On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 11:46:02AM -0800, A.Melon wrote:
> From:
> http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/07/sprj.colu.secret.search.reut/index.html
>
> --
>
> In and around the tiny Texas town of Bronson, near the Louisiana border,
> hundreds of National Guardsmen, federal agents, state troopers and
> volunteers searched for a mystery object from the shuttle.
>
> They searched block by block and used machetes to hack their way through
> thick woods that surround the town. The searchers were given a picture of
> a faceplate from the device, which said "Secret Government Property" in
> white letters on a black background.
>
> [...]
>
> Texas state troopers stood guard over the operation and told photographers
> to keep their distance. They said they would be asked to leave the area if
> searchers found something they did not want photographed.
Reports I have read was that they were searching for a crypto
box of some kind. It is known the shuttle carries various crypto
devices, and that at least some of the telemetry and voice
communications sent via the TDRSS satellites are encrypted, if not most
or even nearly all of them.
And the TDRSS satellites are extensively used for links to DOD
spacecraft as well as the Shuttle -including some intelligence birds - so
some of the crypto gear and keys involved might be common and thus
expose other TDRSS links to adversaries.
Also, presumably they would have been using keys stored in some
kind of non-volatile storage, as the risk of losing them due to a power
glitch of some sort would presumably outweigh any risk of unauthorized
physical access to the keys (obviously not possible except in
disasters). So there is a good chance that a crypto box that survived
reentry in good shape might still have valid keys in it, making it
nominally a Top Secret or above device under US DOD crypto custody
rules. And the keys might very well be in EEPROM or even just plug in
EPROMs that might very well survive reentry intact.
Also, even if no keying material was exposed, one supposes that
some of the NSA satellite crypto chips used might be of considerable
interest to foreign governments (say the Chinese). And the chance that
a chip survived reentry would be quite great.
Needless to say, if some foreign entity MIGHT have grabbed your
keys or crypto chips, you have to take precautions (changing keys and
so forth) which cost lots of money so trying to find the crypto box
and the chips and keys makes a lot of sense as it save considerable
effort and expense later on.
--
Dave Emery N1PRE, [EMAIL PROTECTED] DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass.
PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2 5D 27 BD B0 24 88 C3 18
