Terminal Compromise, Winn Schwartau [sight word books txt] 📗

interest in her as a woman outweighed the interest in

her politics. The state’s constituency overwhelmingly endorsed

her with their votes and Senator Nancy Deere, one of the few

woman ever to reach that level as an elected official, was on her

way to Washington.

Nancy Deere found that many of the professional politicians

preferred to ignore her; they were convinced she was bound to be

a one termer once the GOP got someone to run against her. Others

found her to be a genuine pain in the butt. Not due to her

naivete, far from that, she adeptly acclimated to the culture and

the system. Rather, she was a woman and she broke the rules. She

said what she felt; she echoed the sentiments of her constituency

which were largely unpopular politically. Nancy Deere didn’t

care what official Washington thought; her state was behind her

with an almost unanimous approval and it was her sworn duty to

represent them honestly and without compromise. She had nothing

to lose by being herself. After more than a year in Washington,

she learned how the massive Washington machinery functioned and

why it crawled with a hurry up and wait engine.

In Rickfield’s absence, at 1:40 P.M., Senator Nancy Deere called

the session to order. Her administrative demeanor gave no one

pause to question her authority. Even the other sole Congres-

sional representative on the sub-committee fell into step.

While Senator Stanley Paglusi technically had seniority, he sat

on the committee at Rickfield’s request and held no specific

interest in the subject matter they were investigating. He

accepted the seat to mollify Rickfield and to add to his own

political resume.

“Come to order, please,” she announced over the ample sound

system. The voluminous hearing room reacted promptly to the

authoritative command that issued forth from the petite auburn

haired Nancy Deere who would have been just as comfortable auc-

tioning donated goods at her church. She noticed that unlike the

morning session, the afternoon session was packed. The press pool

was nearly full and several people were forced to stand. What

had changed, she asked herself.

After the procedural formalities were completed, she again

thanked those who had spoken to the committee in the morning, and

then promised an equally informative afternoon. Nancy, as she

liked to be called on all but the most formal of occasions intro-

duced the committee’s first afternoon witness.

“Our next speaker is Ted Hammacher, a recognized expert on the

subject of computer and information security. During 17 years

with the Government, Mr. Hammacher worked with the Defense Inves-

tigatory Agency and the National Security Agency as a DoD liai-

son. He is currently a security consultant to industry and the

government and is the author of hundreds of articles on the

subject.” As was required, Nancy Deere outlined Hammacher’s

qualifications as an expert, and then invited him to give his

opening statement.

The television in Rickfield’s office was tuned to C-SPAN which

was broadcasting the hearings as he spoke into the phone.

“Only a couple more and then I’m off to spend my days in the

company of luscious maidens on the island of my choice,” he

bragged into the phone. The Senator listened intently to the

response. “Yes, I am aware of that, but it doesn’t change the

fact that I’m calling it quits. I cannot, I will not, continue

this charade.” He listened quietly for several minutes before

interjecting.

“Listen, General, we’ve both made enough money to keep us in

style for the rest of our lives, and I will not jeopardize that

for anything. Got it?” Again he listened. “I don’t know about

you, but I do not relish the idea of doing ten to twenty regard-

less of how much of a country club the prison is. It is still a

prison.” He listened further.

“That’s it, I’ve had it! Don’t make me use that file to impli-

cate you, the guys over at State and our Import . . .hey!” Rick-

field turned to Ken Boyers. “Who started the afternoon session?”

He pointed at the TV.

“It looks like Senator Deere,” Ken said.

“Deere? Where does that goddamned bitch get off . . ?” He remem-

bered the phone. “General? I have to go, I’ve got a suffragette

usurping a little power, and I have to put her back in her place.

You understand. But, on that other matter, I’m out. Done. Fini-

to. Do what you want, but keep me the fuck out of it.” Rick-

field hung up abruptly and stared at the broadcast. “Some house-

broken homemaker is not going to make me look bad. Goddamn it,

Ken,” Rickfield said as he stood up quickly. “Let’s get back out

there.”

“Thank you, Senator Deere, and committee members. I am honored

to have a chance to speak to you here today. As a preface to my

remarks, I think that a brief history of security and privacy

from a government perspective may be in order. One of the reasons

we are here today is due to a succession of events that since the

introduction of the computer have shaped an ad hoc anarchism, a

laissez-faire attitude toward privacy and security. Rather than

a comprehensive national policy, despite the valiant efforts of a

few able Congressmen, the United States of America has allowed

itself to be lulled into technical complacency and indifference.

Therefore, I will, if the committee agrees, provide a brief

chronological record.”

“I for one would be most interested,” said Senator Deere. “It

appeared that this morning our speakers assumed we were more

knowledgeable that we are. Any clarifications will be most

welcome.” The crowd agreed silently. Much of the history was

cloaked in secrecy.

The distinguished Ted Hammacher was an accomplished orator,

utilizing the best that Washington diplomatic-speak could muster.

At 50 years old, his short cropped white hair capped a proper

military bearing even though he had maintained a civilian status

throughout his Pentagon associations. “Thank you madam

chairman.” He glanced down at the well organized folder and

turned a page.

“Concerns of privacy can be traced back thousands of years with

perhaps the Egyptian pyramids as the first classic example of a

brute force approach towards privacy. The first recorded at-

tempts at disguising the contents of a written message were in

Roman times when Julius Caesar encoded messages to his generals

in the field. The Romans used a simple substitution cipher where

one letter in the alphabet is used in place of another. The

cryptograms found in the Sunday paper use the same techniques.

Any method by which a the contents of a message is scrambled is

known as encryption.”

The CNN producer maintained the sole camera shot and his atten-

tion on Ted Hammacher. He missed Senator Rickfield and his aid

reappear on the dais. Rickfield’s eyes penetrated Nancy Deere

who imperceptibly acknowledged his return. “You should not over-

step your bounds,” Rickfield leaned over and said to her. “You

have five years to go. Stunts like this will not make your time

any easier.”

“Senator,” she said to Rickfield as Hammacher spoke. “You are

obviously not familiar with the procedures of Senate panel proto-

col. I was merely trying to assist the progress of the hearings

in your absence, I assure you.” Her coolness infuriated Rick-

field.

“Well, then, thank you,” he sneered. “But, now, I am back. I

will appreciate no further procedural interference.” He sat up

brusquely indicating that his was the last word on the subject.

Unaware of the political sidebar in progress, Hammacher contin-

ued.

“Ciphers were evolved over the centuries until they reached a

temporary plateau during World War II. The Germans used the most

sophisticated message encoding or encryption device ever devised.

Suitably called the Enigma, their encryption scheme was nearly

uncrackable until the Allies captured one of the devices, and

then under the leadership of Alan Turing, a method was found to

regularly decipher intercepted German High Command orders. Many

historians consider this effort as being instrumental in bringing

about an end to the war.

“In the years immediately following World War II, the only per-

ceived need for secrecy was by the military and the emerging

intelligence services, namely the OSS as it became the modern

CIA, the British MI-5 and MI-6 and of course our opponents on the

other side. In an effort to maintain a technological leadership

position, the National Security Agency funded various projects to

develop encryption schemes that would adequately protect govern-

ment information and communications for the foreseeable future.

“The first such requests were issued in 1972 but it wasn’t until

1974 that the National Bureau of Standards accepted an IBM pro-

posal for an encryption process known as Lucifer. With the

assistance of the NSA who is responsible for cryptography, the

Data Encryption Standard was approved in November of 1976. There

was an accompanying furor over the DES, some saying that