Though much of the NSA's history is obscure or poorly documented, what is clear is that ITT (or International Telephone and Telegraph), which installed much of Latin America's hard line communications, proved very valuable to the agency.
Reports from Abbottabad have said that the compound was cut off from the internet or other hard-wired communications networks.
This makes communications hard for an enemy to jam or intercept.
This study is based on the features of hard real-time communications in avionics environment.
The conversation turned to the possibility that data encryption might be making it harder to intercept communications from aliens.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Obama said he had not been aware beforehand of the statement his campaign had put out Wednesday morning responding to the public demand by Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton's hard-driving senior communications adviser, that Mr. Obama denounce Mr. Geffen and return the money he had raised.
Federal regulators are considering rules that would require lawyers to notify the government under certain circumstances when they withdraw from representing clients, he said, and the U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, makes it harder to protect communications between a lawyer and an accused terrorist.
While many would argue there isn't a lock on the planet that can't be broken, encryption (at the very least) adds another barrier of security that will make your communications harder to monitor.
"When you're dealing with an economic crisis, it's hard to achieve elegant communications," said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama's top strategist.
The collapse of Enron soured its energy-trading business, and the dot-com implosion hit its communications sideline hard.
