From: karn (Phil Karn)
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 93 13:16:24 PST
To: wex@media.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Bobby Inman
In-Reply-To: <9312171639.AA25868@media.mit.edu>
Message-ID: <199312172114.NAA24559@servo.qualcomm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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>> After what Inman tried to do to civilian crypto in the late 1970s, the
>> word "slime" keeps coming to mind.

>I think this is mistaken, in the sense that we think of lawyers, car
>salesmen, RBOC directors, etc. as slime.  What Inman did was wrong from our
>point of view, but I think he was acting forthrightly and honestly and in
>concert with what he believes.

Okay, I admit that "slime" may be a bit too strong. And according to
the "Puzzle Palace", Inman was surprisingly enlightened (at least for
a senior military officer in the late 1970s) when it came to one
privacy-related topic, that of allowing civilian gays to serve openly
in the NSA. As I recall, he agreed that a gay out of the closet was
much less likely to be blackmailed than one that was still in the
closet, rejecting the argument that an openly gay NSA employee
represented an unacceptable security risk.

But I *still* can't forgive him for how he tried to kill civilian
cryptography as NSA director, especially since his more recent
comments to John Perry Barlow tend to indicate that he hasn't changed
his views much, if at all.  This is a guy that will have to be watched
*very* carefully, especially since everybody in Washington seems to be
falling all over themselves to praise him.

Phil