Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping by Patrick Radden Keefe

Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping Reviews

• 
  Christopher Patti

  I have read a bunch of books on spying and intelligence agencies over the years.
  
  Most of their authors allowed themselves the luxury of blurring the line between plainly observable / provable facts and wild flights of fanciful conjecture.
  
  This book is a refreshing change in that and other regards.
  
  
  Patrick Radden Keefe does an excellent job sketching in both broad and detailed strokes exactly what we do know about agencies like the NSA and their counterparts in the UK, AU and NZ and plainly states what we don't.
  
  I'm also quite pleasantly surprised at how even handed this book is. He coolly presents and evaluates arguments from both the left and the right, and isn't afraid to say so when someone is coming off as self deluded or even a bit wacky.
  
  There is a great deal of fascinating data in this book. If you're at all interested in the intelligence business or the very real effect it has on our right to privacy as a society, this is a must read.
• 
  W.T.

  This is a remarkable book about "sigint" (signals intelligence). The first half is a chilling detailing of how telecommunications of all sorts are swept up by numerous listening stations around the world, a central part of a UK-USA agreement (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).
  
  The second half begins to wonder if the enormous amount of money spent by the NSA (and others) is worth it, given the tremendous failures of sigint to help prevent terrorist acts (notably September 11th, for example.)
• 
  Ryan Hannay

  The most interesting aspect of this book is how much the world has changed since it was published 15 years ago. It's a quaint snapshot of a world beginning to really worry about technology and privacy issues right before smartphones and wi-fi connectivity blew up all around the world and caused us to become a million times more vulnerable.
• 
  James Piper

  Exceptionally well written. Insightful. A look into signal intelligence capturing by the Anglo alliance.
• 
  Jill S

  3.5
• 
  Mary Agnes Joens

  This was really interesting and also really frustrating. As Keefe acknowledges at the end of the book, he has mostly managed to identify where the gaps in public knowledge about global eavesdropping by government agencies begins and ends, rather than offering any real answers. He does, however, use this to very effectively make a case that the current hyper-secretive, change-resistant culture of intelligence agencies is ultimately to their own detriment.
• 
  Will Byrnes

  The search for Echelon, a fabled system that supposedly sees all, hears all, by a young law student in the UK. This is a look at the NSA and its facilities across the globe, the interactions between NSA and the agencies of other nations. An excellent first book by a promising new investigator.
• 
  Ailith Twinning

  I'll give this book every possible benefit of the doubt -- because I can't prove what I think might be going on.
  
  Even in that scenario -- it's just a moderately shitty news article writ looong. And that's the best possible case. Just a shitty news article writ long.
  
  This author is an ass.
• 
  Zander

  An interesting but very general look at the world's security agencies in a pre-Snowden world. It's kinda an Intelligence1001 course, exploring the rise of technology and the transition away from in-person spying.
• 
  Grant

  Interesting but a bit lose and with the benefit of hindsight a little off at times.
• 
  Nick

  Keefe examines the NSA in approximately 2004/2005, reviewing many of the dilemmas and issues facing SIGINT collection. These issues have become more relevant to public debate since the Snowden leaks of 2013 and the issues concerning FISA collection surrounding the 2016 Presidential elections. Keefe's writing anticipates these events, as well as the public discussions that followed them.
  
  Keefe's work suffers from the same faults as others who examine SIGINT and intelligence. Most importantly, what is the alternative to collecting SIGINT? Should countries, in protecting the privacy of their citizens, abandon SIGINT collection? Perhaps, but writers should confront the risks of reduced opportunities to collect information on threats and of giving adversaries that do not have the same values comparative advantages.
  
  Keefe's work also suffers in highlighting comparisons between SIGINT, HUMINT, IMINT, and open-source research. The problem, which Keefe highlights, is not that one discipline is inherently weaker than the others, but more so that practitioners of different disciplines can become biased towards their own work. This problem is resolved by collection managers and analysts, with broader understandings of the intelligence disciplines, identifying collection requirements, tasking the appropriate discipline, and looking at all sources of information from an unbiased perspective.
  
  Much of the information Keefe appears fascinated by is not, upon further consideration, that fascinating. That the United States and its allies, namely NATO, have SIGINT posts to collect Russian and Chinese signals is not particularly remarkable, nor the simple application of basic physics to collect that information. It is natural for the US to keep facilities, such as Menwith Hill, outside of public discussion in the hopes of giving adversaries, such as Russia, false confidence that they are communicating in secret. Even if Russia is not naive enough to think that its signals are secure, insight can be derived in other ways.
  
