[3112] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA Losing Crypto Experts
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Nelson Minar)
Wed Jul 29 18:22:48 1998
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 17:49:07 -0400
From: nelson@media.mit.edu (Nelson Minar)
To: cryptography@c2.net
The strange thing about the article at
http://www.jya.com/nsa-loss.htm
is that the author seems to think the only reason people would not
want to work at NSA is that the pay is lousy.
I remember seeing some NSA recruiting literature a few years ago in
the math department of my liberal arts college. The odd thing about it
was the pitch about "working together in a community of fellow
scholars". Well, yes, I suppose so, as long as you only talk about
your work at Fort Meade.
The biggest reason I personally see for not working for the NSA is
that you have to keep your work a secret. Most academics and
intellectuals like to share their ideas, not hide them. What's the fun
in producing a great piece of software crypto if the only way it gets
out the door is in embedded military applications?
