You can read this but then I'll have to kill you

October 2, 2006 11:41 AM

The NSA BibliographiesThe NSA internally publishes thousands of papers every year, on every topic from spycraft to cryptography to physics & aliens (no, really!). Each year the titles of these papers gets indexed & those indexes are also published internally. The Memory Hole has made a successful FOIA request for a large number of these, spanning almost 50 years. We don't get to see the actual papers, but just the titles are fascinating - including such page turners as "Computer Virus Infections: Is NSA Vulnerable?", "KAL 007 Shootdown: A View from [redacted]", "NSA in the Cyberpunk Future", "Telephone Codes and Safe Combinations: A Deadly Duo", "Coupon Collecting and Cryptology", "Cranks, Nuts, and Screwballs" & my personal favorite, "Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages". When you're done browsing the titles, there's a sample form you can use to request some of the documents yourself!
posted by scalefree (10 comments total)

Is Yugoslav President Tito Really a Yugoslav?
posted by dead_ at 11:55 AM on October 2, 2006

posted "'Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages'"

They used the definitive article?
posted by orthogonality at 12:00 PM on October 2, 2006

Considering they're willing to redact parts of titles, I have a feeling the extraterrestial articles (I found 2) aren't exactly the scoop some would think they are. I'm sure in ten years some guy writing FOIA forms everyday will eventually get a nice number theory article on why primes are the best way to chat with ET. Or the results of an internal competition to crack simulated ET messages.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:08 PM on October 2, 2006

"Boners Wanted"
posted by zorro astor at 12:22 PM on October 2, 2006

zorro astor writes "'Boners Wanted'"

That's NSA, or ex-Congressman Mark Foley?
posted by orthogonality at 1:07 PM on October 2, 2006

One document clearly notes the Isreli blunder in attacking the American spy ship, anchored off the waters of Egypt. That incident involves the SS Liberty, which, according to so many, was a deliberate attack upon an American ship by the Israelis. This document indicates what others have long said: it was an unfortunate accident.

ps: if you can get what you see here via FOI, believe me you are not going to get what they do not want you to see in any readable form. One document, though, they have made avaiable and can be found online, refers to their requesting the incoming president--President George W. Bush--to allow listening in on suspected terrorists without a court approval...this is now of course done and those on the Left assume it is because of Biush. But it was requested PRIOR to 9/11!
posted by Postroad at 1:11 PM on October 2, 2006

Postroad, you do know that Bush was in office prior to 9/11, right?
posted by etoile at 4:30 PM on October 2, 2006

From Wired News: Peek at NSA's Secret Reading List
posted by Rhomboid at 6:55 PM on October 2, 2006

They used the definitive article?

My thought, exactly.
posted by dreamsign at 2:00 AM on October 3, 2006

[Redacted]! [Redacted], [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]? [Redacted] [redacted], [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted].

[Redacted].
posted by kcds at 5:09 AM on October 3, 2006