NSA to Launch 'No Such Podcast,'
nsa.gov
nsa.gov
I wonder if they’re trying to attract new talent, in a world where our best manipulators are more attracted to higher-paying corp gigs, and analytical types are lost to finance, consulting and tech. Especially if their workforces are aging and stuck in the past. Perhaps they’re trying to expand as well, in a world where fast & cheap intel gathering is critical to stay on top against more agile counterparties in say Israel, Russia and China.
The only reason I don’t believe is the stated goal, of “just highlighting the work of these incredible civil servants”. Something’s going on, but what?
I think its apart of a media campaign to highlight the best parts of the agency to the public, which can be used for attracting talent, convincing voters that the agency is good, and convincing leaders the agency is necessary.
Additionally, its also a defensive move against other powers that want to discredit the NSA and sway public opinion. Many security professionals talk about cyberspace being the new territory for warfare, and there is a significant amount of astroturfing, manipulation and falsification of information which occurs in social media. No one else is going to try to make the NSA look good besides the NSA.
I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the NSA, just that the basics of the increased media coming from their office is to attempt to make the NSA look better to all parties who have some level of power over them.
That’s a really good point. I guess being proactive in establishing a good or at least plausibly good reputation is a great proactive measure to prevent say a future scandal from hitting them hard. Right now the narrative seems to be along the lines of “we did some questionable things in the past, but don’t mind that too much because it’s a really important job that does a lot of good protecting national interests, and besides, look at the other govts they’re clearly doing worse things”. Which isn’t that bad of a strategy, to be fair.
Of particular frustration to me are lawyers who cannot conceive of any issue with the NSA's practices because they've filled put paperwork and repeatedly handwave away concerns due to many a lawyer's lack of comprehension of how surveillance technology works.
Doesn't help the NSA representatives dismiss concerns to lawyers by repeatedly saying what they do is so complicated to understand at a high level followed by explanations that wholly ignore root of any controversy surrounding them.
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> “NSA employees defend the nation every day, applying their expertise and work ethic to challenging, time-sensitive problems,”
No, they don't. As of late they have no real problems to solve, so they assist in facilitating parallel reconstructions of victimless crimes that shouldn't even be crimes. Most of NSA's employees wouldn't even realize the evils they inflict due to the compartmentalization of information.
The NSA was meant to be a wartime signals interception agency, but they lost this focus a long time ago. Their techniques don't work against Russia anyway as is evident by the many deaths of Ukrainian citizens by Russian missiles. As an example, if their signal interception had been working, the Ukrainians could've been given advance warning of missiles strikes, thereby saving lives. This actually used to work in WW II when the NSA was focused, but this focus has been lost to the wind.
Maybe focus on answering this question persuasively instead of making podcasts.
What you wanna do is be the guy they hire to work at a FAANG to siphon data.
I guess another way of putting this is, is the one year of Math 55, some of whose 12 students per year do an internship at the NSA, really that vital to the mission? Venture capitalists go out of their way, bending over backwards for the same people too. And the Math 55 kids get pushed out, people don’t like working for Math 55 kids all the same.
The multi-billion dollar NSA budget is juicy, but without a better mission - without elevating the mission above, “Copy the data from a tech company to whom people willing hand over all their information” - the kids who might make good leaders will remain uninterested in the NSA. They could be persuaded by a podcast, but not one that pulls the same levers as Two Sigma and Stripe do, convincing people that they’re secret geniuses, talking about a storied but kind of meaningless past full of conveniently ignored failures, as opposed to making their purpose worthy.
Just like you willingly walk to your car and willingly drive to work and willingly do your job.
Sure - you have the option of doing none of those things. No one is forcing you to do it.
But you won't make a meaningful living in society if you don't.