Category Archives: NSA

Classified joint CIANSA program to insert eavesdropping equipment in difficult places

The Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6,[1] is a highly classified joint U.S. Central Intelligence AgencyNational Security Agency program charged with inserting eavesdropping equipment in difficult-to-reach places, such as foreign embassies, communications centers, and foreign government installations. Established in the late 1970s and headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland,[2] the SCS has been involved in operations ranging from the Cold War to the Global War on Terrorism.

The SCS is a U.S. black budget program[3] that has been described as the United States' "Mission Impossible force," responsible for "close surveillance, burglary, wiretapping, breaking and entering."[4][5][6][7] It is headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, in an obscured building that was at one time labeled simply "CSSG." Next door is the U.S. Department of State's Beltsville Messaging Center, to which the SCS is linked via fiber optic cable. The SCS is jointly staffed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA).[7][8][9] According to intelligence historian James Bamford, "The position of SCS chief alternates between NSA and CIA officials."[10] SCS operatives are based out of U.S. embassies and consulates overseas, and operatives often use Foreign Service or Diplomatic Telecommunications Service cover when deployed.[7][11][12] Their mission is to intercept sensitive information on espionage, nuclear arms, terrorist networks, drug trafficking and other national-security-related issues.[4]

The SCS was established to overcome a problem in that the NSA typically intercepts communications "passively" from its various intercept facilities throughout the world, yet the increasing sophistication of foreign communications equipment renders passive interception futile and instead requires direct access to the communications equipment. The CIA, meanwhile, has access to agents specializing in clandestine operations and thus is more able to gain access to foreign communication equipment, yet lacks the NSA's expertise in communications eavesdropping. Hence, the SCS was born, combining the communications intelligence capabilities of the NSA with the covert action capabilities of the CIA in order to facilitate access to sophisticated foreign communications systems.[4][13][14]

The SCS employs exotic covert listening device technologies to bug foreign embassies, communications centers, computer facilities, fiber-optic networks, and government installations.[4][5] The U.S. government has never officially acknowledged its existence, and little is known about the technologies and techniques it employs.[4] The sole inside account of SCS comes from a Canadian, Mike Frost, whose 1994 book Spyworld revealed that the program was known to insiders at the time as "College Park".[15] As of 2008, the SCS is reported to target for recruitment key foreign communications personnel such as database managers, systems administrators, and information technology specialists.[10]

During October 2013, reports by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden led to the unveiling of the SCS having systematically wiretapped Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel's private cell phone over a period of over 10 years, which among other activities to wiretap and systematically record large amounts of European and South American leaders' and citizens' communication by the NSA led to a distinct diplomatic backlash at the United States government.[16]

The SCS program was established in 1978 during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.[1][4][15]

As encryption technology increased in sophistication, by the end of the 20th century many coded signals proved unbreakable. Due to this problem, bugging techniques and technologies saw a revival: unable to easily intercept and decrypt foreign communications through passive means, the U.S. government needed to instead intercept the communications at their source, and thus the SCS program was expanded in the 1990s to fulfill this need.[17][18][19]

According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the SCS is part of a larger global surveillance program known as STATEROOM.[20]

SCS operatives reportedly hid eavesdropping devices in pigeons perched on the windowsills of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.[7]

The SCS program was compromised by infamous Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mole Robert Hanssen in the 1990s, which provided Moscow with sensitive information about highly sophisticated U.S. overseas bugging operations.[5][21] However, the program was so secret that, after Hanssen's arrest, the FBI would only describe it in general terms, as a "program of enormous value, expense, and importance to the U.S. government".[4][6]

In 1999, as the Clinton Administration sought to kill Osama bin Laden following the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, SCS operatives covertly entered Afghanistan to place eavesdropping devices within range of Al-Qaeda's tactical radios.[22]

The SCS was rumored to have been involved in the 2001 operation that planted 27 satellite-controlled bugs in the Boeing 767-300ER that was to be used as Chinese leader Jiang Zemin's official jet. The bugs were discovered, however, before they could be switched on.[23]

Prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, SCS was described as the "prime mover" of electronic surveillance in the country.[24] SCS operatives built numerous antennae, spaced throughout the Iraqi countryside, capable of intercepting Iraqi microwave communications. These Iraqi communications would have been otherwise difficult to intercept, because they beamed hilltop to hilltop in a narrow band, with an angle too oblique and thus too dissipated to be intercepted by air or spacecraft.[25]

