https://www.cyberscoop.com/paul-nakasone-ted-koppel-interview-iccs-2019-fordham-university/
By Jeff Stone
CYBERSCOOP
July 23, 2019
Well, that was weird.
When Gen. Paul Nakasone appeared Tuesday at the International Conference on
Cybersecurity at Fordham University, he probably expected to hear questions
about the new reorganization at the National Security Agency, or about the U.S.
government’s ability to safeguard what’s expected to be one of the most
contentious elections in recent memory amid historic levels of foreign
meddling.
It was not to be.
Nakasone spent roughly an hour politely engaging Ted Koppel, the longtime
broadcast journalist and author of a 2015 book on cybersecurity, in a bizarre
conversation that alternated between Koppel questioning the decorated NSA
director about the agency’s basic responsibilities, and whether Nakasone
struggled with fake news from “tens of thousands” of “self-appointed
journalists.”
The “fireside chat” was perhaps the most widely anticipated presentation
scheduled at ICCS, a regular gathering of some of the most powerful officials
from the U.S. intelligence community. Koppel set the tone for the hourlong
discussion with a seven-minute story about a World War II bombing campaign
carried out by the German Luftwaffe that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of
civilians. The bombings, by Koppel’s description, resulted in an eventual
understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union that similar
attacks, carried out with nuclear weapons, could result in mutually assured
destruction.
“I would say both the United States and the Soviet Union floundered in creating
that strategy. We did silly things like teaching our children to duck under
their desks in their schools, or creating bomb shelters. Some of them still
exist today, stocked with crackers and water,” Koppel said. “We developed plans
to evacuate massive cities. All totally pointless.”
[...]
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