Former FTC CTO Ashkan Soltani Denied Security Clearance, Perhaps Because He Helped In Reporting On Snowden Docs

from the bad-news dept

Ashkan Soltani is a well known privacy expert who (among other things) worked with Barton Gellman at the Washington Post to analyze the Snowden documents for story worthy information -- an effort that won that series a Pulitzer Prize. Soltani has been hugely instrumental in reporting on other privacy-related issues as well, including being a part of the team that also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the Wall Street Journal's excellent What They Know series on digital privacy issues. Basically he has a long history of doing great journalism around privacy. For most of the last year, he was also the Chief Technology Officer at the FTC. Back in December, it was announced that he had moved over to work for the federal government CTO, Megan Smith, in the White House as a senior advisor. The CTO's office has been collecting some fairly amazing tech talent recently.

However, now, just a few weeks after Soltani took the job in the White House, he's announced that he's left the job because he's been denied the security clearance necessary to do his job:

Bittersweet end to my stint in government — I’m disappointed to announce my departure from @whitehouseostp pic.twitter.com/nYlBI1b2ur

— ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) January 29, 2016

If you can't read that statement, it says:

I am disappointed to announce my departure as Senior Advisor to the White House Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith.

Smith hired me in December from the Federal Trade Commission, where I had served as Chief Technologist since late 2014. My mandate was to help Smith and her team work through hard questions on consumer privacy, the ethics of big data, and the recruitment of skilled technologists to government.

Those are vital issues, which have occupied me in and out of government, and I will continue to contribute what I can in other venues.

Last week the White House Office of Personnel Security notified me that I would not receive the security clearance necessary to continue to work at the White House. I'm told this is something that happens from time to time and I won't speculate on the reasons. I do want to say that I am proud of my work, I passed the mandatory drug screening some time ago, and the FBI background check was still underway. There was no allegation that it was based on my integrity or the quality of my work.

I was honored to serve at the FTC and in the White House. I wish the CTO and her amazing team success in the important work ahead.

Soltani says he won't speculate, but from the rest of his statement it's not hard to guess what the real reason is: his work with the Snowden documents in 2013. Back when Soltani first went to the FTC in late 2014, you had folks like former CIA and NSA boss Michael Hayden whine about his work on the Snowden documents and suggest it makes it inappropriate for him to hold a government job.

"I'm not trying to demonize this fella, but he's been working through criminally exposed documents and making decisions about making those documents public," said Michael Hayden, a former NSA director who also served as CIA director from 2006 to 2009. In a telephone interview with FedScoop, Hayden said he wasn't surprised by the lack of concern about Soltani's participation in the Post's Snowden stories. "I have no good answer for that."

And then you had former NSA General Counsel (and proud Techdirt hater), Stewart Baker arguing that Soltani should be barred from government work for his work on the Snowden docs:

Stewart Baker, a former NSA general counsel, said, while he's not familiar with the role Soltani would play at the FTC, there are still problems with his appointment. "I don't think anyone who justified or exploited Snowden's breach of confidentiality obligations should be trusted to serve in government," Baker said.

So it doesn't take too much reading between the lines to suggest that those in charge of handing out security clearance decided to "punish" Soltani by denying him clearance.

Of course, beyond being generally screwed up, it also is a bit ironic since Soltani's role was supposed to be about convincing techies to work in government. Want to know how not to do that? It's by pettily "punishing" Soltani for his journalism work.

Filed Under: ashkan soltani, ed snowden, ftc, megan smith, michael hayden, security clearance, stewart baker, white house

FTC CTO: Full Disk Encryption Is Important In Preventing Crime

from the taking-a-stand dept

While the FBI and NSA continue their campaign to fight against allowing encryption for devices, it's clear that not everyone in the government agrees. It does appear that there's a bit of a fight going on within the administration over where to come down (as President Obama himself admitted), and in a recent blog post, it seems pretty clear where the FTC comes down in this debate. The FTC's CTO, Ashkan Soltani, who has long been a strong user-privacy advocate (and before joining the FTC helped in some of the reporting on the Snowden documents), wrote the blog post celebrating the virtues of full disk encryption and other "end user device controls." It starts out by noting that when he recently lost his own laptop, he wasn't that worried, thanks to the fact that it was encrypted.

Strong end-user privacy and security controls, such as device encryption and firmware passwords, not only protect personal information from unwanted access – they can also make it easier to recover lost or stolen devices as well.

Last month, I had the misfortune of having a personal laptop stolen.

Fortunately for me, while I was a bit bummed about losing my two-year-old laptop, I backup regularly and always enable disk encryption which is an important step to protect the information stored on the hard-disk from unwanted access by criminals, employers, or other actors (with the exception of very sophisticated adversaries).

He notes that this actually allowed him to help track down the device, because whoever ended up with the "useless" laptop tried to bring it to an Apple Genius Bar, which resulted in Soltani receiving an email.

