The important question no one is asking about U.S. hacking
Mar 21, 2017, 6:49 AM
This whole conversation over who may or may not have wiretapped Donald Trump is another reminder of just how hackable all our communications are these days. But what nobody’s asking is the really important question: Is all this hacking making us any safer?
“I don’t think so. I think the United States has wasted a huge amount of money,” said Tim Shorrock, who writes on National Security for the Washington Post. “We could cut our intelligence budget drastically.”
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Shorrock says spy agencies keep hiring all these private contractors to design fancy snooping systems and it has backfired.
“Over the last four years, there has been five rather spectacular leaks that were caused by contractors, including the Edward Snowden leaks,” Sharrock said.
And our enemies seem to be onto us anyway.
“A couple weeks ago, there was a big story in The New York Times about how the United States has been hacking into North Korea and trying to screw up the way they launch missiles,” Shorrock said. “Well, a couple days ago they fired four more missiles.”
But it’s the old military-industrial complex — where former intelligence officials set up private companies.
“So there’s this evolving, almost a spinning door between them,” he said.
And they are able to tempt the government with the latest technology, like hijacking your smartphone or your smart TV or -– what was it Kellyanne Conway mentioned?
“And microwaves that turn into cameras, etc.”
Actually, that appears to be the one thing they can’t do yet. But you might want to watch what you say around the leftovers just in case.
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