I’m just wondering, why should they be “incredibly troubling”? They’re probably long-obsolete guidance systems for nuclear missiles, improvements to RADAR, etc.
Because all of those things could be used to vastly improve Civilian capabilities. Things like advanced battery technology can be sequestered, because they would crash the economy for a year… And everyone would be better off for it. Essentially, it gives the government control of technology that might in any way, shape, or form impact the United States’ “stability” (Stability being VERY loosely defined). For all we know, Lockheed’s Skunkworks now coming out saying that it can make a stable, portable fusion reactor in the next ten years could have been done thirty years ago.
Advanced Radar, Lidar, Sonar, Sensors, Nuclear Simulation technology, Encryption technologies, etc. all could have been used to VASTLY improve civilian life. It’d be one thing if the process were open, the names and assessments of the technology were released (without the patent details, obviously) so that we were informed and could fight for specific technologies that would make the world a better place, but the Secrecy Act gives a number of bureaucrats carte blanche to deny the American public advanced technology for any number of reasons.
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So, just give all the emails over to us, NSA! Then we can search them for you with our special algorithms. If there’s a %51 chance you’re breaking the law, then we’ll read the email and see.
It practically writes itself.
I hope this situation will practically right itself.
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The first draft of their reply was a laugh and the golf clap. Further revisions may be necessary.
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Or perhaps things like “Method for using selective neurosurgical intervention to enhance interrogation” or “Implantable device for remote electrostimulation of pleasure/pain centers in human nervous systems.”
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I have no idea what kinds of things the government sequesters. But I know that they do sequester things and they do it with no public oversight whatsoever. When politicians have no eyes on them, they get up to all sorts of illegal and nefarious things, no need to be imaginative! 
Just one of tens of thousands of examples of what I’m talking about:
“Hoffberg’s client, James Greer of Alabama, lived under a secrecy order for eight years after his application was filed in 2000. During that time, it would have been a challenge to explore whether the idea could be exported to strategic allies of the United States as an anti-stealth technology, let alone identify possibilities outside of the defense community. Those possibilities included object tracking for “smarter” highways of the future and next-generation communications.”
This is just one of a several hundred John Doe secrecy orders (orders made on private individuals.)
P.S. An implantable device for remote electrostimulation of pleasure/pain centers would be an incredibly easy thing to create. Hell, I could make one for you. Of course, since I’m not a surgeon, I’d probably leave you a vegetable while implanting it!
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That’s reasonable.
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You’re right that potentially productive inventions being hidden away (and stolen for redirection to well-connected contractors) are of greater concern in the long run.
The kind of nefarious inventiveness I mentioned is unlikely to be patented, though I have no doubt that the creativity exercised in CIA “black sites” would make Mengele nauseous.
As for your kind offer… already have that covered. A friend implanted electrostimulation hardware into rats brains for a living a while back, as a control for tests on cocaine addiction. Every birthday and Christmas I told him I wanted him to hook me up to a garage-door opener.
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Here’s a fascinating list from a 1972 FOIA request that actually managed to get through. These are the kinds of things the government is looking for (Note that EVERYTHING energy related is included )
http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/invention/pscrl.pdf
To my knowledge, no other FOIA request regarding sequestered patents has ever gone through. At least a third of everything on it could have been used for significant civilian improvements. (Assuming that patents on some of them were filed in the first place, obviously) My real question is: how many breakthroughs come after twenty years of waiting for the government to decide that it is no longer a “threat to national stability?”
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My point was just about the meanings of the words “classified” as in concealed from the public, and “patent” as in laid open for public examination.
So, it sounds like, while it’s absurd on its face, it’s also real.
a couple of things
- the FOIA request wasn’t for internal NSA email, it was for email between the NSA and National Geographic, so it shouldn’t be classified data.
- if the email search has a possibility of crossing classification boundaries then the emails themselves do too, and that is a big no-no. they should not be capable of sending emails to their moms using the same system they send top secret data to their colleagues. there should be separate systems and they should only need to search the one that can be used to send email to National Geographic.
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I am reminded of a situation here at my Home Owners Association. An owner asked the management company for copies of the meeting minutes and budget documents which all owners have a right to see. The management company refused and when it was pointed out that they have to comply by law they said, “That is a nice theory, but we don’t have the budget to do this for just anyone who asks.”
They are not managing our building anymore.
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