range, less on time in the field, the need for more equipment to repair or get the unit back in the field.
Its a bit like the race for the perfect big tank in the 1930-80's.
Massive workshops with complex parts near the front to try and repair complex faults everyday. More and more parts what to be pre positioned or the supply chain gets long. Air supply? Trucks? Robot drones delivering complex robot parts just in time everyday?
If the robot is autonomous it can be lured with bait. If it has a comm link, it can be hacked.
Like blitzkrieg or Enigma, its all good until the enemy works it all out.
How many stories have we had on this topic? :)
Lets go back down the stories and their new Bear related findings, spies, moles, data diodes and the private sector.
Starting with "How Hackers Broke Into John Podesta and Colin Powell’s Gmail Accounts"
https://motherboard.vice.com/r...
"It’s unclear why the hackers used the encoded strings, which effectively reveal their targets to anyone."
and finally "None of this new data constitutes a smoking gun that can clearly frame Russia"
So the first hint of something that is not very spy like?
Lets try the other link:
https://theintercept.com/2016/... (September 14 2016)
"https://theintercept.com/2016/09/13/colin-powell-emails/"
has "a hacker that many allege to have ties with Russian intelligence." and thats all.
Finally past the two slashdot links and down at
"How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History" (OCT 20, 2016 )
http://www.esquire.com/news-po...
Lets keep reading past the 56k modems and 1950's see whats new.
"immediately discovered two sophisticated groups of spies" They are not great spies if they are "immediately discovered" by the private sector.
"soon able to reconstruct the hacks and identify the hackers." If the entry was so easy to reconstruct, it could be anyone with the skills.
"each of the attackers seemed unaware of what the other was doing" so more than one group used methods out in the wider public at random times?
Sounds like a few different groups are active.
So groups with "immediately discovered" methods must be the GRU and KGB?
"But several sloppy mistakes"... Do spies make so many "sloppy mistakes"? Use of their own language and emoji?
The Germans added their support to 'Fancy Bear" from years ago. Well understood methods by "different" groups that the private sector was well aware of?
The "hackers forgot to set" - that sounds like spies? Such a "rapid public reconstruction" and in public so the media could follow along?
Then onto the NSA, data diodes, and a small hint at a real spy could be in play with "an old-fashioned mole passed on the tools."
How did the other data get out? "Using commercial cloud services to "exfiltrate" data out"
So we are back to ip ranges? "Confident" in URL's and all that code litter that expert "spies" left for the media, private sector and "open-source counterintelligence" to find. Don't forget the easy to find emoji as part of the litter
If the NSA says the big US brands they work with are safe, buy them and enjoy the US industry standards.
Stop making networks interesting. Put PR on the internet when the project is done and ready for sale.
Until then keep everything secret.
Doing code work for years on internet facing networks on hardware designed for easy police and security service access is just a big risk.
Too many nations, their staff, ex staff, cults and smart people have the keys or know of the trap doors and backdoors.
It sold as protection to big brands for a generation. So it was worth it to a few brands shareholders.
AC the ads you see on web sites push the malware down onto Microsoft operating systems. Don't let ads run or use Microsoft. Also consider the motherboard and CPU as an issue now too..
Re " how to effectively use stuff like this in the classroom continues to be a hard problem."
The problem is teaching math and science and now computing to all students and hoping to get different results.
A generation of teachers want to be seen as been inclusive so the whole class has to slow down and write code, create apps, build robots.
The new idea is to get entire grades all learning "computers" and "code" so they can all have an equal chance at enjoying math and all write apps or build robots.
Just like with the early computers, desktop publishing, "internet", games, laptops, tablets as past educational fads over the decades.
The shock to the UK was in the late 1970-80's with the US tech gap and the origin of ARM. The UK pushed education, ARM, networks in classrooms, games, science.
Did it educate the whole nation and make the UK some computer tech hub to equal or out pace the USA?
Only the very best students did as well in the 1960-2000's and got to the top.
After all the spending, hype and support the bulk of the students knew of a computer and enjoyed playing games, could do their taxes with a computer, knew of a GUI. Some might recall Basic, Ada, java or pascal years later.
Most of the students would have been more happy with the funding going to vocational work, arts, music, sport, cooking, tourism, local business.
