S.2281 Hearing (was: Justice Dept: Wiretaps...)

Mon Jun 21 19:32:07 UTC 2004

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004, Pete Schroebel wrote:

>
>
> > > I think the only advantage to DOJ working this hard on LI capabilities
> is that
> > >it may raise public awareness of the issue, and, may help get better
> cryptographic
> > >technologies more widely deployed sooner.  Other than that, I think it's
> just a lose
> > >all the way around.
> >
> > I'm not advocating the DoJ's position on this matter, just trying to
> > clarify it for the list (since it was rather muddled in earlier postings).
> >
> > /John
> >
>
>
>  They, "the DOJ" is just trying to do it's job, as they are under the
> microscope due to the fumbles that led to the compromises by an obviously
> inept predecessor. Now, they are tighten the screws on everything from
> telecoms to bank accounts;  to prevent another round of fumbled information
> resulting in a preventable issue going unchecked.

If you mean the 'misplaced' information surrounding the 9/11 hijackers,
I'm not sure any amount of wiretapping/snooping would have ever changed
the situation. The problem was more related to, according to news reports
and senate (house?) hearings/testimony, miscommunications inside each of
the parts of the DoJ/CIA/NSA. All the wiretapping in the world wont get
information passed correctly inside these organizations.

Smoke screen efforts are less helpful and are simple diversions from the
reality of the problem.