In 1998, the U.S. government recruited an Australian operative under SCS and deployed him to Iraq. The operative reported concerns about what was transpiring in Iraq, in that there was "a very high volume of data, and that he was getting no feedback about whether it was good, bad, or useful". He further reported that "this was a massive intelligence collection operation one that was not in accordance with what UNSCOM was supposed to be doing" at the time.[24]

After the invasion, SCS operatives were employed in the hunt for Saddam Hussein, planting sophisticated eavesdropping equipment in target areas to intercept communications that were then analyzed by voice analysis experts.[26]

The SCS was heavily involved in eavesdropping to advance the Global War on Terrorism, setting up eavesdropping posts around Middle Eastern capitals and figures close to Osama bin Laden's terrorism network.[7][27] In 1999, an SCS team monitored al-Qaeda training camps near Khost.[1]

When the United States located Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, SCS operatives established a base in an apartment that the CIA had rented a mile away from the compound. They focused lasers on the compound windows and, by analyzing the vibrations, were able to count the number of people inside and outside, and also ascertained that there was one person who never ventured outside the compound. Bin Laden was killed inside the compound during a raid by U.S. special operations forces on May 2, 2011.[28][29]

Coordinates: 390242N 765125W / 39.045N 76.857W / 39.045; -76.857

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Special Collection Service - Wikipedia

What is the National Security Agency (NSA)?

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a federal government intelligence agency that is part of the United States Department of Defense and is managed under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI).

The intelligence agency, led by the director of the NSA, does its global monitoring, collection and processing of information and data electronically from its headquarters in Maryland. The NSA is in the Intelligence-gathering business and -- unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) -- its agents don't make arrests. Instead, the NSA turns information over to the military.

In 1952, President Harry S. Truman officially formed the NSA to perform a specialized discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). SIGINT is intelligence gathering by interception of signals -- either communications between people or through electronic signals not directly used in communication.

Two decades later, in 1972, a presidential directive established the Central Security Service (CSS) to provide cryptologic support, knowledge and assistance to the military cryptologic community. The NSA and CSS together form the National Security Agency Central Security Service (NSA/CSS). The job of the NSA/CSS is to create a more unified cryptologic effort with the armed forces and team with senior military and civilian leaders to address and act on critical military-related issues in support of national and tactical intelligence objectives, according to the government.

The NSA exists to protect national communications systems integrity and to collect and process information about foreign adversaries' secret communications in support of national security and foreign policy.

Its role in preserving national security is twofold:

In October 2017, Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed new guidelines enabling the NSA to provide intercepted communications and raw SIGINT -- before applying domestic and foreign privacy protections -- to 16 government agencies, including the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency.

Although the organization's number of employees -- as well as its budget -- falls into the category of classified information, the NSA lists among its workforce analysts, engineers, physicists, linguists, computer scientists, researchers, customer relations specialists, security officers, data flow experts, managers, and administrative and clerical assistants.

It also claims to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the U.S. and possibly worldwide. NSA/CSS mathematicians perform the agency's two critical functions: They design cryptographic systems to protect U.S. communications, and they search for weaknesses in the counterpart systems of U.S. adversaries.

The NSA denies reports claiming that it has an unlimited black budget -- undisclosed even to other government agencies. Nevertheless, the agency admitted that, if it were judged as a corporation, it would rank in the top 10% of Fortune 500 companies.

It's been known that the NSA listens in on every international phone call made to and from the U.S., but that's just one aspect of the agency's work. Another aspect is the agency's focus on intelligence gathering.

It was believed that the NSA only focused on international intelligence gathering. However, that belief was derailed in 2013 when details about some of the NSA's other surveillance programs became public.

That's when former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Edward Snowden leaked troves of confidential NSA information to the national and international press. The documents indicated the agency had broadened its domestic surveillance activities to bulk collection of U.S. communications.

Snowden told the press about 10 NSA surveillance programs:

Early interception techniques relied on radio signals, radar and telemetry.

The first traces of SIGINT date back to July 1917 when the government created the Cipher Bureau of Military Intelligence. This was three months after the United States had declared war on Germany, in part because of the infamous Zimmerman Telegram.

Intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, the Zimmerman Telegram revealed that the German foreign secretary attempted to entice Mexico into war against the U.S. by promising to return the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico should Germany win the war.

When British codebreakers intercepted this message, it inflamed the U.S. and proved the value of SIGINT.

After the war, SIGINT work became fragmented and scattered among numerous agencies and government entities. The Army Signal Corps developed the Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) in May 1929 after taking over cryptology from military intelligence. Civilian William F. Friedman became chief cryptologist at SIS and was tasked with educating a small team of civilians on cryptanalysis so they could compile codes for the U.S. Army.

After the armed forces succeeded in cracking German and Japanese codes during World War II, President Truman reorganized American SIGINT under the NSA. SIS, renamed the Signal Security Agency and then the Army Security Agency in the mid-1940s, became part of the National Security Agency.

In 1957, the NSA moved to Fort Meade in Maryland, where it is still based today.

In 2012, The New York Times reported that Stuxnet malware, discovered in June 2010 after a damaging attack on Windows machines and programmatic logic controllers in Iran's industrial plants, including its nuclear program, had been jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel. Neither country has admitted responsibility for the malicious computer worm.

A hacker organization dubbed Equation Group allegedly used two of the zero-day exploits prior to the Stuxnet attack, according to antivirus company Kaspersky Lab, which is based in Moscow and made the claims in 2015.

In addition to protecting national security through cryptography and cryptanalysis, the NSA has weathered security breaches beyond Snowden that have caused embarrassment for the agency and affected its intelligence-gathering capabilities.

An unidentified NSA contractor removed classified U.S. government information from the NSA in 2015 and stored the material, which included code and spyware used to infiltrate foreign networks, on a personal device. The files were allegedly intercepted by Russian hackers. The contractor acknowledged using antivirus software from Kaspersky Lab.

In 2017, Israel intelligence officers revealed that they detected NSA materials on Kaspersky networks in 2015. Kaspersky officials later admitted that they became aware of unusual files on an unidentified contractor's computer, and they did not immediately report their findings. In December 2017, the U.S. government banned the use of Kaspersky Lab products for all federal agencies and government employees.

A hacker group calling itself The Shadow Brokers claimed it had stolen NSA files in 2017. It released batches of files on the internet, some of which allegedly contained the Internet Protocol addresses of computer servers that were compromised by Equation Group -- hackers reported to have ties to the NSA.

The continual dumping of NSA files has exposed zero-day exploits targeting firewalls and routers, Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities and other cyberweapons. The NSA, according to the ongoing leaks, has been stockpiling vulnerabilities, most notably the Windows EternalBlue exploit used by cybercriminals in the global WannaCry ransomware attacks.

The FBI arrested Harold T. Martin III, a former NSA contractor employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, in August 2016 and accused him of violating the Espionage Act for unlawful possession of terabytes of confidential materials allegedly taken from the NSA and other intelligence agencies over a 20-year period. A grand jury indicted him in February 2018. The case is still pending as prosecutors wrestle with criminal counts and the sheer volume of materials.

In October 2020, the NSA released an advisory specifying 25 publicly known vulnerabilities actively exploited or being scanned by Chinese state-sponsored actors. Later that year, the NSA verified that SolarWinds Orion Platform version 2020.2.1 HF 2 eliminated the malicious code used in the extensive SolarWinds hack.

In January 2021, for the first time, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the DNI and the NSA publicly suggested Russian threat actors were responsible for the SolarWinds supply chain attack.

That April, the Biden administration formally attributed the SolarWinds attacks to the Russian government's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The FBI, NSA and CISA jointly warned that state-sponsored, SVR-allied threats were actively exploiting known vulnerabilities to get access to national security and government-associated networks.

Also that April, the NSA found four new Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities, of which three were critical.

Learn more about how the SolarWinds attack puts national security strategy on display.

