Re: Outsourcing, and rebranding, (national) security

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>]

On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 2:21 PM, Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon &
Hannah <rmslade () shaw ca> wrote:
> I was thinking about the recent trend, in the US, for "outsourcing" and
> "privatization" of security functions, in order to reduce (government) costs.  For
> example, we know, from the Snowden debacle, that material he, ummm,
> "obtained," was accessed while he was working for a contractor that was working
> for the NSA.
The government lied when it claimed "Snowden was fabricating digital
keys [sic]. There was no clever, spy-vs-spy stuff: : "Last week NSA
Director Keith Alexander told the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence that Snowden was able to access files inside the NSA by
fabricating digital keys that gave him access to areas he was not
allowed to visit as a low-level contractor and systems administrator.
[1]

The NSA apparently provided that information through MS Sharepoint
(did you really think there were security controls in place that met
expectations): [2].

The NSA is pursuing a policy of remving humans from the loop: [3].

The company that provides background checks is also being investigated: [2].

> Considering both these trends; outsourcing and PR, I see an opportunity here.
That's the cool thing about being government. You can lie with
impunity, and there's no need to for PR campaigns. Its not a mess that
needs cleaning up because nearly everyone is complicit. No one is held
responsible during the act or accountable after the fact.

Jeff

[1] "Greenwald: Snowden’s Files Are Out There if ‘Anything Happens’ to
Him", 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/25/greenwald-snowden-s-files-are-out-there-if-anything-happens-to-him.html

[2] "Snowden’s Impact on the Enterprise: How Mobile Security is
Evolving Post-NSA Leak",
http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/07/snowdens-impact-on-the-enterprise-how-mobile-security-is-evolving-post-nsa-leak/.

[3] "NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data
access", http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-usa-security-nsa-leaks-idUSBRE97801020130809.
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