http://pando.com/2014/07/16/to... (JULY 16, 2014)

It depends how the US military is counted. A huge number of civilian like staff, air force, army... could be used to hide deep counts.
So what can be counted on? The Air Force has very expensive equipment to look after. So great care is taken to only allow selected, well tested people near that equipment.
That would sort out most of the human issues long term and offer amazing statistics.
Other areas of the US mil may also like to have well tested people near some of the more interesting systems. Great numbers again due to expert testing and constant staff sorting.
The real issue is the head injury or meds used during long occupation tours.
Keep the best staff looked after and try and see what is left over for the rest.

Re "I'd put together a fake image which looks good enough to pass the sniff test for a day or two, but which is designed to "go off" shortly after when the public gets a chance to deconstruct it."
Some interesting ways to track this.
MI6 or CIA got something found in Russia and it was rushed out to the media. FSB just watched to track the origins, publication and expected Western media results.
Russia released the image internally to follow the image to expose some internal NGO or other well funded networks.
Limited hangout.
ie just to see something internal to Russia been activated.
Some other group set this in play and Russia, the US and UK are just interested to see where it tracks back and why.
So the value was not in the poor fake but its origins.

Re "What good is a law pertaining to" The good news is that the US legal system now has to hold any mil or gov action in pubic courts to be legal.
Its a bit like a digital or legal Berlin Wall. Once the US mil and gov put that parallel construction into the public court system all legal teams and the press will know.
What are the options for the USA? Sealed security courts for all? People and lawyers at a federal and state level will begin to notice that change.
The other option is to make the domestic surveillance state legal. Vast collections of stored data about net use, calls, driving habits, spending, reading lists, media consumption, location, travel can be now be presented from a "locked box" in open court without question.
When that is done every legal team is going to see the same pattern. You where on the internet. You where on the phone. Your digital life is in open court. All the US gov now has is the hope that all the connections will always be a call, digital or on the internet and be easy to collect.
Even defence lawyer will have to start writing on note pads and been very careful about how they talk to their clients and what files they keep.
Every scape of digital information is now in play.

The destination is material that can be presented in open court. Nothing from the NSA, GCHQ.
For that many nations need to be able to work together and watch networks as they react to changes in networking.
Not too hard on federal budgets and with international cooperation.
The real interesting aspect was how to make Tor the destination.
Years of raids where all users with normal provider accounts, credit card for international VPN use, proxy users all got found. But one networks users seemed to always get away and could spread the news. Tor was not as unsafe.
Tor was the destination. Just like low level British railways codes, M-209 cipher and US diplomatic codes M-138, Gray, Brown was to Germany in WW2.
Keep the low level information flowing and it is all collected. One question is why show in public that Tor open to such methods.
Years of networks could have been watched as they form. Staff could have been befriended, turned or allowed front groups to be more trusted. Staff that where in the wild, setting up the next generation of networks over decades?
Why the exposure of the method now?

Nerd-appropriate would be just how many Western brands and firms sent their production lines to the East.
Cash that then supported the East German gov for years.
Nerd-appropriate would be just how quickly Western political leaders had their East German files found and then removed.
Nerd-appropriate would be where some top East German security experts later found work in the USA.
The ability of the West to track most of the East German and Russian gov and mil movements.
The fall of the wall still has many good tech stories but all the press likes is the escapes and television news.

To carry on with ideas like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Law-enforcer misuse of driver database soars (January 22, 2013) http://articles.orlandosentine...
Thats some history and local news. What the mil and federal districts around the US are seeking is a near instant facial recognition system as a person walks down a street.
Has police contact been made before? What was the result? A US or international tourist looking at a WW1 memorial in a city moves their camera around?
A nice approach that can escalate to an ID demand and friendly chat down.
A social media film crew? Local media students? Social media citizens looking to do a "First amendment test" and post the resulting talk down on their blog or site?
A larger approach that can escalate to a talk down with enough law enforcement officials to walk around and find the "citizen journalists" car.
That is why a near instant facial recognition system is so important. Expert local law enforcement officials can be tasked to the person with a camera and then shape the local optics. From friendly to very direct.
The passports in and passports out would be a nice idea too.
The US seems to have no real desire to go back to Operation Intercept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and having secure boarders again.

Yes and if you are in Germany you can track the issues back to the 1950's. West Germany and the NSA, GCHQ needed local telco experts that could be trusted.
One network to track all calls. One network to know all West German phone numbers. Staff tame to the US and UK where selected and stayed in place.
The tame staff then promoted the next generations with the same US and UK understandings. A Gehlen Organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... for the West German telco systems.
Great for tracking exposed East German deep penetration agents. Now great for tracking the press as they report on wars and tame telco surveillance.

The good news AC is the the world already knows who offered junk crypto and tame OS standards over generations of products.
So thats an easy list to start with :) Beyond that is a lot of review and testing. But no need to go back to the tame brands with their junk standards.

re "This is what I like about proprietary software. Lots of eyeballs are probing for vulnerabilities, and when such are found, they are fixed quickly by professional paid developers."
The same brands who allowed years of weak crypto for the NSA and GCHQ?
Hard to see what extras a person gets with proprietary software. Or what is nor fixed or fixed later.

The world has seen where trusting big OS, telco and software brands has left crypto security.
If a person wants a CPU, motherboard and OS at some point they are going to have to buy a product.
So people have the option to go out and test and read up on other CPU products. If they like what they find, support and even buy that product.
Real customers do that have option. Ask questions, shop around, test, buy, think, publish.
Buying again and again from the brands that have fooled consumers for years with tame, junk crypto might not be the best idea to go on with again and again.
A big wide world of CPU, motherboards, networking products, brands and real academic experts :)

What was the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ready should be easy to think about.
Product, brand, service or code on phone hardware for voice and video?
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is clear on the expected support needed. What needs telco products have to meet will be seen under new regulations over the next years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Find an OS and cpu that can be tested. Work on your own crypto and applications. No need to accept shipped junk crypto and tame software.

Yes people have the option to talk about the tame brands and their expensive junk crypto :)
People can now think about their computing needs understanding what gov and mil extras they are paying over generations of hardware and software upgrades.

A cpu thats been tested and an open OS on top.
"How I do my computing"
https://stallman.org/stallman-... has some ideas on that.