Body of Secrets
by James Bamford · first published 1998
31% recommend69% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A detailed history of the NSA and its operations, drawn from extensive research. It fits intelligence history collections and pairs well with the author's other books on the agency.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The NSA is the largest, most secretive, and most powerful intelligence agency in the world. With a staff of thirty-eight thousand people, it dwarfs the CIA in budget, manpower, and influence. Recent headlines have linked it to economic espionage throughout Europe and to the ongoing hunt for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.". "James Bamford first penetrated the wall of silence surrounding the NSA in 1982, with the much-talked-about bestseller The Puzzle Palace. In Body of Secrets, he offers shocking new details about the inner workings of the agency, gathered through unique access to tho
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…it's extremely interesting already. From what I've already seen, I'd have no problem recommending it to other HN readers who are interested in the history behind the NSA. I'm guessing his other books (Body of Secrets and The Shadow Factory) are also going to be great reads.
on “The history of NSA spying, from telegrams to email” ↗…football field. I'm sure their new data center in Utah will be greatly enlarging their capabilities. I'd suggest you read James Bamford's three books on the NSA for further insight. (The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and The Shadow Factory.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bamford#Books
on “Show HN: Hide Secret Messages In Facebook Photos With My Chrome Extension” ↗I instantly thought of this when reading the headline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods I remember reading about this around 20 years ago in James Bamford's excellent NSA book Body of Secrets.
on “U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft” ↗Dark Territory, by Fred Kaplan. Same topic as this thread. Also either Puzzle Palace or Body of Secrets by James Bamford. Topic: NSA.
on “NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War” ↗In addition to The Shadow Factory he also wrote The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets. I'm not sure how much material is shared between the three books, or if they're meant to be read in any certain order, but I'm plowing through The Puzzle Palace now. In any case, it's wildly interesting…
on “The NSA slide you haven’t seen” ↗Bamford mentions it briefly in one of his books, either The Puzzle Palace or Body of Secrets. They've had chip fab capabilities for some time before the 1990's.
on “Ask HN: Can we trust our CPUs?” ↗Not true. Body of Secrets, published 2001: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Secrets-Ultra-Secret-National-Se... Puzzle Palace, published 1982: https://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-O... This guy made a career…
on “Nobody Knows What They're Doing (2013)” ↗Straight from Wikipedia: "In his book, Body of Secrets, James Bamford, who spent three years in the United States Navy as an intelligence analyst, writes, that the primary purpose of the Maddox "was to act as a seagoing provocateur—to poke its sharp gray…
on “The Truth About Tonkin (2008)” ↗…1945, GCHQ is used by the NSA as a convenient work-around for restrictions on domestic surveillance. This was all documented by James Bamford in his histories of the NSA, "Inside the Puzzle Palace" and "Body of Secrets". (You're looking at the present-day for context, but these agencies run on protocols that have built up over many decades, dating back to the Cold War.)
on “No Thank You, Mr. Pecker” ↗…but bending the fiber and reading light emanations. This technique has been done for decades. You'll have negligible attenuation. Examples of these technique were described in the James Bamford books, Body of Secrets and The Shadow Factory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_of_Secrets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Factory IIRC, the book Blind Man's Bluff describes a US submarine mission sneaking into…
on “Ask HN: How to monitor a sea fiber cable?” ↗I just ordered The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and The Shadow Factory by Bamford. The first two arrived at my office earlier this week and are waiting for me when I get home from this road trip. I can't wait to dig into them this weekend. I also…
on “I am James Bamford, one of the journalists investigating the NSA. AMA.” ↗…that the NSA isn't too happy with having its picture taken. It's a pity that I can't source this specifically, but I vaguely remember reading in either James Bamford's "The Shadow Factory" [1] or his "Body of Secrets" [2] that the NSA once leased an entire office building that had been built near the edge of Fort Meade, simply because the top floors could see onto the campus. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Factory [2]…
on “The NSA's crypto "breakthrough"” ↗…getting the full picture. If you're really interested in the subject of the NSA's history, and what it does, James Bamford's work is pretty interesting. Very dry books, tinged with his politics (more so Body of Secrets [1] than the Puzzle Palace [0]), but interesting none-the-less. [0] The Puzzle Palace http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-Or.... [1] Body of Secrets http://www.amazon.com/Body-Secrets-Ultra-Secret-National-Sec....…
on “Why NSA Surveillance Scares Me” ↗Apart from that he was a warmonger and presumably a shit person overall. “In his book, Body of Secrets, James Bamford, who spent three years in the United States Navy as an intelligence analyst, writes that the primary purpose of the Maddox "was to act as a seagoing provocateur”
on “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” ↗I've had a quick look and it's mentioned in a number of places, Matthew Aid's "The Secret Sentry" mentions it briefly, Bamford has a page or two in "Body of Secrets", and for honorable mention Jeffrey Richelson's "Wizards of Langley" doesn't have it but does cover the entire KH series across a span of around 250 pages. It may be in a few more books but it'd be a…
on “Declassifying JUMPSEAT: an American pioneer in space” ↗