IP: Osama bin Laden and crypto

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 10:35:51 +1100
> From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
>
> Hi Dave
>
> Over the last nine months, I've seen many reports allege bin Laden is
> responsible for virtually everything short of global warming that goes
> wrong in the world.
>
> Last January, retired Admiral David Jeremiah, claimed: "Increasingly,
> people like Osama bin Laden will be able to acquire capabilities on
> satellites". Jeremiah took over the Rumsfeld Commission from Donald
> Rumsfeld when the latter became Defense Secretary-Designate. The
> Commission's concern was that the US would face a "Space Pearl Harbor".
>
> http://www.spacedaily.com/news/bmdo-01b.html
>
> Given the push for yet more controls on freedom's bulwark in the
> information age, crypto, this quote from James Bamford's new book on the
> NSA is jarring.
>
> "According to information obtained for Body of Secrets, NSA regularly
> listens to unencrypted calls from suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden,
> in hiding in Afghanistan," Bamford writes.
>  "Bin Laden uses a portable INMARSAT (satellite) phone that transmits
> and receives calls over spacecraft owned by the International Maritime
> Satellite Organisation.
>  "According to intelligence officials, bin Laden is aware that the
> United States can eavesdrop on his international communications but he
> does not seem to care. To impress cleared visitors, NSA analysts
> occasionally play audiotapes of bin Laden talking to his mother over an
> INMARSAT connection."
> http://www.it.mycareer.com.au/news/2001/09/18/FFXBHD3OLRC.html
>
>
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