Surveillance Agencies’ Self-Image Just A Small White Cat Away From Bond Villain

As we get increasing insight into the self-image of the surveillance agencies around the world, a disturbing image of self-appointed alpha males appear, rather than the modest and professional civil servants we would expect and demand. There are many examples of this, and here are three of them.

This week, a new spy satellite with the dull name NROL-39 was sent into orbit by the United States. The logo of the satellite is remarkable in that nobody involved in the project seems to have thought it was a bad idea, but rather, it appears to have been seen as a picture that confirmed the self-image of the surveillance agency.

An octopus grabbing the Earth with tentacles all over, capable of grabbing anything it wants without asking a single person’s permission. Text on the badge says “Nothing is beyond our reach” under the angry-looking tentacled octopus. That’s not the image of a responsible civil servant; that’s the image of somebody who has completely lost all proportion of what they’re supposed to be doing.

This symptom isn’t isolated to the United States. Let’s take a look at the website of the FRA, which is the Swedish equivalent of the US’ National Security Agency. As you look at the image below, remember that this is their first page of their public-facing website – this is literally their self-image.

The image captions say “Yesterday”, “Today”, and “Tomorrow”, respectively.

So the Swedish FRA went from being WW2 codebreakers, to having USB cables today (say what?), to becoming somebody who sees through the entire planet like it were made of wires tomorrow. That’s not responsible. That’s not protective. That’s just scary.

The list goes on. Just look at what NSA head Keith Alexander has dubbed his control room: he calls it the Information Dominance Center, lavishly built to resemble a Star Trek bridge. Same theme again: not serving, not protecting, but dominating.

These are not the images of professional bureaucrats working to keep other people safe. Rather, these appear to be signs of a world-disconnected psychopathy to a magnitude that it’s only a small white cat away from playing the villain in a random Bond movie.

As these agencies keep being questioned and put in the spotlight, we need to remember that they have been busy undermining our security and privacy. That, combined with their resources and self-image, is deeply disconcerting. Privacy remains your own responsibility.