Morell: Strong encryption makes human spies more essential to intelligence services
Michael Morell · a16z Podcast | For Your Ears Only · Jan 2, 2019 · at 18:35
Michael Morell, former Deputy Director of the CIA, discusses how encryption changes the dynamic between technical intelligence collection and human intelligence.
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“Technology actually sometimes makes a human Spy more important. So take encryption, for example. Terrorists can now talk to each other without security services and intelligence services getting in the middle of that. So if that's the case, then technical collection becomes not the tool of choice. What becomes the tool of choice is putting a spy at either end of those two points to know what's going on. So a human spy actually becomes more important as technology protects the adversary.”
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