According to the AP, the Defense Department has opened a new center to help deal with electronic evidence in case of serious crimes involving the military (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Defense-Computer-Crime.html). Among their purported capabilities are being able to track hackers across the Internet, undelete files, even reassemble shredded floppies. The FBI has its own minilab in the building; the center expects to share equipment and techniques with law enforcement agencies. What makes this article especially interesting to this group is the deliberate proximity of the new lab to NSA. They will indeed attempt to deal with encrypted messages, though the director stated that such cases were rare. He also said that he was "confident" that their techniques would be adequate to deal with messages encrypted under the new export regimes after Congress gives the FBI $80 million more over four years. --Steve Bellovin