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What is the NSA and how does it work? - SearchSecurity

Watch: NSA Ajit Doval is Ambitious, Very Good at Sniffing Power and Being on the Right Side of itAS Dulat  The Wire

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Watch: NSA Ajit Doval is Ambitious, Very Good at Sniffing Power and Being on the Right Side of itAS Dulat - The Wire

Shockwaves win another championship, this time at the NSA Fresno Pilgrimfest  Lompoc Record

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Shockwaves win another championship, this time at the NSA Fresno Pilgrimfest - Lompoc Record

EFCC secures forfeiture of N755m, luxury assets from ex-AGF, former aide to NSA The Nation Newspaper  The Nation Newspaper

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EFCC secures forfeiture of N755m, luxury assets from ex-AGF, former aide to NSA The Nation Newspaper - The Nation Newspaper

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a member of the U.S. intelligence community and plays an integral role in safeguarding national interests and achieving military objectives by gathering, analyzing and sharing data and signals intelligence. The NSA is widely acknowledged as the countrys foremost authority on cryptanalysis and its role in preserving national security is twofold. Firstly, NSA analysts gather and decrypt intelligence from electronic communications and sources such as email, videos, photos, stored data, internet phone calls, chat, video conferencing, file transfers, and online social networking accounts. Subsequently, the NSA uses its gathered intelligence to protect the nations classified data and national security systems from unauthorized access and tampering by foreign and internal adversaries. Established by President Harry Truman with the express purpose of coordinating and improving the collection and analysis of intelligence communications, the NSA plays a significant role in protecting both the United States and the world at large; therefore, it is vital for individuals with a strong interest in international relations to gain an understanding of the functions of this critical intelligence agency.

The protection of communications and systems in the United States through the use of cryptology, cipher and other methods can be traced back to the American Revolution with the formation of the Secret Committee of Correspondence; however, it was after World War I with the advent of the radio that national security experienced a pronounced evolution. The Black Chamberor, the Bureau of Cipherwas established after the war and was disguised as a New York commercial code company. The Black Chamber used cryptanalysis to intercept foreign communications, notably monitoring and decoding communications sent to and from Japanese delegates during the Washington Naval Conference which first convened on November of 1921, giving U.S. negotiators a strong advantage. However, the organization was disbanded in 1929, when Secretary of State Henry Stimson famously quipped, gentlemen do not read each others mail.

During World War II, the group OP-20-G played an important role in providing vital intelligence on adversaries, such as the Japanese, thereby surpassing the information-gathering capabilities of all other agencies and allowing the U.S. military to be more effective and precise in its operations. OP-20-G was greatly respected, allowing it to metamorphose into the Army Security Agency (ASA) and later, the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA), which united all cryptologic activities of the Army and the Navy. However, the organization faced difficulty in its operations, mainly in centralizing data collection efforts, processing the communications intelligence and coordinating with other agencies. President Truman tasked New York attorney George A. Brownell with forming a committee that included representatives from the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency in order to find a solution to AFSAs operational woes; upon receiving the committees official recommendations regarding the United States Government Communications Intelligence (COMINT) in a five-part report, Truman established the National Security Agency on November 4, 1952.

Throughout the Cold War, the NSA expanded U.S. surveillance activities and was able to monitor and intercept the communications of various foreigners and U.S. citizens through programs such as Project MINARET. The project notably surveilled Americans traveling to Cuba and participating in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and resulted in thousands of citizens being placed on watch lists. The lack of clear legal constraints resulted in the severe violation of privacy: In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Courts Keith decision noted that, even though the government has the responsibility to protect the American people from disruptive activity, the government cannot use warrantless electronic surveillance devicesespecially for domestic espionage activities. NSAs Operation Shamrock was investigated by the Church Committee and in August of 1975, NSA director Lieutenant general Lew Allen testified to the House of Representatives, disclosing NSAs activities. This lead to the introduction of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 by Congress, which helped monitor and regulate the NSA and notably, established the need for acquiring warrants through the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) prior to pursuing any clandestine efforts.

The NSA is known as the premier cryptology organization, and until the end of the Cold War, cryptography in the United States was solely the concern of the NSA (and the organizations that preceded it). The NSA, along with the National Bureau for Standards and IBM, played a significant role in the development of the Data Encryption Standard, an algorithm used in the encryption of data. The development of the DES launched cryptography as an academic discipline.

Operating under the purview of the Department of Defense, the NSA is tasked with two primary responsibilities. The first is producing SIGINT, or signals intelligence, and sharing it with various partiessuch as the military, members of the executive branch, government agencies and foreign allies. Signals intelligence is any information that has the potential to be intercepted and utilized by adversarial groups and is derived from various signals, sources, systems, and satellite communications. SIGINT can be used in a number of ways, including to help secure the nation and its allies; protect troops; prevent domestic and international terrorism, crime and narcotics; and assist with diplomatic negotiations and foreign relations. The NSAs second responsibility is information assurance, or the protection of national security systems crucial to intelligence, military operations and other government activities. The NSA helps prevent the theft of classified information and ensures that these materials are available to policymakers and others in government.

To protect national security interests, the NSA engages in mass surveillance and the collection of metadata, which includes the gathering and tracking of American and foreign citizens phone calls, text messages, social media posts, emails, internet browser history and more. Mass surveillance by the United States was initially conducted as part of WWI security efforts, such as when the U.S. government monitored telegrams sent to and received by the United States. This surveillance was allowed to continue on into peacetime to help ensure that the U.S. government was kept abreast of pressing domestic and international affairsespecially those related to the expansionist policies of rival nations, like Japan.

By their very nature, the NSAs methods of data collection are shrouded in secrecy. The NSA has been known to install listening posts around the world in order to gather foreign intelligence, thereby creating considerable controversy. To wit, there exists a special division within the NSA named the Special Collection Service; this classified body installs eavesdropping devices in places such as foreign embassies and government buildings and is dubbed the Mission Impossible task force. The NSA was embroiled in significant international controversy when it was exposed as having conducted surveillance on the German government, including monitoring the cell phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel through an antenna installed on the roof of the U.S. Embassy. The United States justified its actions on the basis that some of the terrorists involved in the planning and execution of the September 11th attacks had operated out of Hamburg, Germany, and the revelation created tension between the U.S. and German governmentswho had long considered one another to be strong allies.

The NSA has also courted controversy with American citizens, coming under fire for the unconstitutionality of its surveillance and data collection activities, which critics argue impinge on privacy laws and violate the Fourth Amendment. The NSA reportedly collaborates with technology and Internet companies to obtain access to phone records, emails, and cloud-stored files, though some of these companies (such as Google and Yahoo) insist that they require a court order before releasing information; however, Sprint, AT&T and others have reportedly handed over millions of records on ordinary citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing, all without a court order. Such records are now housed in the NSA call database in perpetuity. The NSA, for its part, has continuously argued that its surveillance activities are in full compliance with the law; that it takes civil liberties very seriously and only collects critical information necessary for policymakers to ensure the security of the U.S. and its allies.

The NSA is able to conduct its data collection thanks to laws such as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which requires communications companies to make their facilities available to law enforcement agencies or to supply consumer information following a court order. Since the September 11 attacks, provisions in the Patriot Act have allowed the NSA to expand its widespread surveillance of suspected terrorists in an effort to fight domestic and international terror.

One of the undisclosed programs covered under the Patriot Act is Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management (PRISM). Operating under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), PRISM allows the NSA to solicit technology companies to gain access to phone, email and other records of foreign citizens in the event that certain search terms or phrases trigger red flags. However, information has since come to light indicating that these searches often extend to U.S. citizens and that the NSA paid technology companies millions of dollars for their disclosures. PRISM and other programs were unveiled in a series of revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Since its inception, the Patriot Act has been criticized by many in government and the public sphere, and programs such as PRISM have faced litigation from the ACLU. Critics believe that these programs have been abused and have rarely succeeded in foiling terrorist plots; such was the case with the Boston Marathon attacks, as the terrorists were found to have visited an Al-Qaeda website. Foreign governments, especially members of the European Union, have expressed outrage at the mass surveillance of their citizens and their Internet activities. The NSA and its proponents (including former President Barack Obama), however, have argued that these surveillance programs are effective, having thwarted a plot against the New York City subway, for instance. They also argue that such programs face rigorous bipartisan Congressional scrutiny and are subject to extensive oversight. The Patriot Act has elicited so much criticism that a compromise was reached in the form of the Freedom Act in 2005, which reinforced certain segments of the Patriot Act while limiting the information the NSA can gather without a warrant.

The National Security Agency plays an important role in ensuring national security; facilitating foreign, military and diplomatic affairs; and fortifying classified information and national security systems. The NSA does not carry out its duty without a significant amount of scrutiny, however, as the constitutionality of its measures is often called into question. Given the important work of the NSA and growing public interest in the agencys sometimes controversial activities, it is essential for individuals studying international relations to fully comprehend its operations and outcomes in order to anticipate and address future challenges.

