Posted on 04/25/2016 6:56:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"From our standpoint, it’s not a good thing," Clapper said of accelerated advancements in encryption technology.
Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, by leaking classified data two years ago, contributed to the acceleration of sophisticated encryption methods that militants are using to hide their communications, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Monday.
The rapid advancement of commercially available encryption software is proving to be a difficult obstacle in detecting potential threats, he said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
"From our standpoint, it's not a good thing," he said of the rapidly advancing encryption, adding that the software has had "profound effects" on the government's ability to gather intelligence.
Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who took over the DNI post after Navy Adm. Dennis Blair was dismissed by President Barack Obama in 2010, called the Islamic State "the most sophisticated user of the Internet," continuing to use evolving software for end-to-end encryption of its activities.
And the National Security Agency believes Snowden, who exposed the agency's massive phone surveillance program in 2014, has helped accelerate encryption technology by about seven years, Clapper said.
In his remarks, Clapper acknowledged that there needs to be a balance between intelligence capabilities and guarding against law enforcement invasions of privacy -- echoing Obama's prior statements against "absolutist positions" on the matter. Clapper called the balance a "holy grail" the U.S. intelligence agency is seeking.
Clapper cited ongoing terror threats and efforts in Europe as factors that favor intelligence sharing and sources that have shed new light on the Islamic State's operational strategies.
DNI James Clapper said Monday that U.S. intelligence branches, including the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, have been profoundly affected by an accelerated advance in encryption technology that could make it substantially more difficult to detect potential terror threats from the Islamic State and other groups.
Also Monday, Clapper echoed predictions by the White House and a former Senate intelligence chairman that a decision should be made by June whether to declassify nearly 30 pages of a 2004 report by the 9/11 Commission.
Some observers have speculated that the classified pages might implicate some Saudi officials, formal allies to the United States, in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Clapper said the June time frame is realistic, and the administration is trying to coordinate agencies' positions on the materials.
Former Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., who also co-chaired the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States between 2002 and 2004, told NBC News Sunday that he hopes Obama will "honor the American people and make it available."
Obama deploying 250 special operations forces to Syria in Islamic State fight "The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is did these 19 people conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?" Graham said on Meet the Press. "I think it's implausible to think that people who couldn't speak English, had never been in the United States before, as a group were not well-educated could have done that.
"So who was the most likely entity to have provided them that support? And I think all the evidence points to Saudi Arabia."
To pass the buck, and to give the appearance of legitimacy to treason.
Yep, there is a legitimate mass market need for encryption so people and businesses can utilize the internet more fully.
Unfortunately the most profitable way for manufacturers to satisfy that market is with the cheapest encryption- that will destroy the Fourth and Fifth amendments.
All that stands in their way are some politicians who depend on them for donations.
So it can’t be too much of a problem, or we wouldn’t be letting in two million dune coons since 9/11, right? What kind of jackass would be cool with letting them flood right in then blaming it on encryption and Snowden?
“Why is it good for him? He’s a prisoner of a dictator?”
I was not aware that he came back to the USA.
“That slight of hand means Clapper CAN go up speak in “NSA-ese” to Congress, and have confidence that the meaning that pops up in the mind of the American public and their elected representative inquisitors is very different from that in his own.”
He intentionally deceived, that is a lie.
How many years was Snowden an employee of NSA?
If some Saudi is implicated in 9/11 then the American Public needs to know about it, because Saudi Arabia is the enemy.
Mr. Trump, when you become President, please impose a 10,000% tariff on any oil coming from the Middle East.
We have enough oil of our own, we don’t need to support people who would kill us.
Drill, Baby, drill.
Clapper hax shown his own self to an 0bama idiot. Dealing with Islam does not require decryption if done well.
Snowden was a contractor employee, not directly employed by NSA.
“NO punishment. NOTHING. Why do we even HAVE a congress?”
Lois Lerner. Eric Holder. James Clapper. Bill Ayers. The Clintons and the rest of the Dem scofflaws—there’s plenty more—all running around loose.
It’s the same principle as a banana republic after a revolution: the old jug-rammer is allowed to board a plane with his swag, because some day the new Maximum Leader may need the same professional courtesy.
Donald Trump is throwing a wrench into that protocol.
What the government approach says is that we’re all suspects, all the time. This is “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime” territory.
this is propaganda.
the truth is,
if 2 people can securely exchange keys,
it is easy to have unbreakable encryption.
what that is not secure,
is stuff like,
snapchat, instagram ICQ, Skype, etc
and anything smartphone related.
(not sure about PGP and ToR)
separate encryption is needed.
In what regard, to simply bitch-slap the NSA?
I don’t know who I trust less - James Clapper and Muslim Convert John Brennan
Yeah - Its Clapper and Brennan, and their big-eared, blue-lipped boss.
We have a Congress to perpetuate the illusion of that the post-coup United States federal government has legitimacy.
>> to have unbreakable encryption
I can think of only one method that more than doubles the vulnerability of securing an asymmetric private key.
Yup!
We agree.
That's reason enough...
Gene eric...
I don’t quite understand what you mean,
perhaps you could add a little more to
what you wrote.
.............unbreakable...
a 512 bit block cipher
(old fashion secret-key, held by both parties)
would be computationally infeasible
to break.
Do you think the British capture and parse all US calls and we do the same for them, then we trade the intelligence as a way to get around the letter of the law, or do you think the US just captures all communications from US citizens?
Freegards
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