Spy Stuff

I found the Spy Museum lacking. Furthermore, I felt that they did not give their trade enough credit. I feel that the true value in espionage is not as a “force multiplier” in the case of war but rather as a means to prevent war. Though the opening video did show how the CIA’s intelligence network helped prevent nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the museum did not stress this aspect of spying. Rather, they geared the museum towards cool gadgets that may have been used in the field once and have had very little impact upon actual events. The one station that gave an idea of what a job at the CIA is like was the photo analysis booth. Probably not the best advertising, however, to show that aspect of spy work:

ATTENTION: Seeking analyst to sit at a desk every day looking at photos from unnamed location in an attempt to find weapons that aren’t there 90% of the time. Do you want long hours, minimal pay, and few career advancement opportunities? If so, this may be the job for you.

I did find the last section to cyber terrorism to be especially poignant. In the Sep/Oct. 2010 edition of Foreign Affairs magazine William J. Lynn III talks about how vulnerable the US is to cyber attacks (http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66552/william-j-lynn-iii/defending-a-new-domain?page=show). One of the largest problems is simply the way the Internet is structured. As it is, the offense always has the upper hand. Innovation in cyber defense is always one or two steps behind innovation in hacking. This fact alone puts the Pentagon in a weaker position than any twenty-year-old hacking savant living in his mom’s basement much less a profession hacking organization.

Another problem is that, as of now, the US Cyber Command has no clear rules of engagement. As a result, they are acting largely outside of any legal framework. Finally, as Lynn points out, it takes the Pentagon an average of 81 months to make a computer system operational. That means by the time a computer system begins to work it is already obsolete. The Pentagon needs to become far more flexible to keep up with the rate of innovation.This threat of cyber terrorism and cyber war is bound to become one the largest security issue of our generation. I’m glad the Spy Museum is bringing it to the public eye.