From: Scott Fabbri <tomservo@access.digex.net>
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 14:59:42 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Born Classified
In-Reply-To: <199606121924.MAA07982@samsparc2.baynetworks.com>
Message-ID: <v03006f00ade51ef4eb4c@[164.109.216.51]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/enriched

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"Sam Bassett" writes:

>	According to "The Codebreakers" (if memory serves me), in about 1943
>the U.S. and the U.K. negotiated a BRITUS treaty, the details of which
were
>very secret.  I think that this was the original agreement to share the
>British Enigma cryptography results, and possibly the U.S. nuclear
results.
>	Further, I suspect that one of the provisions of the BRITUS treaty
>was that all of the crypto stuff be treated as if British Law (i.e. the
>Official Secrets Act) ruled -- everything was secret unless and until the
Government said it wasn't any more.

James Bamford mentions the BRUSA/UKUSA agreements in _The Puzzle Palace_
(p. 393ff. in mine). It doesn't say anything about nuclear secrets, but the
discussion does touch on cryptanalysis, COMINT and other technology (radar,
DF, etc.). From Bamford's description, it sounds as if each country just
agreed to be bound by the other's security regulations insofar as how they
handled material. This isn't uncommon. (Of course, that means that stuff
the Brits provided the US wasn't subject to the usual classification
review. . .)

>	This was mildly unconstitutional at the time, but could be gotten past
>the courts on the excuse that the Constitution defines treaties as "The
Highest
>Law of the Land".  It has certainly led to a lot of abuses since, but the
>bureaucrats love it -- "born classified", indeed!

As far as Constitutional abuses, there were much worse ones on the horizon
(e.g., the internment of Japanese-Americans). War hysteria provides fertile
ground to sow the seeds of FUD. (Gee, maybe that explains the "war on
drugs," the "war on crime," the "war on pornography". . .)

Scott

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