The rush for computers became Microsoft and Apple, the chips Intel and Motorola. The UK produced games but that was for global consumption on other nations hardware and software.
Another generation of UK educators want to spend big on hardware and support. Somehow this will make more average people interested in science and more will pass easy exams together. The UK will be better as more very average students get to be happy about understanding how to "robot" or "app".
They will then consume Web 2.0, Google, Microsoft and Apple as they always did.
Think of British Leyland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... but for educational apps and robots.
All the paragraphs in just to finally find a "social media company"
In Capitalist West gov dictates cyber security to you.
Do US brands really want yet more US gov inside their networks?
In the US political orgs still have the freedom to run any hardware and software they want.
Its the US gov workers who actually have to be security aware.
"Penguins for President?" "Web server/platform combinations 2004 presidential candidates "
http://www.linuxjournal.com/ar...
In the US you still have the party political freedom to run a political campaign.
Linux, Microsoft, Apache, FreeBSD and others have all been used over the years to run great campaigns and get the voters out.
A nice white VR headset with prescription lens support. Send it back to Apple when the lens needs changing.
""Keeps your secrets" vs "Do no privacy"
"National Security Agency"
"Secret Intelligence Service"
Who wants code by private sector teams that allowed 5 eye nations to get all the plain text for years?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A third way.
Limit your US staff to a legal, branding and PR role only. Have just enough US staff to keep the US gov happy.
Lawyers to ensure complacence and keep political donations flowing. Former US gov workers with clearances to keep PRISM like networks compliant.
PR kept in house to ensure good optics at every public event, the happy, well arranged images for social media.
Move all long term design work well away from the USA to nations that offer merit based academic advancement. Build your real campuses and design teams globally and pay less tax too.
Any campus in the US can just be for tax, gov grants and networking distances. Staffed with robots, remote link to smart staff globally. The new local "hi" tech jobs are in security, keeping the power on, swapping out robots and keeping the site looking pretty.
As a bonus send parts kits back to the USA and stamp on "Made in the USA" for any "no bid" gov or mil contracts. A few robots putting 2 larger parts together and then into a box will get that "Made in the USA" complacence.
Having to have staff just to make up some gov quota is going to get too expensive to hide from shareholders even in the short term.
Extra staff to look after staff that will need on the constant support and on the job training over all years they are employed on full wages?
What are the options? Risk a hire on merit? Or get unskilled "workers" to support for decades on full wages? Fill with part time staff with no access to vital areas?
Best just to find useful staff globally to grow the brand and be "seen" to be supportive in the USA.
They have contracts with the US gov, mil to worry about. Just reading a site with a codeword that gets stored on their computer is an issue. They know their work and home internet is been logged as part of work "security". :)
They know that for the next promotion their internet logs might be looked into for the term "polygraph" over years. Other terms might be of interest to a gov or mil trying to find staff who can still think for themselves and "read" about events.
They get told not to read sites. All part of working for and protecting "freedom".
"The most vocal" is usually just faith based or virtue signalling or need to push a political tech narrative to gain as a contractor.
The sale of more security products, services due to super "hackers" from other nations got pushed a lot over the past weeks.
The idea that leaks got "faked" vs actual staff having to quit. Staff don't quit over fake news.
"Will reading WikiLeaks cost students jobs with the federal government?" (December 9, 2010)
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CR...
"Don’t Look, Don’t Read: Government Warns Its Workers Away From WikiLeaks Documents" (Dec 4 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12...
US blocks access to WikiLeaks for federal workers (4 dec 2010)
https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
The other aspect is just domestic US gov/mil propaganda been allowed in with the relaxing of the Smith–Mundt Act. A lot of sock puppet accounts.
The next step will be a flood of US gov workers pushing a "story" under ideas like 'H.R. 5181: Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016"
https://www.govtrack.us/congre...
So wait for a new big US bureaucracy with a fun name like "Information Analysis and Response" to really get vocal and create prolific posters
Freedom is been enthusiastically supported by many sites in many free nations.
Walk outs from huge political parties, think tanks, gov's, mil's will always find groups who will support whistleblowers.
Publication in full is now been taken up by more groups.
Given no legal pathways to get irregularities looked into, its the role of a free press to ensure the wider public has the tools to request request investigations.
Top party political officials don't quit over fake news.