https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/why-the-nsa-called-me-after-midnight-and-requested-my-source-code-f7076c59ab3d
By Peter Avritch
Data Driven Investor
Medium.com
October 23, 2018
Please listen carefully and don’t hang up. Those were the first words this
unknown male caller said to me when my brother handed me the phone.
It was the July 4th weekend, 2000, give or take a day, and Mr. X knew to
say that first because he was calling me after midnight at my brother’s
house in Connecticut. This was beyond creepy because I lived in California
and nobody knew I was in Connecticut except for my immediate family, who
were all there with me in the house. I had only arrived the day before as
I do most years about this time for our annual family picnic.
Why was this guy calling me?
It was a matter of national security.
The caller apologized for waking us up and said his name was Dave. He
asked me to get a pen and paper because he was about to give me some
important instructions that would allow me to confirm his identity. Then
he dropped the bomb and said "it was a matter of national security."
By now some of the other the people in the house had started to gather
around where I was standing in the kitchen by the wall-mounted phone. What
the hell was going on? I signaled to my brother to bring me a pen -- stat.
I was still trying to process what was going on, and strangely, I didn't
even have the frame of mind to ask Dave how he got this number. He sounded
serious and spoke with an air of authority; I guess I was already
convinced he was on the level.
Okay, I’m ready to write.
Dave told me he was with the NSA in Bethesda -- the National Security
Agency. He couldn’t say anything more until I called him back. This is why
I needed the pen. He was about to give me a series of steps to follow to
call him back in a way that proved his identity and cemented the gravity
of the situation.
[...]
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