It's very hard to take this initiative seriously. Software vulnerabilities are what software vulnerabilities are: the fundamental enabler of modern network signal intelligence. When you see Obama sign an executive order ending foreign signals intelligence, you can at that point start to believe that the USG is primarily in the business of fixing rather than stockpiling vulnerabilities.
NSA's first and overriding mission is in conducting signals intelligence against our adversaries. As people have pointed out here and elsewhere: regardless of what other missions NSA may have crept into in the last 40 years, when SIGINT comes into conflict with some other NSA mission, SIGINT wins.
NSA's first and overriding mission is in conducting signals intelligence against our adversaries. As people have pointed out here and elsewhere: regardless of what other missions NSA may have crept into in the last 40 years, when SIGINT comes into conflict with some other NSA mission, SIGINT wins.
(This analysis is descriptive, not normative.)