Comment And this comes as a surprise? (Score 1) 134
Anyone in their right mind should not be surprised with this announcement...in fact I am surprised that it was made at all. The US government is a notorious information gathering body, you need only look as far as basic Senate practice for confirmation: "Well before we make a decision, let's perform a few studies".
Throughout history spying has been an integral part of warfare, and as such it has grown with the times. The CIA has long employed any means at it's disposal to achieve its goal of national security, which has included everything from simple bribes for information, to the planting of moles in important government positions, to the extremes of assasination. Why would they stop there?
Also, look at the NSA. What is their purpose? It is "support of U.S. Government activities to protect U.S. communications and produce foreign intelligence information." Hmmm...and how would they do that in an electronic world? The massive amount of mathematical and computing experience, not to mention raw computing power, has not been (presumably) sitting idle since it's conception in 1952...it has been put to the task of intercepting and decoding information that may be strategically useful to the US government. The CIA is simply taking this information gathering process one step further...right to the systems where the information originates.
Throughout history spying has been an integral part of warfare, and as such it has grown with the times. The CIA has long employed any means at it's disposal to achieve its goal of national security, which has included everything from simple bribes for information, to the planting of moles in important government positions, to the extremes of assasination. Why would they stop there?
Also, look at the NSA. What is their purpose? It is "support of U.S. Government activities to protect U.S. communications and produce foreign intelligence information." Hmmm...and how would they do that in an electronic world? The massive amount of mathematical and computing experience, not to mention raw computing power, has not been (presumably) sitting idle since it's conception in 1952...it has been put to the task of intercepting and decoding information that may be strategically useful to the US government. The CIA is simply taking this information gathering process one step further...right to the systems where the information originates.
