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Infiltration. sabotage. mayhem. for years, four-star general keith alexander has been building a sec
Infiltration. sabotage. mayhem. for years, four-star general keith alexander has been building a secret army capable of launching devastating cyberattacks. NOW ITS READY TO UNLEASH HELL.INSIDE FORT MEADE, Maryland, a top-secret city bustles. Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildingsthe city has its own post office, fire department, and police force. But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras. To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh.
This is the undisputed domain of General Keith Alexander, a man few even in Washington would likely recognize. Never before has anyone in Americas intelligence sphere come close to his degree of power, the number of people under his command, the expanse of his rule, the length of his reign, or the depth of his secrecy. A four-star Army general, his authority extends across three domains: He is director of the worlds largest intelligence service, the National Security Agency; chief of the Central Security Service; and commander of the US Cyber Command. As such, he has his own secret military, presiding over the Navys 10th Fleet, the 24th Air Force, and the Second Army.
Alexander runs the nations cyberwar efforts, an empire he has built over the past eight years by insisting that the USs inherent vulnerability to digital attacks requires him to amass more and more authority over the data zipping around the globe. In his telling, the threat is so mind-bogglingly huge that the nation has little option but to eventually put the entire civilian Internet under his protection, requiring tweets and emails to pass through his filters, and putting the kill switch under the governments forefinger. What we see is an increasing level of activity on the networks, he said at a recent security conference in Canada. I am concerned that this is going to break a threshold where the private sector can no longer handle it and the government is going to have to step in.
In its tightly controlled public relations, the NSA has focused attention on the threat of cyberattack against the USthe vulnerability of critical infrastructure like power plants and water systems, the susceptibility of the militarys command and control structure, the dependence of the economy on the Internets smooth functioning. Defense against these threats was the paramount mission trumpeted by NSA brass at congressional hearings and hashed over at security conferences.
http://www.wired.com/2013/06/general-keith-alexander-cyberwar/all/
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Infiltration. sabotage. mayhem. for years, four-star general keith alexander has been building a sec (Original Post)
Jesus Malverde
Dec 2014
OP
hlthe2b
(101,714 posts)1. All caps headlines are so irritating I can't bring myself to read further--just sayin... n/t
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)2. Good feedback and fixed.
hlthe2b
(101,714 posts)3. thank you, MV. 'appreciated.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)4. NP it was a bit lazy copy and paste and distracts from what is..
a good read.