  Overall, Chatter lacks an underlying thesis or narrative. Many of the problems Keefe identifies with SIGINT collection are not only inherent in SIGINT, but in any form of research. Analysts and researchers can be overwhelmed with data, be biased towards information they have personally collected, abuse their authorities to collect information, fail to consider other sources of information, etc. Some of these issues, notably the sheer volume of information collected, are magnified with SIGINT collection, but are not insurmountable with discipline and focus.
• 
  Ashley

  Best for:
  People interested in an historical perspective on data interception and ‘national security.’
  
  In a nutshell:
  Keefe explores the US systems of eavesdropping on allies and enemies alike.
  
  Worth quoting:
  “In times of panic, we overreact, we over-legislate. We get it wrong.”
  
  Why I chose it:
  I thought I’d read all of Keefe’s books then this popped up. I have thoroughly enjoyed his last two full-length investigations, so figured why not read this?
  
  Review:
  Reading a book about national security and intelligence that was released in 2005 is interesting, in that things like smart phones weren’t around, and so much has changed in terms of the data so many of us are willing to share. So this book is almost alike a time capsule, and while reading I mostly caught myself thinking ‘whoa, this is interesting - but what’s happening now?’
  
  Keefe looks at ECHELON, the surveillance program that the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia all participate in, looking at the information their friends (and foes) share. It’s both super secret but also not really secret at all?
  
  At times it was a bit hard to follow exactly what was being discussed, and how it related to everything else, but overall it was interesting, as it was written in light of the fact that 9-11 happened but all the fancy spying didn’t prevent it. A couple of main themes are that you can capture all the data you want, but you really do need humans to review it and make sense of it, and there aren’t nearly enough humans working in the field to do that; and is it worth giving up so much privacy if it doesn’t even lead to better security?
  
  I would love an update to this book, looking at what’s been happening for the past 15+ years since the book was published, but overall for someone like me with very limited subject knowledge, it was a pretty good read.
  
  Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
  Not likely to recommend, and it’s an audio book so can’t do the rest!
  
• 
  Marloes

  Ik ben dit boek gaan lezen na het lezen van
  Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Dit is het eerste boek van
  Patrick Radden Keefe en ook dit zit erg knap in elkaar, om niet te zeggen briljant. Omdat het uit 2005 stamt, dus ruim vóór de onthullingen van Edward Snowden, is het op bepaalde vlakken natuurlijk niet up to date, maar het is beslist niet gedateerd. De grote lijnen die de auteur schetst zijn erg verhelderend en de conclusies die hij trekt (hoe functioneel is het eigenlijk, het verzamelen van al die signal intelligence? En moeten we het niet eens hebben waar de grens precies ligt tussen veiligheid en privacy?) zijn nog steeds actueel.
• 
  Mandi Scott

  
  Get Smart
  Written by Mandi Chestler on January 10th, 2008
  Book Rating: 4/5
  An eye opening expose on the world of governmental spying, Keefe's writing is well researched and riviting. I particularly liked that he stayed objective and fact-based all the way through the book, and avoided the temptation to succumb to conspiracy theories or breathless speculation--the great temptation when dealing with the topic of espionage and eavesdropping. I feel so much better informed about the warrantless wiretapping issue after "listening in" on this audio book. It's time for us all to get smart about this important issue.
• 
  Carolyn

  This book was my first introduction to real spy and listening posts and their history. I read it when it was first published and I recommend it highly. The author has done his homework and his writing style is clear and moves along without bogging down in inessentials. This is a history that more Americans (and others) need to know. It's been going on since 1945, at least.
• 
  Aviad Eilam

  An introduction to the world of signals intelligence (SIGINT) that is inevitably very basic, due to the dearth of publicly available information on the topic; Radden Keefe does a reasonable job of filling the pages that would otherwise remain empty with philosophical questions and discussions around privacy and technology.
• 
  Jack

  Maybe a little outdated in the post-Snowden world (and probably explains why it’s out of print and I had to get this through interlibrary loan), but for a first book this is pretty good. Keefe says somewhere in the intro that he’s “not an investigative reporter” but that was 2005 him writing, because he’s clearly one of the best out there now.
• 
  Charlotte Delon

  Interesting book that explores eavesdropping and surveillance in the US and beyond. Not a linear story but more a collection of research and stories by Raden Keefe. Crazy to learn about just how many ways, and how many listening sites, there are.
• 
  Monica

  Interesting but dated.
• 
  Deb

  Fascinating but had to stop listening 1/3 of the way due to another book becoming available.
• 
  Matthew Lombardo

  B
• 
  Martin, I hate MTG

  Very boring book. It is probably outdated.