The NSA's existence was originally classified but that was
way back in the Truman Administration and not officially acknowledged until the 1970s. It was, however, a fairly open secret and often jokingly referred to as "No Such Agency."
The Church Committee in the mid-1970s certainly openly discussed its existence by name.
In a previous gig, I personally installed some software I'd developed on one of the NSA's IBM mainframe computers in the early 1980s -- I'd say around 1983 or 1984 -- and I was not sworn to secrecy (I did my work on a non-classified system and there were no secrets involved other than how really horrible the software was). I did not carry a NSA clearance so saw or heard nothing of particular interest and I did require a 'baby sitter' with me at all times.[1]
At another gig, I had a colleague who was a former NSA mathematician and, again, there was nothing secret about that, though I could always get him into a bit of a dither if I started asking him questions about number theory.
For a number of years NSA people didn't acknowledge their employer.
You could, however, always tell the NSA attendees at conferences because instead of a university or company affiliation, their badge would just say "US Government." I think CIA were more open (though I won't swear to it)>
I seem to recall seeing a few of those badges at conferences in the early to mid-1980s but that's a bit hazy.
I'm not certain when that policy changed, but that might be the source of Dowling's confusion.
[1] A Dowling-like digression: I also consulted on a nonclassified project at Lawrence Livermore Labs and not only was I escorted everywhere, including the restroom, but when I was in the restroom, they would put a little sawhorse in the doorway warning that an uncleared person was inside. Similarly, at the NSA, as I was escorted through the building, along the way, my escort would flip a light switch which would start a rotating flashing yellow light mounted to the ceiling warning of the presence of a non-crypto-cleared person. All very bizarre and entertaining, in a "spooky" sort of way.
The NSA's existence was originally classified but that was [url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/national-security-agency-surveillance]way back in the Truman Administration[/url] and not officially acknowledged until the 1970s. It was, however, a fairly open secret and often jokingly referred to as "No Such Agency."
The Church Committee in the mid-1970s certainly openly discussed its existence by name.
In a previous gig, I personally installed some software I'd developed on one of the NSA's IBM mainframe computers in the early 1980s -- I'd say around 1983 or 1984 -- and I was not sworn to secrecy (I did my work on a non-classified system and there were no secrets involved other than how really horrible the software was). I did not carry a NSA clearance so saw or heard nothing of particular interest and I did require a 'baby sitter' with me at all times.[1]
At another gig, I had a colleague who was a former NSA mathematician and, again, there was nothing secret about that, though I could always get him into a bit of a dither if I started asking him questions about number theory.
For a number of years NSA people didn't acknowledge their employer.
You could, however, always tell the NSA attendees at conferences because instead of a university or company affiliation, their badge would just say "US Government." I think CIA were more open (though I won't swear to it)>
I seem to recall seeing a few of those badges at conferences in the early to mid-1980s but that's a bit hazy.
I'm not certain when that policy changed, but that might be the source of Dowling's confusion.
[1] A Dowling-like digression: I also consulted on a nonclassified project at Lawrence Livermore Labs and not only was I escorted everywhere, including the restroom, but when I was in the restroom, they would put a little sawhorse in the doorway warning that an uncleared person was inside. Similarly, at the NSA, as I was escorted through the building, along the way, my escort would flip a light switch which would start a rotating flashing yellow light mounted to the ceiling warning of the presence of a non-crypto-cleared person. All very bizarre and entertaining, in a "spooky" sort of way.