I FOIA’d the NSA’s Recycling Mascot, and Now I Have More Questions Than Answers – New York Magazine

Move over, Pixar theres a new CGI creature in town, and he comes from the most unlikely of places, the National Security Agency. Of the federal government agencies that youd expect to have an anthropomorphic mascot dedicated to reducing environmental waste, the NSA is probably near the bottom of the list.

The mascot, Dunk, became public knowledge in 2015, thanks to a menacing NSA tweet the agency sent to publicize its green efforts.

That effort included a school initiative teaching children how to conduct awaste audit, categorize trash, and figure out how effective they were at properly disposing of trash. Yes, the NSA wanted children to go snooping through trash, which seems almost too on the nose to be true. So youre asking me, hey Dunk, what is a waste audit? Well, youre going to dig through all of the trash in your school and then youre going to analyze it, the blue beastintonedin his nasal voice. Youll need to identify the types of trash making up the waste stream of your school and the amounts of each type of trash, by weight and volume.

Upon learning of Dunk, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for any communication and documents related to the development of Dunk. More than two years later, the NSA came through with a handful of unclassified documents.

On August 22, 2008, a graphic-design coordinator sent an email with the subject line, (U) Quick Idea. Attached was a file called recycle idea.pdf, which contained preliminary sketches for two waste-disposal bins with faces and arms. One is a round, green recycling bin, for soda cans and such; the other is an orange dumpster labeled WOOD ONLY thats disposing of a pallet. The slogan: Think Before You Throw.

The initiative was put on hold until the graphic-design coordinator returned from leave in early September. The next email exchange that the NSA included begins on October 1, when a waste-and-recycling manager inquires about the Dunk program. Just wanted to know if weve made any further progress Let me know

Two days later, the Dunk we all know and love appears in a file simply titled dunk.pdf, courtesy of the same graphic-design coordinator. Hes now a blue, rectangular recycling bin, who throws trash through a hole in the top of his head, rather than eating it via his mouth. Does the trash give him energy? What happened to his dumpster friend? Why is he called Dunk when hes clearly lobbing the trash?

The final page included in the NSAs response is the final Dunk, now with fancy purple shorts. The picture is not dated, but its presumably the type of office posting that is placed right over the trash bins. Years before Dunk was telling kids to dig through the trash, he was telling NSA workers to be mindful of their waste habits.

Think before you throw! the NSA warns. I mean, thatd be crazy, right? Imagine if your stuff ended up in the wrong place, and someone you didnt intend got ahold of it and used it improperly. Thatd be so embarrassing!

Commonly held best practices for password safety are going out the window.

Nothing (rose) gold can stay.

Including sweatproof, noise-canceling, and foldable versions several under $50.

How an actual person became a bot overnight.

Weve got your John Tucker Must Die sequel right here, folks.

Think before you throw.

We finally know who wrote the infamous document.

Because what the world needs right now is obviously another way to leave your friends on read.

The one about the media wanting him in a noose is really something.

A leaked internal document called the wage gap a myth and laid out all the reasons men are treated unfairly.

Weve heard this argument before.

How to eke a few more minutes out of your battery before everything goes dark.

Its called Stamp.

Including one for $250.

We might be getting a frowning poop emoji to go with the smiling one.

Robbie Tripp is getting owned on Twitter after posting a gushing Instagram about how much he loves his wifes curvy body.

The CMS wasnt cutting it.

It was only after a drivers dashboard went up in spontaneous flames that the company decided to do something.

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I FOIA'd the NSA's Recycling Mascot, and Now I Have More Questions Than Answers - New York Magazine