Reply #49: No Such Agency

[CorpGovActivist]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=herbert+yardley+cryptology

You know where those agencies recruit from, quite heavily?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=counterintelligence+intelligence+recruitment+ivy+league

Besides Bamford's stuff (e.g., how Western Union gave over copies of citizens' telegrams, etc.), you might also enjoy this more recent look at the recruitment efforts at Harvard and elsewhere: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=harriet+spy+harvard+moran

When they tested me for the Gifted Program in kindergarten, my mom hid my IQ test. She made me stay home from high school the day the ASVAB was given: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=asvab+military (two of her brothers fought in Vietnam; one emerged a hero who'd been written up in Stars and Stripes, the other emerged a broken shell of his former self).

When the NROTC letter arrived, she was resigned to my going into the Navy (I wanted to use/further develop my foreign languages for military intelligence/military attache work). When DODMERB said that Crohn's was disqualifying (after I'd already been sworn in as a midshipman), I think she was probably relieved: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=dodmerb+crohn%27s&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=.mil&as_rights=&safe=images

The Captain, USN, who led my NROTC unit said that he thought I'd find a way to serve my country in spite of the medical disqualification.

"I think you would fit in at NSA. That's a compliment."

Funny you should say that. Some of my Harvard profs said the same thing.

- Dave