Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 66 posts

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#21

Post by giancarlostoro »

rangibaby wrote: post #19
Gustomaximus wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could also create disgruntled employees. Finding people feeling underpaid and undervalued must be prime candidates for foreign agents. While definity not an expert in this, every time I've read about traitors it seems money, sex or ideology drive the betrayal. And the first seems the most common in modern times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames > Ames later said that this financial pressure was what had first led him to consider spying for the Soviet Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen > He never indicated any political or ideological motive for his actions, telling the FBI after he was caught that his only motivation was profit > The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymou…

Sad they'd spend millions to catch moles but can't somehow afford to pay the crucial people the right sum. If you've got people who have access to valuable information consider their financial situation and adjust their compensation accordingly so they're never left wanting, your enemies will use the same damn information to make them turn on you... Why the hell not beat them to the punch? If they've got their expenses covered they've got no serious reason to commit treason one would think.

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#22

Post by joejerryronnie »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #6

So I have a hard time believing the 100k price tag. They are not including everything here, which is typical. The government usually doesn't consider overhead costs because to the agency they are fixed. That's a multiple of 2-3. They're certainly depending on some existing developed technology which doesn't sound COTS to me, and I have no idea how much to value that at. Maybe another 100-500k unless it comes from a m…

The $100K is probably just the cost of materials.

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#23

Post by joejerryronnie »

mgkimsal wrote: post #12
zachruss92 wrote: post #5

I really enjoyed this article. The DDS is literally doing the same kind of things that the USDS is doing, but for military applications. Given the fact that the largest portion of our taxes goes towards defense spending, initiatives like create opportunities to allocate resources more efficiently, iterate with agility, and save a ton of money. When you look at DoD contractors, there is obviously a motivation on their…

Going out on a limb here to bet that whatever website they did develop doesn't fare well on accessibility standards...

I bet their localization efforts are woefully lacking as well!

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#24

Post by thelastidiot »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #21
rangibaby wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames > Ames later said that this financial pressure was what had first led him to consider spying for the Soviet Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen > He never indicated any political or ideological motive for his actions, telling the FBI after he was caught that his only motivation was profit > The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymou…

Sad they'd spend millions to catch moles but can't somehow afford to pay the crucial people the right sum. If you've got people who have access to valuable information consider their financial situation and adjust their compensation accordingly so they're never left wanting, your enemies will use the same damn information to make them turn on you... Why the hell not beat them to the punch? If they've got their expens…

Just like Wayne Knight's character Nedry in Jurassic Park, where do you put a stop on what needs to be paid to keep things safe? It's a dangerous game to place a price on safety if the sole determinant is the loyalty of the individual.

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#25

Post by wnevets »

withdavidli wrote: post #8

Never understood the underpaying of highly qualified people in the govt. Making a sacrifice for your country in a high powered / representative position is one thing, but the rank and file? Billions are spent on defense contracts and old software, but when bringing on teams of people to revamp the system, they want these people to take more than a 50% pay cut. D.C. is an expensive place to live as well. If you think…

>Never understood the underpaying of highly qualified people in the govt.

because Americans have been trained get upset when they find how much government employees make and that's why their taxes are so "high".

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#27

Post by hiram112 »

tdhz77 wrote: post #20
withdavidli wrote: post #8

Never understood the underpaying of highly qualified people in the govt. Making a sacrifice for your country in a high powered / representative position is one thing, but the rank and file? Billions are spent on defense contracts and old software, but when bringing on teams of people to revamp the system, they want these people to take more than a 50% pay cut. D.C. is an expensive place to live as well. If you think…

I work for federal government. And the government subsidies my pay @ $4500 to live in DC. I’m humbled by my opportunity to be in the public service. I’ve turned down valley jobs. US gov is filled with highly qualified people. You just don’t know their twitter.

DC itself has a pretty bad government COL adjustment because it is the average of an area comprising some much lower COL areas in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For example, a GS employee who works in Downtown DC where a 1 BR apartment will go for $2500 / month will get paid the exact same amount as his / her peer working in Hampshire, WV. The same apartment there is about $700.

* https://www.federalpay.org/gs/locality

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#28

Post by gbhn »

wmeredith wrote: post #10
withdavidli wrote: post #8

Never understood the underpaying of highly qualified people in the govt. Making a sacrifice for your country in a high powered / representative position is one thing, but the rank and file? Billions are spent on defense contracts and old software, but when bringing on teams of people to revamp the system, they want these people to take more than a 50% pay cut. D.C. is an expensive place to live as well. If you think…

Eh, look at it as a filter for true believers. Mercenaries are dangerous, because they have a price.

Perhaps a better analogy: let's say you're hiring people with the offer that you'll pay them $2M the first year, then nothing for 20 years. The danger is that the person will quit. So it is more conservative to offer a deal where you pay them nothing for 20 years, then $2M. Then you're pretty sure they'll stay, especially if they're 15 years in.

I think that's probably the best way to understand the salary/pension trade-off. The public sector is geared to be quite risk averse in investments, so it offers back-weighted comp to try to be frugal on training and provide continuity.

There's also basically no other employer that can credibly offer this kind of comp, so the public sector, by offering it, can compete quite well for talent in the space of those interested in that configuration. It's not the only way to run things, but it makes some sense.

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#29

Post by hiram112 »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #21
rangibaby wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames > Ames later said that this financial pressure was what had first led him to consider spying for the Soviet Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen > He never indicated any political or ideological motive for his actions, telling the FBI after he was caught that his only motivation was profit > The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymou…

Sad they'd spend millions to catch moles but can't somehow afford to pay the crucial people the right sum. If you've got people who have access to valuable information consider their financial situation and adjust their compensation accordingly so they're never left wanting, your enemies will use the same damn information to make them turn on you... Why the hell not beat them to the punch? If they've got their expens…

The two biggest things one can do to lose or be denied access to a security clearance are 1) foreign contacts and travel and 2) financial issues.

Most of the security clearance denial appeals are published by the US government, and just from a cursory glance, you can see that mundane credit problems, foreclosures, etc. are the top reason given.

* http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/2017.html

Re: The Pentagon Is Building a Team of Tech-Savvy Soldiers

#30

Post by solidsnack9000 »

tdhz77 wrote: post #20
withdavidli wrote: post #8

Never understood the underpaying of highly qualified people in the govt. Making a sacrifice for your country in a high powered / representative position is one thing, but the rank and file? Billions are spent on defense contracts and old software, but when bringing on teams of people to revamp the system, they want these people to take more than a 50% pay cut. D.C. is an expensive place to live as well. If you think…

I work for federal government. And the government subsidies my pay @ $4500 to live in DC. I’m humbled by my opportunity to be in the public service. I’ve turned down valley jobs. US gov is filled with highly qualified people. You just don’t know their twitter.

They add $4500 per month to live in DC?
Post reply on HN