Re: NSA advanced knowledge

[koontz@MasPar.COM (David G. Koontz)]

In 1987 there were a series of papers given out as part of the package to
CCEP vendors (or prospective vendors):
 
The Secure Data Network System: An Overview             (NSA)
        By: Gary L. Tater
            Edmund G. Kerut
 
SDNS Products in the Type II Environment        (contains refer to 1987 paper)
        John Linn 
        BBN Communications Corporation  (need for easy Key Management)
          Cambridge, Massachusetts
 
SDNS Services and Architecture
        Ruth Nelson
        Electronic Defense Communications Directorate
        GTE Government Systems Corporation
        77 A Street
        Needham, MA 02194
 
        ....
                Key Management
                --------------
 
            The heart of SDNS is the Firefly keying 
            system,  which is based on public key en-
            cryption.  Each terminal has a unique Fire-
            fly key which is bound together with a
            non-forgeable certificate.  The certificate
            identifies the terminal and specifies its
            security-relevent characteristics.  Two
            SDNS terminals desiring to communicate ex-
            change certificates and keying information
            (the Firefly excange) and make access con-
            trol decisions based on the identifying in-
            formation.  The exchange generates a traf- 
            fic key which is unique to the two 
            terminals and which is new for that key ex-
            change.  If communication is permissible,
            the terminals then negotiate the communca-    
            tions parameters for use of the traffic
            key.
       ...    
 
SP4:  A Transport Encapsulation Security Protocol
        Dennis Branstad, National Bureau of Standards
        Joy Dorman, Digital Equipment Corporation
        Russell Housley, Xerox Corporation
        James Randall, International Business Machines Corporation
 
Access Control Within SDNS
        by Edward R. Sheehan
           Analytics Incorporated
           9821 Broken Land Parkway
           Columbia, Maryland 21046
 
None of these contained any dates except the 1987 paper  reference      
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This is the earliest reference I know of to government public key cryptography,
and I was under the impression this was where the reference in Gus Simmons
book came from.