In my judgment it is exactly eight ciphers too many.
On the other hand, can one imagine a better way to create meaningless ciphers than to allow the party leaderships to appoint and re-appoint people?
In the past, fire authorities have often been seen as rubber-stamping ciphers that merely approve what their chief officers want to do.
Just one word or one group of ciphers—even one letter—lost can mean the nullification of months, perhaps even years, of cryptographic work.
Elected councils have been turned into mere ciphers.
They were mere ciphers and cogs in the state machine and there was absolutely no confidence in their professional ability or integrity.
The whole trend of our modern society is away from the treatment of people as ciphers and towards recognition of their individual rights and claims.
I am more and more alarmed every day at the degree to which we are becoming ciphers.