He led me to a Hughes VAX computer that had access to the Arpanet, linking a collection of universities, research labs, government contractors, and the like. Typing commands, he told me he was accessing a computer system called Dockmaster, which was owned by the National Computer Security Center (NCSC), a public arm of the supersecret National Security Agency. We were elated, knowing that this was the closest we’d ever come to establishing a real connection to the NSA.
