Submission + - Mathematicians Uncomfortable With Ties To NSA, But Not Pulling Back (sciencemag.org)
An anonymous reader writes: When we talk about how the NSA operates, it's typically about the policymakers and what the agency should or should not do. It's worth remembering that the NSA is built upon the backs of world-class mathematicians, whom they aggressively recruit to make all their underlying surveillance technology work. A new piece in Science discusses how the relationship between mathematicians and the NSA has changed following the Snowden leaks (PDF). But as Peter Woit points out, these ethical conundrums are not actually spurring any change. This is perhaps due to the NSA's generous funding of mathematics-related research. The article talks about the American Mathematical Society, which until recently was led by David Vogan: "...after all was said and done, no action
was taken. Vogan describes a meeting about
the matter last year with an AMS governing
committee as 'terrible,' revealing little
interest among the rest of the society’s leadership
in making a public statement about
NSA’s ethics, let alone cutting ties. Ordinary
AMS members, by and large, feel the same
way, adds Vogan, who this week is handing
over the presidency to Robert Bryant, a
mathematician at Duke University in Durham,
North Carolina. For now, U.S. mathematicians
aren't willing to disown their
shadowy but steadfast benefactor."
