June 2023 NSA Internal Directives for SIGINT

[theshadowknows]

[Maxmars]

Ugh!

This kind of document really rubs me the wrong way....  Having some familiarity with similar directives of decades ago, I can see where the original documents were amended... and I can usually infer (cynically) the "why" of it.  And in most cases the 'why' kind of pisses me off.

But this one in particular, "SUPPLEMENTAL PROCEDURES FOR THE COLLECTION, PROCESSING, QUERYING, RETENTION, AND DISSEMINATION OF SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION AND DATA CONTAINING PERSONAL INFORMATION OF NON-UNITED STATES PERSONS" is very narrow.

This is a policy document about what we can and can't do with personal identifiers of foreign citizens.  However, if you stop to consider the content... it speaks to and defines "standards" that are NOT really about that.  To me, that is a tell-tale sign that this is the product of political appointee direction... making overt references to "gender" and "gender identity"... as if that were an element of "foreign intelligence." 

This seems more about 'internalizing' the preferred "outlook" of intelligence operations... directly incorporating "social construct" into the document.

There is a lot more in here to dissect and discuss... but as a very old person from a bygone era, most of my observations might appear 'dated,' so I will spare you my ideas that would likely grate against the new order of the current security state...  

But I will point out that this is an unclassified document (not even "For Official Use Only") which indicates it's ultimate intent is not really "internal" but instead "optical."  Unclassified documents are created and published explicitly for dissemination outside the agency... this is what they want circulated, and I'm certain that many in media have been fully briefed on how to characterize it when it becomes part of a report, if it does at all.