From: lefty@apple.com (Lefty)
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 11:29:18 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: The Agency Whose Name May Not Be Spoken
Message-ID: <9403111928.AA10197@internal.apple.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>(Prior to the 1980s, mention of NSA was rarely made. Employees of NSA
>didn't mention it, and "Fort George Meade" was the only thing
>mentioned. Prior to the mid-70s, the NSA name never even appeared in
>Congressional budgets or reports. Its existence was very widely known,
>though.)

As Bamford mentions in _The Puzzle Palace_, it was, in fact, a Federal
offense for NSA employees to state that they worked for the NSA up until, I
believe, the mid-to-late-70s.

The standing joke in Washington was that "NSA" stood for "No Such Agency".

--
Lefty (lefty@apple.com)
C:.M:.C:., D:.O:.D:.