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by mythealias 4402 days ago
Ignoring the NSA debate, do such actions achieve anything (from security point of view)?
1 comments

They make matters worse. After all, conferences aid in transparency, less transparency is bad for security.
And, with little real positive effect, these types of actions can appear aggressive, petty, unreasonable and produce negative sentiment.

Personally I don't see the need for the bellicose rhetoric emanating from Washington lately. I would think it wiser to at least appear friendly and co-operative whenever possible while warning in private up until it's time to take real measures. Then take those for real. Don't indict 5 guys you are never going to get, then make a big show of suspending conference visas. It appears paranoid and weak in my opinion. But maybe that's why I am not a policy maker.