According to security expert Bruce Schneier, the book was popular within the NSA itself, as "the agency's secrecy prevents its employees from knowing much about their own history".

According to the NSA's historical account, "Public Law 86-36 had served as a useful barrier against this type of research, but Bamford proved to be cleverer than others.

Bamford eventually discovered "the Mother Lode," a collection of documents deposited at the George C. Marshall Foundation Library by former NSA chief cryptologist William Friedman.

The account continues, "Bamford then submitted a FOIA request for the entire collection, using as his rationale the offending phrase indicating that the information had been intended for dissemination to uncleared people."

During the 1975 Church Committee hearings, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had investigated the legal culpability of various intelligence agencies.

Bamford also interviewed retired NSA senior officials, including former director Marshall Carter, with whom he talked for a day and a half.

[12] Executive Order 12356, issued by Ronald Reagan in 1982, eliminated the reclassification prohibition and described situations in which documents could be reclassified.

It also allowed documents requested under the FOIA or Privacy Act to be classified or reclassified provided they met specified requirements (e.g., certain matters related to national security).

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was at that time a Court of Appeals judge, ruled that the ALA lacked standing in the case.

"[1] In a review of Shane Harris' book The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State, New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau described The Puzzle Palace as "the benchmark study of the N.S.A.

[18] Michael Duffy, reviewing Bamford's 2004 book Pretext for War, wrote in Time magazine that The Puzzle Palace "is still considered the classic account of the mysterious National Security Agency.