As the nations oldest private military college, Norwich University has been a leader in innovative education since 1819. Through its online programs, Norwich delivers relevant and applicable curricula that allow its students to make a positive impact on their places of work and their communities.

Our online Master of Arts in International Relations program offers a curriculum that evolves with current events to help you face the future of international affairs. Norwich Universitys masters degree in international relations covers many subjects to give you a look at the internal workings of international players, examine the role of state and non-state actors on the global stage, and explore different schools of thought. You can further strengthen your knowledge by choosing one of five concentrations in International Security, National Security, International Development, Cyber Diplomacy, or Regions of the World.

Recommended Readings: Isolationism & U.S. Foreign Policy After World War I7 Components of Liberalism

Sources:

Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, Federal Communications Commission

NSAs Role in the Development of DES, RSA Conference

A Brief History of Cryptography Policy, The National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine

National Cryptologic Museum, National Security Agency

NSA Timeline 1791 2015, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Spies, Wiretaps, and Secret Operations: An Encyclopedia of American Espionage, Google Books

Trove of Stolen NSA Data Is Devastating Loss for Intelligence Community, Foreign Policy

PRISM is Legal, The Verge

NSA Scandal: What data is being monitored and how does it work?, The Guardian

Secret Committee of Correspondence / Committee for Foreign Affairs, 1775-1777, Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs

Foreign Relations of the United States 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community 1950-1955, Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs

Context of 1967-1975: Project MINARET Illegally Monitors American Subversives, Creative Commons

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

NSA Tapped German Chancellery for Decades, The Guardian

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What is the National Security Agency? - Norwich University

Cyber Security Today, Oct. 19, 2022 A warning from the NSA about nation-state attacks, and more  IT World Canada

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Cyber Security Today, Oct. 19, 2022 A warning from the NSA about nation-state attacks, and more - IT World Canada

A timely update on the NSA and the AEOB.

In August, the administration published the final final rule on the No Surprises Acts Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process. The IDR is the arbitration process for deciding the reimbursement for claims for which out-of-network providers are prohibited from balance billing patients.

The final rule aligned with a February decision from a Texas District Court that a plans median in-network rate, or Qualifying Payment Amount (QPA) should not be given more weight by arbitrators in deciding an appropriate out-of-network rate. Rather, the QPA should be weighed equally with other factors such as the training or quality of the provider and the market share of either party.

After that final final rule in August, the industry held its breath. Would the seven lawsuits that providers had filed against the No Surprises Acts IDR now go away?

Yes and no. The AMA and the AHA dropped their lawsuit, though they continue to argue that the final final rule still does not meet the intent of Congress.

You see, in the final final rule, while the administration said that the QPA should not be weighed heavier than other considerations, the rule did say that the QPA, being the only quantitative factor, should be the first factor to be considered.

That does not sit well with the Texas Medical Association (TMA) which filed a new lawsuit late last month against the NSA IDR process. The TMAlawsuit asserts that, by putting the QPA first among many, the rule continues to unfairly favor insurers. Notably, the TMA lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas with the same judge that sided with providers last February. So, the plot thickens.

In other NSA news, lets check in on the Advanced Explanation of Benefits (AEOB). This is a requirement in which, for allscheduled services for all insured patients, allproviders will be required to provide good faith estimates to health plans which, in turn, would be required to provide.

That AEOB would list both the providers Good Faith Estimate plus any patient financial responsibility.

In late September, the administration published a Request for Information (RFI) asking for public comments on the Good Faith Estimate (GFE), and the AEOB.

On its regulatory schedule,, the government says that it will offer a proposed rule on the AEOB on Jan. 1, 2023. Given that comments on AEOBs Request for Information are just coming in now, it is highly unlikely that there will be a January proposed rule on the AEOB. Most likely, such a rule would be published late next year, if at all.

In the meantime, the standards development organization (SDO) HL7 has published a draft of an Implementation Guide for the Good Faith Estimate and AEOB. However, it will take some time for HL7 and other standard development organizations to develop and approve the needed data transaction standards for the Good faith estimate and AEOB; it will also take some time for the government to adopt any such standards. Finally, the administration has promised that it will also give some time for plans and providers to build the infrastructure to accommodate the GFEs and AEOBs.

