Body of Secrets by James Bamford, Century, 拢20, ISBN 0712675981
THIRTY-TWO thousand people in Fort Meade, Maryland, work in a sealed city
reading and listening to the world鈥檚 private communications. The National
Security Agency, with its British partner GCHQ, harvests signals from undersea
cables, satellites, and installations in friendly countries. Archives equivalent
to 150 miles of bookshelves, accessible at thirty seconds notice, store data
that is filtered through acres of supercomputers.
A former CIA director has explained that Europe鈥檚 confidential data is
trawled for the benefit of American companies, but only because inferior
European technology cannot win contracts without bribery. In September the
European Parliament will vote on its inquiry into these activities, which
recommends that individuals and businesses should protect themselves through
routine strong encryption.
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James Bamford鈥檚 Body of Secrets is a gripping anatomy of post-war
eavesdropping and code-breaking. It鈥檚 meticulously researched and a mandatory
reference for many of the murkier episodes of modern American history. For
example NSA鈥檚 longest-serving deputy director proposed systematising the
wiretapping of domestic political opponents, calling it 鈥渁 heaven-sent
opportunity鈥�. Nixon approved the plan, but a junior White House lawyer threw a
copy in his safe for a rainy day. His name? John Dean.
NSA鈥檚 current director is so worried about public perceptions that he
recently invited in the cameras of two TV networks. The resulting series of
broadcasts resembled corporate PR videos, featuring much Kubrick-era technology,
with earnest and telegenic analysts lamenting impotently against Osama bin
Laden鈥檚 devious use of the personal computer. Oblivious to world opinion, the
NSA is expanding鈥攁nd the target is the Internet.
