Top Secret America! Washington Post Just released

Originally posted by Masterjaden
I have been read into programs that I can't even tell you the name of. I have had access to sci systems that I can't even repeat the name of or the function.

I know what you mean here...Although I had access to info that I had no training to understand what it says, there were also computer systems that I worked on that can't be revealed to the public. Most of the computer systems we used were available on the open market & purchased by large corporations that need some significant number-crunching power, such as banks. However, the particular programming used to crunch our numbers was classified & there were even a few computers engineered specifically for our use & I can't even discuss any of the hardware configurations. Plus, there was particular attention payed to the communications gear, because we had to maintain constant 24/7 real-time multiplexed communications channels to other facilites, scattered around the world.

The only people that had higher clearance than our Department were the Radiomen, because they were the people who set the encryption sequences on the circuit boards...No one, not even the Commanding Officer, had clearance to be present when the Radiomen reset the encryption. But also, in return, those very same Radiomen had no effective access to anything except the Communications area & weren't allowed to examine any of the data they were encrypting.

And even 20 years after the fact, I've still said nothing here that would constitute "compromise" of the security. The security was more emphasized on the particulars of the methods & sources of our collected data & how it was analyzed & used. Yet I can still say that I was initially trained at FLEASWTRANCENTLANT in Norfolk, VA & that my Rate was very small & self-contained (at that time, there were only about 300 people in my Rate, stationed worldwide).

Even though the Facility Commander authorized the local newspaper to print at least some story. Yes, even 20 years later, I still "can't confirm or deny" that what the newspaper had printed was truth or not!

So, even though the Washington Post said that they've spent the last 2 years researching on this subject, you can bet your sweet bippy that they were NOT allowed to print anything that anyone else couldn't find out on their own...Without the appropriate security clearance. The article even states that they're "analysis" of the accelerated growth of "Top Secret America" is based upon records that are openly available to the public. My only comment on THAT is the military is notorious for not revealing (on declassified documentation) anything that would constitute the "real numbers" that the WP could have accessed.