The New Yorker has a very interesting podcast on their website right now about an upcoming feature in their magazine entitled “Spy Master.” In it, Matt Dellinger interviews the person who worked on the upcoming feature – Larry Wright. Larry Wright talks about his interactions with current Director of National Security, Mike McConnell. And what the director, Mike McConnell, will be proposing soon may shock you.
Basically, Larry Wright says that McConnell is going to try to get a “cyber security” policy enacted that could allow governmental intelligence agencies to monitor internet traffic. Bush has yet to announce any such policy. Now, whether that means with impunity, time will tell, but it certainly made my ears perk up. Wright commented that Americans may have to be “giving up the presumption of privacy” to protect the systems of free speech on the web. Obviously, this is going to create a firestorm of controversy. But, on the other hand, I understand the difficult position we find ourselves in today – especially intelligence communities. In the podcast, Wright commented that recent research had shown up to 40,000 Chinese involved in active cyber-warfare. And in fact, I had posted recently about the Chinese hacking the Pentagon. In all, it’s going to be interesting to see how this develops.
