NSA and the Clipper Chip

I wrote what follows in 1995 as a letter to my Congressional representatives. The final product was significantly longer than I intended, as I got caught up in recounting the abuses of the Nixon era. A discussion of the Clipper chip is not likely to interest most readers these days. (Briefly, it was a government-approved encryption chip with a built-in back door, called the Law Enforcement Exploitation Field.) Nevertheless, I include this document here for two reasons. Mainly, because the first two-thirds recounts some history that seems more relevant than ever given the attacks on privacy and liberty we�ve suffered since 9/11. Secondarily, because it�s appeared around the web in bastardized form (frequently missing the third word of the first sentence, for instance). It�s often been marked as copyrighted by Quadralay Corporation, but in fact Quadralay had nothing to do with it and would, I expect, disclaim any connection to the content.

Introduction

The historical summary of the NSA presented here includes and depends on information reported in three books. The vast majority of data on the National Security Agency comes from James Bamford�s book The Puzzle Palace [1982]; all quotations are taken from Bamford unless otherwise noted. As Tim Weiner says, this book is �The best�the only�history of the NSA.??? Material from the section �NSA is funded in secret??? is entirely from Weiner�s Blank Check [1990], which also provided budget estimates and supporting material for other sections. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence by Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks [1980 edition, originally published 1974], provided background information and a glimpse of the NSA from within the intelligence community but outside the agency itself. Information presented on the Clipper initiative is based on the testimony before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of Marc Rotenberg of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and of Whitfield Diffie of Sun Microsystems. The argument takes the following form:

• NSA is without statutory basis, charter, or oversight
• NSA is funded in secret
• NSA has spied on US citizens
• Watchlists and the vacuum-cleaner approach
• Project Shamrock
• The Huston Plan
• Project Minaret
• NSA considers itself exempt from normal law
• NSA has told Congress of its interpretation
• There may be legal basis for this
• Reform is needed
• Lack of oversight is dangerous
• NSA has some military capabilities