Fast forward to a few weeks later, when I received an email to my personal account notifying me of an upcoming Apple Genius Bar visit. I was initially confused by the email but soon realized that it's probably the thief (or the undiscerning buyer) of my laptop trying to take it into Apple for repair – likely because they’re unable to use it without knowing the firmware password I set.

I immediately began calling local law enforcement and the nearby Apple stores notifying them of the theft and this development. After a few phone calls and the help of a fantastic Sergeant in the Local Crimes Unit of the Sacramento Police department, I was able to coordinate an agreement whereby Apple would notify law enforcement if the new user brought the machine in for repair. After an initial disappointment on account of the suspect skipping his Genius Bar reservation, a representative from Apple Customer Relations notified me that the device was brought into another store and they were coordinating with Sacramento Police Department to return it to me. I’m unclear as to whether they were able to track down the original thief.

And thus, the FTC's CTO makes it clear that full disk encryption has benefits beyond even just keeping your own data safe:

In the end, strong end-user controls like device encryption and firmware passwords not only protect sensitive info stored on the device, they also prevent criminals from utilizing stolen property. The more devices feature strong end-user controls, the less likely thieves can profit from their theft on the open market.

Given that the FBI is supposed to be interested in preventing crime, you'd think James Comey would support that kind of thing...

Filed Under: ashkan soltani, encryption, ftc, full disk encryption, going dark, laptops

Former NSA Official: Anyone Who 'Justified' Snowden's Leaks Shouldn't Be Allowed A Gov't Job

from the because-our-government-is-above-reproach-ALWAYS dept

A few days ago, the FTC announced that it had appointed Ashkan Soltani as its chief technology officer. Soltani is a well-known (and often outspoken) security researcher who has worked at the FTC in the past. Nothing about this appointment should be all that surprising or even remotely controversial. However, recently, Soltani had been doing a lot of journalism work, as a media consultant at the Washington Post helping Barton Gellman and other reporters really understand the technical and security aspects of the Snowden documents. His name has appeared as a byline in a number of stories about the documents, detailing what is really in those documents, and how they can impact your privacy.

Apparently, this has upset the usual crew of former NSA officials.

Let's start with former NSA director Michael Hayden. The publication FedScoop heard the news about Soltani, and decided to ask Hayden and other NSA-types their thoughts. You can tell by the opening paragraph what angle FedScoop is digging for with its article:

The Federal Trade Commission has hired privacy and technology expert Ashkan Soltani to serve as the commission’s chief technology officer. But security experts and former senior U.S. intelligence officials are questioning the FTC’s decision, given Soltani’s very public role as a consultant for The Washington Post, where he co-authored multiple articles based on classified documents stolen from the National Security Agency by former contractor Edward Snowden.

The loaded language in the introductory paragraph telegraphs FedScoop's desire to have its predispositions confirmed by the NSA's defenders, even though this move is more of a return to form for Soltani rather than an indication of the FTC's willingness to give the administration the finger by proxy, or whatever it is that Hayden feels is going on here.

His job will be to advise the commission on evolving technology and policy issues, a role similar to one he held previously at the FTC before leaving government to become an independent consultant.

Hayden's criticism of Soltani's selection begins with a sentence that shows (and immediately denies) what he'd like to do in the limited time FedScoop has granted him.

“I’m not trying to demonize this fella, but he’s been working through criminally exposed documents and making decisions about making those documents public,” said Michael Hayden, a former NSA director who also served as CIA director from 2006 to 2009.

Yes, how dare he do journalism in association with a well-known and (mostly) respected news organization. The FTC has so far refused to comment on its "controversial" selection. The NSA has yet to comment either, although one wonders if anyone outside of FedScoop truly believes the agency actually has anything to comment on here. Neither did the White House, despite FedScoop's endless harassment.

The White House Office of Personnel Management [...] did not respond to FedScoop’s repeated requests for information on the FTC’s ability to hire Soltani given his role in consulting with the Post as it disclosed the Snowden documents.

But guess who else has an opinion on this matter -- a hiring so controversial that no one actively employed by the government has felt the slightest urge to comment on? It's our other favorite NSA apologist, and he manages to top Hayden's vague but judgemental statements, as well as somehow managing to have even less of a grasp on the subject matter.

Stewart Baker, a former NSA general counsel, said, while he’s not familiar with the role Soltani would play at the FTC, there are still problems with his appointment. “I don’t think anyone who justified or exploited Snowden’s breach of confidentiality obligations should be trusted to serve in government,” Baker said.

But those who aided and abetted the expansion of domestic surveillance programs and betrayed the American public should be "trusted" to "serve" (themselves and their agencies) for years to come. Those who question the government should be kept as far away from the inner workings as possible, at least according to these two NSA defenders. And they base this judgement not on Soltani's upcoming position (which neither seem to know anything about), or actual government policies (which neither cite in defense of their claims), but rather on their feeling that no one who has "betrayed" the Agency (even if to serve the public or the Constitution) should be allowed to serve the public in any capacity.

Filed Under: ashkan soltani, ftc, michael hayden, nsa, snowden documents, stewart baker, surveillance