The all-American nightmare of keeping secrets
The United States of America is losing control over its digitised secrets and cyber-weapons. How does this compare to the past? Part 4 of State Perspectives on Cybersecurity (series)
The luxury of secrets in the digital age
Intelligence agencies have always prided themselves with their perceived ‘cloak and dagger’. The ability to strike anywhere in the world with utter secrecy. Their covert operations only coming to light years after the event has happened…or sometimes never at all. However, secrecy is beginning to become a luxury for States in the digital age. In 2013 Edward Snowden released a series of documents exposing the extensive surveillance operations the National Security Agency (NSA) was conducting on United States soil and abroad.[i] His leaks revealed wiring taping of foreign leaders, mass surveillance of US citizens, and access to information provided by private sector tech companies.[ii] Many questioned the justification the NSA had for mass surveillance, even in the name of national security.[iii] President Obama was forced to justify the conduct of the intelligence agencies under his administration. However, whistle-blowers are nothing new. 1971 saw the release of the “Pentagon Papers”, a 7,000-page account of the US administration’s activities in Vietnam from 1945–1967, by the research analyst Daniel Ellsberg.[iv] The Pentagon Papers revealed US military and financial involvement in Vietnam unknown to the public and mainstream media. It emphasised the dishonesty of the Johnson administration to the American people.[v] The whistle-blowers of today represent a much bigger threat to State secrets than before. The distinct difference in whistle-blowers of the digital era is their ability to release more sensitive material to a wider audience. Snowden was able make away, supposedly, with 900,000 files from the NSA, of which thousands are readable online.[vi] This is a far cry from the photocopied 7,000-page Pentagon papers distributed to news outlets. Moreover, anyone with access to the internet can read his released documents online. The staggering amount of information able to be smuggled, because of digital storage, makes any digitised secret document vulnerable.
Losing the reign over covert ops
In 1961, a CIA sponsored brigade of exiled Cubans were sent to invade Cuba and remove Castro’s communist government.[vii] The operation, later to be called the “Bay of Pigs invasion”, failed to remove the government and resulted in a massive blow to US foreign policy.[viii] While the US lost credibility it did not lose much tactically, only a few thousand trained men were taken prisoner. However, with cyber-weapons like Stuxnet, the US lost both credibility and control over its weapons. Stuxnet is a sophisticated worm, allegedly jointly designed by the NSA and Israel’s intelligence corps “Unit 8200”.[ix] The worm was used to infiltrate Iranian nuclear reactors and destroy a fifth of its centrifuges.[x] US/Israel goal was to make the nuclear facilities appear faulty and slow down Iran’s nuclear program.[xi] Unpredictably, the worm managed to copy itself onto public servers and was eventually discovered and made public. The US was accused of orchestrating the hostile covert operation. In response, Iran has increased its nuclear program and has supposedly created its own Cyber army.[xii] Additionally, this complex worm that took over a decade to produce it now available to states and non-state actors alike on the internet. The US has once again taken a blow to its credibility, but worse more has lost control over a cyber-weapon it has created.
Nicolas Seidman is a second-year student of War Studies from King’s College London. He is a Wonk Bridge Managing Editor & Head of Podcasts.
[i] “Pentagon Report: Scope of Intelligence Compromised by Snowden ‘staggering’ | World News | The Guardian.” The Guardian. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/pentagon-report-snowden-leaks-national-security.
[ii] “NSA Files Decoded: Edward Snowden’s Surveillance Revelations Explained | US News | Theguardian.com.” The Guardian. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded#section/2.
[iii] “Thousands Gather in Washington for Anti-NSA ‘Stop Watching Us’ Rally | US News | The Guardian.” The Guardian. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/26/nsa-rally-stop-watching-washington-snowden.
[iv] “Pentagon Papers — Vietnam War.” HISTORY.com. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/pentagon-papers.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] “Edward Snowden and the Department of Defense.” The Atlantic. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/why-did-it-take-the-pentagon-a-month-to-figure-out-its-files-were-compromised/394991/.
[vii] “The Bay of Pigs Invasion — Central Intelligence Agency.” Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/the-bay-of-pigs-invasion.html.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Zero Days. Directed by Alex Gibney. 2016. Documentary.
[x] “Stuxnet Was Far More Dangerous Than Previous Thought.” Business Insider. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://www.businessinsider.com/stuxnet-was-far-more-dangerous-than-previous-thought-2013-11?IR=T.
[xi] Zero Days. Directed by Alex Gibney. 2016. Documentary.
[xii] “Iran’s Cyber Army.” Business Insider. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://uk.businessinsider.com/irans-cyber-army-2015-3.
