Comments on: Simple Code Breaking? http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/simple_code_breaking/ Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:18:15 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Rich Gardner http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/simple_code_breaking/comment-page-1/#comment-18328 Rich Gardner Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000 /?p=6393#comment-18328 Having prepared a couple of documents for public release, the most common item are numbers, either quantities or social security numbers. Guessing the deleted items has kept many pundits busy; this isn't something new. Also, sometimes the items deleted are in alphabetical order, which can make things easier. About 5 years ago a list of nuclear weapons storage sites ~1960 was released, and one of the locations had to begin with H or I, so the pundits (Bill Arkin) jumped on it being Iceland, creating a minor diplomatic furor. Turned out the deleted entry was Iwo Jima, which was under American rule at the time. Here is a related article, where the author chortles over guessing 25 of 27 deleted items. http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/2000/jf00/jf00norrisarkin.html Having prepared a couple of documents for public release, the most common item are numbers, either quantities or social security numbers. Guessing the deleted items has kept many pundits busy; this isn't something new.

Also, sometimes the items deleted are in alphabetical order, which can make things easier. About 5 years ago a list of nuclear weapons storage sites ~1960 was released, and one of the locations had to begin with H or I, so the pundits (Bill Arkin) jumped on it being Iceland, creating a minor diplomatic furor. Turned out the deleted entry was Iwo Jima, which was under American rule at the time.

Here is a related article, where the author chortles over guessing 25 of 27 deleted items.

http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/2000/jf00/jf00norrisarkin.html

]]> By: Boyd http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/simple_code_breaking/comment-page-1/#comment-18329 Boyd Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000 /?p=6393#comment-18329 The common approach suffers from pure laziness. Rather than provide what is essentially a photocopy of a document, it should be turned into electronic text, and all elided items supplanted with a standard, predetermined text. Lists, of course, should be either eliminated in their entirety, or deleted items should be left out entirely, so that there's no indication of what's missing. Declassification is a lot harder than most people think, including those who are responsible for ensuring classified information isn't released inadvertently. An obvious tack would be to have folks who try to crack "the enemy's" secrets try to crack our own. We do this routinely in the arena called "Signals Security." It's hard to believe we don't employ the same tactics when it comes to declassification. --- The common approach suffers from pure laziness. Rather than provide what is essentially a photocopy of a document, it should be turned into electronic text, and all elided items supplanted with a standard, predetermined text.

Lists, of course, should be either eliminated in their entirety, or deleted items should be left out entirely, so that there's no indication of what's missing.

Declassification is a lot harder than most people think, including those who are responsible for ensuring classified information isn't released inadvertently. An obvious tack would be to have folks who try to crack "the enemy's" secrets try to crack our own. We do this routinely in the arena called "Signals Security." It's hard to believe we don't employ the same tactics when it comes to declassification.

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