An analogy would be the many years it took for standard development, government adoption, and industry implementation of ICD-10 and X12 5010.

In other words, the industry is a long way from having to implement the AEOB.

Programming note: Listen to Matthew Albrights legislative update every Monday on Monitor Mondays at 10 Eastern.

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In the Alphabet Soup of Regulations, the NSA, GFE and AEOB Have Yet to Coalesce - RACmonitor

PM Modi said there were instances when notes from the National Security Council Secretariat were not given due importance

PM Modi said there were instances when notes from the National Security Council Secretariat were not given due importance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told all ministers and secretaries not to ignore background notes or other communication shared by National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and National Security Advisor (NSA), and to take them seriously, sources said on Sunday.

Stressing that while framing any policy, there is a need to look at it from India's strategic point of view, PM Modi said there were instances when notes from the national security council were not given due importance.

During a five-hour long meeting of the council of ministers held on Friday that was also attended by all secretaries in the Union government, PM Modi cited the case of the dependence on imported Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used for manufacturing drugs, which was highlighted by the NSCS several years back, the sources said.

Thereafter, on the instruction of Prime Minister Modi, Deputy NSA Vikram Misri gave a presentation on NSCS to apprise Ministers about the Secretariat, they said.

In the presentation, Mr. Misri shared the details about changes taking place across the world, especially in Europe, Russia, and the U.S., and their impact on India, the sources added.

According to sources, Mr. Misri's presentation was not originally scheduled and was added on the intervention of the Prime Minister, sources said.

Before Mr. Misri, Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan and Commerce Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam also gave their presentations.

During the meeting, PM Modi also underlined that the policy-making process is dynamic and it needs to be modified with changing times.

Citing an example from his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, the Prime Minister said there were some rules related to a ministry that were named after some other state and this was changed only after he pointed it out to officials, the sources said.

He told the meeting that there is a tendency of being complacent in framing and implementing policies and this should be avoided.

Policies should be customised with changing times, the sources quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

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Do not ignore any communication shared by NSCS, NSA: PM Modi to ministers - The Hindu

FORT MEADE, Md. The National Security Agency (NSA) is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 8, 2022. As NSAs principal gateway to the public, the newly renovated museum will provide a unique opportunity to engage with cryptologic history in fresh and innovative ways - transporting visitors on a journey from the ancient world to present day exploring the dynamic role of cryptology in shaping our history.

Located at the edge of NSA in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, the museum staff is busy preparing for the October opening. The October 8 grand opening event is open to the public and will include a variety of special events and offerings for visitors. Starting at 10:00 a.m. visitors will have the opportunity to see historic displays and artifacts spanning our Nations history from the Civil War, WWII, up through the Cold War. There will also be a Breakout Room, swag handouts, NSA K9 Police dog demonstrations, and so much more. Staff and docents will be there to answer your questions. And, if youre staying a while to take it all in, you might want to take a break and visit some of the food trucks that will be on-site for this special event.

First opened to the public in 1993, the NCM was the first public museum in the Intelligence Community (IC) and remains the only fully public museum in the IC. Originally designed to preserve and house artifacts from the NSA, the museum has evolved over the years and recently underwent its first complete interior renovation since opening almost thirty years ago.

So why a Grand Opening for an institution that first opened its doors nearly thirty years ago, instead of a re-opening?

After being closed for two and a half years - and having gone through a complete makeover - aside from the physical structure, the museum now features an all new interior, complete with all new layouts, displays, and many never before seen artifacts that played critical roles protecting American national security, according to Dr. Vince Houghton, Director,National Cryptologic Museum.

Location: 8290 Colony Seven Rd, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701Event: Grand Opening on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.Admission: Admission is free no reservation or ticket required

SUNDAY | ClosedMONDAY | ClosedTUESDAY | 10:00am 4:00pmWEDNESDAY | 10:00am 7:00pmTHURSDAY | 10:00am 4:00pmFRIDAY | 10:00am 4:00pmSATURDAY | 10:00am 4:00pm

For further information, please contact NSA Public Affairs at 443-634-0721. You can also email us at mediarelations@nsa.gov.

Original post:
NSA Announces Date of the National Cryptologic Museum Grand Opening - National Security Agency