Digital Fortress Chapter 31

Susan returned to Node 3. Her conversation with Strathmore had do her increasingly sickish ab emerge Davids safety. Her imagination was running wild.So, scuff spouted from his terminal. What did Strathmore want? A romanticistic evening alone with his head cryptographer?Susan treat the comment and colonised in at her terminal. She typed her privacy code and the screen came to life. The tracer political program came into view it still had not returned any information on northmost Dakota.Damn, Susan thought. Whats taking so long?You seem uptight, Hale state innocently. Having discommode with your diagnostic?Nothing serious, she replied. But Susan wasnt so sure. The tracer was overdue. She wondered if maybe shed made a mistake while writing it. She began scanning the long lines of oblivion programming on her screen, searching for anything that could be holding things up.Hale find her smugly. Hey, I meant to pack you, he ventured. What do you make of that unbreakable algorit hmic ruleic program Ensei Tankado said he was writing?Susans stomach did a flip. She looked up. Unbreakable algorithm? She caught herself. Oh, yeah I think I read something rough that. bonny incredible claim.Yeah, Susan replied, wondering why Hale had suddenly brought it up. I dont procure it, though. Everyone knows an unbreakable algorithm is a mathematical impossibility.Hale smiled. Oh, yeah the Bergofsky Principle.And ordinary sense, she snapped.Who knows Hale sighed dramatic aloney. There are more things in heaven and domain than are dreamt of in your philosophy.I beg your pardon?Shakespeare, Hale offered. Hamlet. pick out a broadcast while you were in jail?Hale chuckled. Seriously, Susan, did you forever think that maybe it is possible, that maybe Tankado really did write an unbreakable algorithm?This conversation was making Susan uneasy. Well, we couldnt do it.Maybe Tankados better than we are.Maybe. Susan shrugged, feigning disinterest.We corresponded for a while, Hale offered casually. Tankado and me. Did you know that?Susan looked up, attempting to hide her shock. Really?Yeah. After I exposed the Skipjack algorithm, he wrote me-said we were brothers in the global fight for digital privacy.Susan could moreover contain her disbelief. Hale knows Tankado personally She did her best to look uninterested.Hale went on. He congratulated me for proving that Skipjack had a back door-called it a coup for privacy rights of civilians all over the world. You gotta admit, Susan, the backdoor in Skipjack was an underhanded play. Reading the worlds E-mail? If you ask me, Strathmore deserved to get caught.Greg, Susan snapped, fighting her anger, that back door was so the NSA could decode E-mail that threatened this nations security.Oh, really? Hale sighed innocently. And snooping the average citizen was just a lucky by-product?We dont snoop average citizens, and you know it. The FBI can hydrant telephones, but that doesnt mean they listen to every call thats ever made.If they had the manpower, they would.Susan ignored the remark. Governments should have the right to gather information that threatens the common good.Jesus saviour-Hale sighed-you sound like youve been brainwashed by Strathmore. You know damn tumesce the FBI cant listen in whenever they want-theyve got to get a warrant. A spiked encryption standard would mean the NSA could listen in to anyone, anytime, anywhere.Youre right-as we should be able to Susans office was suddenly harsh. If you hadnt uncovered the back door in Skipjack, wed have price of admission to every code we need to break, instead of just what TRANSLTR can handle.If I hadnt found the back door, Hale argued, someone else would have. I saved your asses by uncovering it when I did. Can you imagine the fallout if Skipjack had been in circulation when the news broke?Either way, Susan shot back, now weve got a insane EFF who think we put back doors in all our algorithms.Hale asked smugly, Well, dont we?Susan eyed him coldly.Hey, he said, backing off, the point is moot now anyway. You construct TRANSLTR. Youve got your instant information source. You can read what you want, when you want-no questions asked. You win.Dont you mean we win? hold water I heard, you worked for the NSA.Not for long, Hale chirped.Dont make promises.Im serious. Someday Im getting out of here.Ill be crushed.In that moment, Susan found herself wanting to curse Hale for everything that wasnt red ink right. She wanted to curse him for Digital Fortress, for her troubles with David, for the fact that she wasnt in the Smokys-but none of it was his fault. Hales merely fault was that he was obnoxious. Susan needed to be the bigger person. It was her responsibility as head cryptographer to keep the peace, to educate. Hale was young and naive.Susan looked over at him. It was frustrating, she thought, that Hale had the talent to be an asset in Crypto, but he still hadnt grasped the importance of what the NSA did.Greg, S usan said, her voice quiet and controlled, Im under a lot of pressure today. I just get upset when you talk about the NSA like were some kind of high-tech peeping Tom. This organization was founded for one purpose-to cherish the security of this nation. That may involve shaking a few trees and spirit for the bad apples from time to time. I think most citizens would gladly grant some privacy to know that the bad guys cant maneuver unchecked.Hale said nothing.Sooner or later, Susan argued, the people of this nation need to put their corporate trust somewhere. Theres a lot of good out there-but theres also a lot of bad mixed in. Someone has to have access to all of it and crumble the right from wrong. Thats our job. Thats our duty. Whether we like it or not, there is a frail admission separating democracy from anarchy. The NSA guards that gate.Hale nodded thoughtfully. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?Susan looked puzzled.Its Latin, Hale said. From Satires of Juvenal. It means Who wil l guard the guards? I dont get it, Susan said. Who will guard the guards? Yeah. If were the guards of society, then who will watch us and make sure that were not dangerous?Susan nodded, unsure how to respond.Hale smiled. Its how Tankado sign-language(a) all his letters to me. It was his favorite saying.