A Proposal to Reduce Government Overclassification of Information Related to National Security

Lin explores the phenomenon of overclassification in American society and proposes a classification cost metric in order to create serious economic incentives to reduce classification. The metric would provide decision makers with a way to judge the relative importance of different classified documents and allow officials to classify documents on a more objective scale. The… Continue reading A Proposal to Reduce Government Overclassification of Information Related to National Security

Under the Radar: NSA’s Efforts to Secure Private-Sector Telecommunications Infrastructure

Landau explains the National Security Agency’s little-known function of providing communications security (COMSEC) to private companies, which has involved an improvement of security and privacy of the domestic communications infrastructure. She examines the history of the program and how the NSA’s behavior towards the private sector has shifted since the 1950’s, as well as the… Continue reading Under the Radar: NSA’s Efforts to Secure Private-Sector Telecommunications Infrastructure

Big Data Before and After Snowden

The author reflects on a symposium panel discussion on “Swimming in the Ocean of Big Data: National Security in the Age of Unlimited Information” that occurred before the Snowden disclosures. He analyzes the panel discussion in context of the time at which it occurred and compares it to what has become known since June 2013.… Continue reading Big Data Before and After Snowden