Live on C-SPAN now: NSA Chief Testifies at Cybersecurity Hearing

[eightyone]

In this hearing there has been so much smearing in reguards to Snowden's educational background. There are plenty of smart people who didn't graduate from high school.

[ceejayoz]

Plus, Congress serves as evidence that you can have plenty of college graduates who are complete morons.

[samolang]

And the intelligence community actively recruits high school graduates because allowing them to go to college decreases the chances they can recruit them later.

[jacoblyles]

It may be true that people without traditional education credentials are likely to be less conformist/more likely to cause trouble.

[cwilson]

This is like watching a super awkward scene in a movie or TV show that just won't end.

The word "cyber" has been applied to every noun, and I've apparently been out of the loop on terms like "techno-boondoggle".

This is just a little terrifying.

[jmomo]

Since about 2001 I've considered anyone who used the word "cyber" to either be internet-illiterate or a politician (usually both).

[asperous]

I honestly cringed at "Cyber-warriors"

[ollysb]

[1]The term arose from a 1935 New York Times report that more than $3 million had been spent on recreational activities for the jobless as part of the New Deal. Among these activities were crafts classes, where the production of "boon doggles[2],"

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boondoggle_(project) [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoubidou

[sliverstorm]

What about cybernouns? Do we have those yet?

[whiddershins]

Oh, this is awesome: Keith Alexander explaining how what we really should do is let the NSA have a database that stores absolutely everything, and then they promise only to search through it when it is "reasonable."

[jsonne]

See, I'm personally of the same opinion. I couldn't figure it out, but then it hit me. It's the same line of logic that the military uses in their security clearances. Back in the day I used to work for a JAG lawyer, and have several friends that are/were in the military. So I do have some knowledge of the matter.

The way they do things is this. There's clearance and then there's need to know. So for instance one of my friends worked in network IT for the military. So had access to computers with "top secret" information on them. However, he wasn't allowed to access any of the information on the computers. Simply to use them for his job. Sound familiar to what the NSA is saying?

If there's other people on here that are closer to the military than I was please correct me, but it all starts to make "sense" when you think about it that way. I'm not saying it's right, in fact I think this system is likely problematic in a non military setting (and perhaps even within one as well)

[staccatomeasure]

Here's something I've been thinking about, let me know your thoughts: I'm thinking of the nuclear bomb analog. Other people have nukes, so we need nukes, and we have to trust the government not to turn nukes against us. Is it possible this is a similar example...and what we really should be doing is having oversight on the analogous launch codes...etc?

Note: this is not saying what they did was legal.

[macmac]

I find it deeply disturbing that Sen Mikulski clearly does not understand the meaning of the words she is reading.

[Zirro]

Since I am unable to access the stream at this time, in which way is her lack of understanding noticeable?

[mtgx]

I noticed the same thing. I wonder if someone from NSA wrote all of that for her to read.

[whiddershins]

Keith Alexander is a true politician, regardless of his title. When asked a question "could these powers be used in this way" answered the question he wanted to answer "we only use the power in this way."

[asperous]

He also dodged the question "can you get Google contacts?" by rambling off. And then he apologized and said he was afraid he'd reveal something important and that he'd answer the question in a private non-public meeting.

[narrator]

It's as if all the important decisions have already been made and they are just going through the motions.

[willurd]

Yeah. They are all reading from scripts. "This is something that we take looks down at script very seriously." Also, it appears that they were all privy to what each other was going to say before the hearing. "looks down at script As you said ..." Does that disturb anyone else?

[gasull]

That's exactly it.

[polarix]

Every time she says "protect the american people from" I keep filling in "the NSA and other overreaching government agencies" in my head.

This is really an incredible spectacle of audacity.

[rdl]

The depressing thing is Durbin wasn't smart enough to articulate it, but when he tried to ask "do you collect metadata or other data about non-telephone communications", GEN Alexander did a great job of misdirecting to being about court orders and getting access to a specific individual's information.

Knowing if metadata is collected broadly, and what metadata is collected, is key. There's probably no chance of that in unclassified congressional hearings; only via leaks.

We know they collect credit cards and some other records (air travel and customs/immigration for sure, and probably hotels and DMV and other government records, what else).

[rdl]

Oregon's senators are far better than I reasonably would have expected. Watch Senator Merkley question at 1:21 "exactly how did you get from these restrictions to collecting EVERYTHING, including my god-damn cellphone right here" (or something more polite, possibly). GEN Alexander decides to defer to the Feinstein classified hearing; i.e. not answering, by saying, "let me make sure I get this exactly right, because it is a complex area."

[WestCoastJustin]

Mikulski keeps calling "identity theft" war. This is a crime, it is not an act of war!

[laumars]

They're talking about their battle against cyber-crime as war - which is a reasonable statement to make. It's just the same as when governments and new agencies talk about the "war on drugs" etc.

[MichaelGG]

"Protect our domains .gov .mil .com" -- so it's all about DNS attacks?

[rdl]

I guess I intellectually knew, but didn't fully appreciate, just how old all of those people are. Working in Silicon Valley, I'm used to seeing 20-45 year olds in lots of useful roles. Everyone in that room seemed to be late-40s or older (the military people were the youngest).

[bilbo0s]

Well...

No offense...

but I wouldn't want the younger crowd sitting around deciding when to launch a nuke.

It's fine to put us in charge of the "like" buttons, Farmville tractors, or a web pages like Yahoo or Facebook. But some things are a bit more important.

It's fine to have younger aids or advisers. Probably good to have youthful energy INFORM certain decisions. Not so sure it's a good idea, however, to have youthful energy MAKING certain decisions.

And I say that, I guess, as part of what's considered the "younger crowd".

[betterunix]

A bit of life experience helps in governing a country. That being said, it is unfortunate that as people age, their minds tend to "solidify" and they have trouble understanding new things. The problem (which is evident over and over) is that Congress, while full of useful experience and wisdom accumulated with age, is also 20+ years behind the times on many issues.

[plainhold]

The conclusion seems to be that in order for the NSA chief to answer any interesting questions they have to declassify information. Which the NSA chief believes is a good idea as long as it doesn't harm the american people. What pieces of information they should declassify and make available to the public will be discussed in the closed hearing.

Edit: Spelling

[ihsw]

Sounds like we're going to see CISPA and CALEA-2 pass, especially with such a large emphasis on public-private partnerships and 'embedding' security methodologies/frameworks into products and services.

[whiddershins]

Mikulski has no idea what she's saying.

[macmac]

Nope. Oddly enough it comes across as even more bizarre because she appears reach a level of semi consciousness during the passages where she talks about her apparently highly competent colleagues.

[deletes]

+1

Quote:

>>Preventing criminals and hackers from...<<

Ugh....

[masoninthesis]

A 65 year old lady starts using words like Techno-boondoggles, and everyone bought it. It's worse than I thought.

[MarkHarmon]

What the heck is a techno boondoggle? What a hillbilly sounding term that only makes me cringe at what kind things the US government is going to cook up for us cyber pros, lol.

[JackpotDen]

>techno boondoggle

A government organisation that wastes money making a piece of technology.

[willurd]

A notable quote from our public servants:

"The executive order, as you know, is this administration's effort after an attempt to get legislation last year."

Let that soak in for a bit.

[jemka]

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." -Wizard of Oz

[julespitt]

Hope someone out there will post a Youtube link once it's over, or something comparable - can't seem to access it at all.