The NSA and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

“Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer.” - Dan Brown

It's all over the news. The NSA is doing this. It's unconstitutional. They're invading my privacy. They aren't allowed to do this. But what is the NSA? According to Vocabulary.com , it is the United States cryptologic organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect United States information systems and to produce foreign intelligence infor

mation.

Recently in my Speech and Debate class, we had to pick a debate topic and research it thoroughly and have a 30 minute debate within 2 weeks. Therefore, I deemed it appropriate to pick a book that is of the same mind. After doing some research, I found the book, 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown. He is the author of numerous bestselling books that includes one of the bestselling books of all time, The Da Vinci Code. Some of his other novels include, The Lost Symbol, Angels and Demons, and Inferno. The Digital Fortress, apparently being another one of his popular books, is becoming adapted into an ABC TV series coming soon!

Now to get to the good part. What's this book about! In the United States, one of everyone's biggest fears about the NSA is that the information they gather will one day be hacked and released into the world. Things like your credit card number, social security number, or any other personal information can fall into the wrong hands. Another fear is that the NSA will one day find something that they can't decipher, or can't catch someone who is trying to break in. These things are exactly what happens in this book.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I would first like to start off saying that the way Dan Brown started this book made any other hooks or attention grabbers seem like nothing. The first lines stated, "It is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake." (Brown 1).

In, Digital Fortress, there is a code-breaking supercomputer named TRANSLTR encounters a new and complex code, named Digital Fortress, that it can't break. Therefore Commander Trevor Strathmore calls Susan Fletcher, the head cryptographer to break it. After spending some time on the code, she finds out that it was made by A man named Ensei Tankado, who we later discover was a former NSA employee who was displeased with what many people are displeased with today... the NSA intruding on people's privacy. The villain's intentions are to auction the code on his website and have his partner release kit for free if he dies. So, the whole book is essentially the agency trying to stop Digital Fortress from becoming a threat to the world's national security.

Personally, I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars. This book has a bunch of cliffhangers that want to make you keep reading until its finish. then you finish he book and your like, Where's part 2?? This book is like a mix between a Techno-thriller, Mystery, and Science-fiction book. It's one of those book where you have to keep guessing and reading until you find out that you were right or wrong. This is also one of those books where some chapters are told by a different perspective than others. Therefore you can get a more full look at what is really happening in this book.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone willing to dive into a mystery.