Spies should keep their lips tight, but that’s changing at the National Security Agency (NSA) after seven decades of secrecy.
The agency – once known as the Black Chamber – has launched a podcast and is shaking up the world of intelligence gathering, while also warning about China’s AI capabilities.
NSA podcasters have already opened up their archives on the hunt for terror master Osama bin Laden and exposed the ubiquitous threat of Russian hackers.
But the most revealing episode yet has lifted the lid on artificial intelligence, or AI, and the arms race for data supremacy between the United States and China.
Beijing is “very focused on investing in AI to gain that economic, diplomatic, political and military advantage,” says Vinh Nguyen, the agency’s AI chief, in episode three.
The NSA’s weekly show “No Such Podcast” started this month and will run until mid-October
The podcast offers an inside look at the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
The People’s Republic is using AI to build smart weapons and wage disinformation campaigns in an effort to “defeat, outmaneuver and outpace the United States and the West,” he warns.
“We don’t want to live in a society where our AI is built and managed by the People’s Republic of China – because they are not built on our democratic values,” Nguyen added.
The show marks a departure for the NSA, which until now was seen as the most circumspect US intelligence agency.
Everything from the annual operating budget to the number of staff and contractors working there is kept secret.
There is no sign on the parkway to the headquarters campus in Fort Meade, Maryland.
It’s so secretive that politicians in Washington DC joked that the NSA actually stood for ‘No Such Agency’.
That joke gave rise to the name of the eight-part audio series: No Such Podcast.
Vinh Nguyen, the agency’s AI chief, says China threatens to ‘overcompete’ the US with artificial intelligence
In the photo: the NSA headquarters
NSA spokeswoman Sara Siegle says there is a serious side to the show, which is available on Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.
Staff members have worked for decades to “defend the nation” but have never been able to take a bow because their operations are clandestine.
“It’s time to tell more stories that we can talk about, share more of that expertise and shine a spotlight on these incredible public servants,” Siegle said.
The series began with revelations about the hunt and killing of bin Laden, who masterminded al-Qaeda’s coordinated attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 American lives were lost.
The first podcast episode shows how the NSA helped track down terror master Osama bin Laden
NSA spokeswoman Sara Siegle says there is a serious side to the show about work at the agency (pictured)
The raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan has been documented in films, books and many articles.
But while much is known about the involvement of the CIA and the Pentagon, less is available about the role of the NSA.
Behind the scenes, it turns out, the NSA was responsible for intercepting and analyzing the calls that identified bin Laden’s key figure who would ultimately lead agents to the Abbotabad hideout.
Officers found the employee, a courier, in northwestern Pakistan, and urged colleagues from other agencies to put more resources into investigating the three-storey walled complex.
This started an investigation that ultimately led to the raid that killed bin Laden in May 2011.
The show focuses on the Foreign Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) underlying the raid, which is central to the NSA’s work.
But talking about it openly marks a shift for the shellfish agency that grew out of the Cipher Bureau — the 1919 creation of the U.S. State Department, also known as the Black Chamber.
President Harry Truman issued the directive to create the NSA in 1952, consolidating the encryption unit and other surveillance activities after World War II.
For decades, it expanded its interception of communications, including mass, warrantless tapping of phones and emails in the years after the September 11 attacks.
The massive amounts of data sucked up by the NSA became a growing concern. In 2011, former NSA official Thomas Drake was suspected of revealing information about the agency’s eavesdropping program.
More damaging leaks came two years later, when contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden fled the US and gave documents to newspapers revealing the vast scale of America’s surveillance programs.
Russia granted him asylum and later citizenship.
Still, there are limits to how much NSA officials leave in their weekly download.
US commandos lost one of their helicopters during the attack on Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden fled the US in 2013 and gave documents to newspapers showing the vast scale of US surveillance programs.
Nguyen spoke clearly about the Chinese AI threat – but his comments are similar to many policy documents from Washington DC on the subject.
Bin Laden’s killing is now clearly in the rearview mirror.
And the podcast shed no light on the coveted “sources and methods” still used to gather intelligence.
The series also focused on the hard work and successes of agents.
So don’t expect to hear an episode about Snowden’s damaging leaks anytime soon.
The podcast comes at a time when other DC insiders are pulling out more skeletons from their closets.
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China is using AI to build smart weapons and wage disinformation campaigns in an effort to “outmaneuver, outmaneuver and outpace the United States and the West,” Nguyen warns.
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