Re: NSA _likes_ strong crypto?

[Bill Frantz <frantz@netcom.com>]

At 12:07 PM -0700 5/15/97, Thomas Porter wrote:
>At 09:32 AM 5/15/97 -0700, Bill Frantz thoughtfully expounded thus:
>
>>
>>During a hall discussion at CFP, I heard that people at NSA are changing
>>their opinions about the use of strong crypto in the general community.
>>The reason is the threat of InfoWar and the need for strong crypto in
>>general use to secure the US information infrastructure.
>
>...
>How does this strength of encryption compare to whatever might be used to
>"secure the nation's info infrastructure" [Netscape 40 bit!!??] regarding
>cracking time?

I believe that the person who made this statement shares the standard
cyperpunk definition of "strong crypto".  I.e. Unbreakable before the heat
death of the universe.

IMHO, this view comes from the fact that most foreign government and
international terrorist communication is already strongly encrypted, so
having strong systems in wider use does very little to reduce NSA's
intelligence gathering abilities.  (See "Secret Power, New Zealand's role
in the international spy network" by Nicky Hager for evidence supporting
this view.)  Since part of NSA's job is to defend the USA against foreign
enemies, this faction has decided that the benefits of widespread strong
crypto outweigh the costs, a very cypherpunk view.

To go even further out on a limb, there may be a NSA faction that worries
about the inevitable weakness that GAK inserts in any crypto system.  NSA
was badly burned by the weaknesses in Clipper.

Tim May wrote:
>Left as an exercise is whether subsequent policy actions by NSA and D.C. in
>general are consistent with this "Crypto Perestroika" (tm).

I am speaking of a faction within NSA.  They may represent the agencies
position and have been shot down by the White House, or they may have lost
within the agency.  We have no way of knowing which.  (Do we?)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz       | God could make the world   | Periwinkle -- Consulting
(408)356-8506     | in six days because he did | 16345 Englewood Ave.
frantz@netcom.com | not have an installed base.| Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA