GCHQ Follows NSA Into Paranoia — Just As Julian Assange Predicted
from the cognitive-decline dept
One of the knock-on effects of Snowden’s leaks is that the NSA is terrified there might be more whistleblowers, and has taken extreme action in an attempt to reduce the risk of that happening by stripping 100,000 people of their security clearances. In other words, it no longer trusts huge swathes of the people it works with — hardly a healthy situation. Now it seems that GCHQ has succumbed to a similar paranoia about its employees:
GCHQ is sponsoring ways of identifying disgruntled employees and those who might go on to be a security threat through their use of language in things like office emails.
The article in the Gloucestershire Echo — the English county where GCHQ is located — explains how potential whistleblowers will be identified:
“research will investigate the use of techniques from the field of natural language processing to detect the early indicators of an insider?s threat.”
That means changes in the way a person communicates can give a clue that they are unhappy and perhaps prepared to do something to harm the organisation.
Of course, what this also means is that people working at GCHQ will become more self-conscious, start to watch their words, and probably think much more carefully about how they share their insights and analyses. That will inevitably lead to a loss of spontaneity, and of efficiency; the more GCHQ starts hunting down potential whistleblowers, the more it is likely to diminish its own effectiveness.
What’s interesting about this development on both sides of the Atlantic is that it was predicted as far back as 2006:
The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.
Those words were written by a certain Julian Assange before he became (in)famous. Say what you will about him, you have to given him credit for being spot-on here — and well ahead of his time.
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Filed Under: gchq, julian assange, nsa, paranoia, snitching
Comments on “GCHQ Follows NSA Into Paranoia — Just As Julian Assange Predicted”
That will inevitably lead to a loss of spontaneity, and of efficiency; the more GCHQ starts hunting down potential whistleblowers, the more it is likely to diminish its own effectiveness.
While that would suck for those working for them(though considering who they’re working for, my sympathy for them is rather low), if it decreases the effectiveness of the spy agencies to violate the rights and privacy of the public, that seems like a good thing to me.
Re: Re:
Agreed, but one of the perverse things is that we need a well-functioning spy agency. I would prefer that we have that but if we can’t, then it’s better to have a defanged one.
Re: Re: Re:
And they wouldn’t be defanged by it is they weren’t so damn evil that they have to worry about whistleblowers. Or actually listened to them instead of throwing them under the bus. Lets face it, their problems are all their fault.
It’s sounding more and more like the vibe I got from 1984 where everyone has to watch what they say and how they say it and even avoid certain body language because someone was always watching and listening.
Re: Re:
Hey… they are developing that technology already… just you wait… it will be a new dawn for the corrupt in power.
The Sheeple, there are too damn many!
Good ol' Guvnah Tarkin
I’d say Leia (or Lucas) had it called much earlier
The old adagium applies: in God we trust, all others we monitor…
Add the sentence:(including ourselves)
Way too many positions are given security clearances in the US Govt.
i wonder if Theresa May is driving the paranoia if if she is being driven by someone else’s? whichever, it would be better for the UK citizens to be best buddies with someone otherthan the USA. if they carry on like this, they will be going insane, not just led by paranoia!
Gee, perhaps they now have some idea how WE feel
when we know that all our words, activities and movements are constantly monitored.
How can NSA/GCHQ folk go home & kiss their kids each night, knowing that they will be surveilled by their 5-eyed buddies, and have their kids’ nude pix used for god-knows-what?
Down w/ the system...
I hope there are more Snowdens out there. Man up an release that information. People shouldn’t fear governments, but governments should fear people. Remember the first 3 words of the declaration of independence. RELEASE IT FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This sort of internal paranoia is hardly new. James Angleton put the CIA thru this during the 50’s and 60’s in his famous hunt for Soviet moles, and it did have a real effect on efficiency. not sure this is avoidable in an intelligence agency, regardless of technology.
GCHQ receives payment from the US so not surprising if it mirrors the paranoia of its masters.
Colossus
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064177/?ref_=nv_sr_2
Government agencies that operate in the dark hate the idea of the light of truth being shined on them.
What exactly does this accomplish though?
If someone is disgruntled and a potential whistleblower, firing them or demoting them (by killing their clearance) hardly reduces the chance of them speaking out. They now have even less to loose. It pisses the person off even more and makes the organization look vindictive and spiteful.
Confronting the person may keep them quiet but will basically kill any motivation the person had. It’s not like that is magically going to improve moral and make the person a model employee.
Re: Re:
From Techdirt:
Obvious question: given their general disregard for personal privacy, why are they only analyzing office e-mails for signs of future leakers? Shouldn’t they be sifting all the personal communications of their employees too? Once they make that leap, then obviously they also need to keep a close watch on anything to or from an account that their employees might have ready access to, meaning spouses, parents, children, and close friends.
From parent poster:
I think the theory is that you remove their access to sensitive documents while they are at most mildly disgruntled, so that once they become seriously disgruntled and willing to begin leaking, they no longer have the access to leak anything juicy. This assumes, perhaps falsely, that (1) the Internal Security Service will identify future risks in a timely manner, (2) the efficiency loss caused by losing that access is outweighed by the perceived improvement to the organization’s overall secrecy, and (3) individuals thus stripped will consistently not have archived copies of juicy content. Assumption #3 can be reasonable, depending on how much the stripped individual fears the rules about unauthorized possession of classified material.
Secondarily, the mass stripping may be intended to counter the morale hit. If one guy loses his clearance, everyone will wonder why. If the entire department gets hit, it can be blamed on institutional paranoia, rather than the conduct of the employees in the department.
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I’m not sure how that is good for the institution. It allows them to cya, but ensures that moral will suck, everyone is paranoid, and nobody feels they can speak frankly. You need people to say what they think so crappy ideas get weeded out (or at least have a chance to be). Good talent isn’t going to stick around if they feel paranoid so you have an intellectual drain.
I’m not trying to say the entire concept is unworkable but implementation is critical to it not sinking the organization. They really need to understand whistleblower mentality and their workforce.
Re: Re: Re: Whistleblower mentality
Based on the failure to prevent whistleblowers, the NSA’s generally pathetic internal security, and their handling of the existence of whistleblowers, I am comfortable saying they neither understand nor want to understand the whistleblower mentality. They have repeatedly demonstrated they view whistleblowers as a greater evil even than the one they supposedly protect against.
I suppose not acting like your trying to set up a fascist dictatorship is not an option to those whose forefathers gave their lives preventing that eras of fascism from being a worldwide reality.
Assange’s Paradox strikes again.
Celine's First Law
“National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine%27s_laws#Celine.27s_First_Law
Sadly this is going to continue.
I expect that after a major failure of the system, they will have ‘reforms’ and crack down harder… and then the real failures will come. They will try to hide that they failed to protect the country because they were to busy watching themselves. People will finally grasp that for everything they gave up/had ripped away was for nothing.
The system is sick, and if someone being a whistle blower about what they are doing is so fear causing it is time to stop the system. It has outlived its usefulness.
People can’t blow a whistle & get a response if you aren’t breaking the law or exceeding what you were allowed to do. You don’t have to have every program in the open, but the levels of paranoia these systems now operate in… they are doing much more harm than good and the world would be safer if we stopped them and started over.
But beware — the other side of the paranoia coin is psychosis.
GCHQ employees
“research will investigate the use of techniques from the field of natural language processing to detect the early indicators of an insider’s threat.”
and the people who they are targetting include high level experts in these very fields.
Good luck with that!
Dear NSA and GCHQ
Why the paranoia?
Haven’t you heard?
If you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.
Re: Dear Illinois legislature
Why ban recording of police?
Haven’t you heard?
If you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.
Re: Dear CIA and CIA fan club
Why all the resistance to releasing the torture report?
Haven’t you heard?
If you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.
First impementation of koalang?
I’ve seen something a like in one story.
There also was a computer that was trying to analyse language I wonder if this will lead to first implementations of ‘koalang’.
Good
“Of course, what this also means is that people working at GCHQ will become more self-conscious, start to watch their words, and probably think much more carefully about how they share their insights and analyses.”
You mean the very same effects the surveillance apparatus seek to instill in our societies are the very same effects now affecting them? Good! Let the beast consume itself I say.
Oh, the irony!
How truly, truly ironic! The watchers now have to watch themselves for that rogue with morals and a conscience!
Isn’t being paranoid part of the job description of someone at the NSA?
McCarthy Was Right!
Apparently the communists are winning. They are just calling it democracy now.