NSA says China's supercomputing advances put US at risk

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Henry Baker <hbaker1 () pipeline com>
Date: Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 10:55 AM
Subject: [Cryptography] NSA says China's supercomputing advances put US at
risk
To: <cryptography () metzdowd com>


FYI --

http://computerworld.com/article/3180984/high-performance-computing/spy-agency-doe-see-china-nearing-supercomputing-leadership.html

https://www.nitrd.gov/nitrdgroups/images/b/b4/NSA_DOE_HPC_TechMeetingReport.pdf

NSA, DOE say China's supercomputing advances put U.S. at risk

China's computing efforts are a threat to U.S. national security and may
undermine profitable parts of the U.S. economy, a new report warns

By Patrick Thibodeau Senior Editor, Computerworld | Mar 15, 2017 3:00 AM PT

Advanced computing experts at the National Security Agency and the
Department of Energy are warning that China is "extremely likely" to take
leadership in supercomputing as early as 2020, unless the U.S. acts quickly
to increase spending.

China's supercomputing advances are not only putting national security at
risk, but also U.S. leadership in high-tech manufacturing.  If China
succeeds, it may "undermine profitable parts of the U.S. economy,"
according to a report titled U.S. Leadership in High Performance Computing
by HPC technical experts at the NSA, the DOE, the National Science
Foundation and other agencies.

"To maintain U.S. leadership in HPC," the report says, "a surge" of U.S.
"investment and action is needed to address HPC priorities."

Concern about China's technical advances have been raised before by U.S.
scientists and industry groups, but never in such striking terms -- or by
representatives of a spy agency.

The report stems from a workshop held in September that was attended by 60
people, many scientists, 40 of whom work in government, with the balance
representing industry and academia.  The report, which summarizes that
meeting, was just posted online.

The threat from China is so acute that "absent aggressive action by the
U.S. -- the U.S. will lose leadership and not control its own future in
HPC," the report states.

Indeed, the report says that "assuming status quo conditions, the meeting
participants believe that a change in HPC leadership was extremely likely,
with only minor disagreement on the timescale; many suggested that China
would be leading the U.S. as early as 2020."

China supercomputing systems have been leading the Top 500 list, the global
ranking of supercomputers, for several years.  But that's not a measure of
supercomputing leadership alone.

One workshop attendee, Paul Messina, a computer scientist and distinguished
fellow at Argonne National Labs and the head of its Exascale Computing
Project, sketched out the HPC leadership criteria: It means leadership in
producing and using systems, as well as "first mover advantage."  It also
means staying in the lead at all times.  The U.S. needs to control its HPC
destiny and "can't depend on other countries to sell us what we need," he
said in an email.

Something to keep in mind is that this report was written at a time when
many assumed that supercomputing funding was not under threat.  The report
calls for more spending while the Trump administration, along with the
Republican-controlled Congress, is planning major cuts in the federal
budget.

"National security requires the best computing available, and loss of
leadership in HPC will severely compromise our national security," the
report says.  "Loss of leadership in HPC could significantly reduce the
U.S. nuclear deterrence and the sophistication of our future weapons
systems."

Among those at the meeting was Barry Bolding, a senior vice president and
chief strategy officer at supercomputer company Cray.  "I will say from
Cray's view, [the report] accurately reflects the discussion of the
workshop and mostly accurately reflects some of our primary concerns
regarding HPC competitiveness."

Steve Conway, an HPC analyst and research vice president at Hyperion
Research, said the meeting "and report are important for alerting the U.S.
HPC community, especially government officials, to the dangers of taking
U.S. HPC leadership for granted when other nations, particularly China, are
intent on seizing global leadership of the market for supercomputers."

The report makes three overarching observations about China's Sunway
TaihuLight system, which at 93 petaflops, is ranked first on the Top500
list of supercomputers.

The TaihuLight supercomputer is "homegrown," and includes processors that
were designed and fabricated in China.  The Chinese chip design "includes
architectural innovations," and was designed using "a true co-design
approach" where the applications are tuned to take advantage of the chip
design, the report said.

The machine "is not a stunt," the report notes, meaning China didn't
develop this system for bragging rights.  The machine "is being used for
cutting edge research," and three of the six finalists for the Gordon Bell
Prize, the top research award in HPC, were the result of Chinese efforts.

The report offers something particularly insightful about China's
motivations.

"Meeting participants, especially those from industry, noted that it can be
easy for Americans to draw the wrong conclusions about what HPC investments
by China mean – without considering China's motivations," the report states.

"These participants stressed that their personal interactions with Chinese
researchers and at supercomputing centers showed a mindset where computing
is first and foremost a strategic capability for improving the country; for
pulling a billion people out of poverty; for supporting companies that are
looking to build better products, or bridges, or rail networks; for
transitioning away from a role as a low-cost manufacturer for the world;
for enabling the economy to move from 'Made in China' to 'Made by China,' "
the report states.

But it also pointed out that the computer codes developed for industry,
"are good proxies for the tools needed to design many different weapons
systems."
--------------

Warnings like these from disinterested companies like Cray seem to appear
every year like clockwork at about the same time NPR does their annual fund
drive.

Perhaps the NSA should be "funded" like SETI: everyone downloads a little
"screen saver" program that cracks Russian passwords for the NSA whenever
we leave our computers to get a cup of coffee.

Or the massively parallel "neural network" GPU's in our self-driving
Tesla's can crack SHA-3 hashes whenever we've stopped at a red light.

Or we can donate our Nest thermostats to a NSA-run botnet that attacks Iran
and North Korea while we sleep.

We saved toothpaste tubes for their tin and old newspapers for their
cellulose during WWII to support the war; these modest modern efforts would
be extremely helpful, and help America become great again.

_______________________________________________
The cryptography mailing list
cryptography () metzdowd com
http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20170316203558:AE681438-0AA9-11E7-A240-D214B3E2FC88
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com