Ben sez, “I was doing research in the October 1982 issue of BYTE Magazine and spotted this amazing comic-book illustration-style ad to recruit tech people to work at the NSA. Especially nice is the NSA logo embedded in a substitution cypher codewheel.” READ THE REST
Interesting… I thought in 1982 they were still keeping a pretty low profile. Not to the point of really being No Such Agency any more, but a mainstream magazine ad surprises me.
It even looks dystopian!
Maybe someone with a better sense of design history can tell me - does it look dystopian by early-80’s standards, or only by current ones because it is an original, non-ironic example of a style subsequently parodied to produce dystopian works?
I’m Disappointed that the entire ad wasn’t enciphered with the code wheel.
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It is easy to imagine Pournelle and Nivens cooking up the current mess 25 years ago and recruiting some likeminded youngsters to enlist and make it a reality. Could they be the seeds of Neo-Lib-Con?
I remember in seventh grade or so (mid 90’s) a police officer was giving some sort of lecture to our class, and the topic of letter agencies came up. He asked if we could name any, and other students offered the CIA, FBI, EPA, etc. - the easy ones. I was an ultra-nerd and decided to raise my hand and offer the NSA, because I had been reading about it I suppose (I really don’t remember why I knew about it).
The police officer claimed to have never heard of it! I had to explain, and then he seemed to not believe me. He moved on to the next topic.
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The logo is very “OSI” -Venture Bros, no ?
Or maybe I was thinking S.P.H.I.N.X. (Sphinx!!)
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