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

NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 214 posts

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#141

Post by TeMPOraL »

umvi wrote: post #42
HenryKissinger wrote: post #21

That states like China and Russia can recruit the best cybersecurity talent in their respective countries, and force them to work for the government, while the United States can't, is a problem. If I were the president, I would focus on talent recruitment and retention. Google is paying its top cyberstaff 700k? Offer them 1M. Also get rid of archaic hiring practices like drug tests, and streamline the process to obta…

Well, NSA used to have the best and brightest until Snowden. Now NSA can't get the best and brightest because they are conscientious objectors.

Orthogonality thesis 101: intelligence is orthogonal to values. I don't think the NSA has any trouble getting the "best and brightest" in terms of skill.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#142

Post by gbasin »

motohagiography wrote: post #129

We could call this historical period a great dis-integration where the consensus that formed the equilibrium of the last 60 years has been disrupted by tech, and we're looking at a period of volatility before reaching a new equilibrium. I've argued before that U.S. critical infrastructure vulnerability will prevent it from intervening in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its lack of a strong homeland defensive posture on infrast…

I agree, and this may arguably be a good thing. A relatively painless way of rolling back the empire of Team America: World Police. We may be trending back towards a time of strong regional powers rather than global hegemony.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#143

Post by boomboomsubban »

motohagiography wrote: post #129

We could call this historical period a great dis-integration where the consensus that formed the equilibrium of the last 60 years has been disrupted by tech, and we're looking at a period of volatility before reaching a new equilibrium. I've argued before that U.S. critical infrastructure vulnerability will prevent it from intervening in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its lack of a strong homeland defensive posture on infrast…

>Its lack of a strong homeland defensive posture on infrastructure has emboldened regional powers like China, Russia, and Iran to assert themselves over local NATO allies without fear of US retaliation.

First, calling these issues "homeland defensive postures" makes no sense.

I don't understand how you can view the current situation as "regional powers asserting themselves." NATO now borders Russia and the US effectively controls two states bordering Iran. The only bold moves any of those states has made was Russia's move into Crimea, but even that was Russia preventing their port from switching over to NATO.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#144

Post by mcculley »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #139
api wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been talking about the prophecies of William Gibson for some time. He seems to have nailed the 21st century more than any other sci-fi writer.

Haven't read any of his books yet. Did he prophesize that all of this cyberpunk bickering will come to an abrupt halt as global warming destabilizes our civilization and kicks the survivors back to medieval age? After recent stream of climate change articles I just can't read these NSA statements without thinking that they're worrying about the wrong thing.

His recent book, "The Peripheral", describes a world deeply affected by climate change and other problems.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#145

Post by body12 »

motohagiography wrote: post #129

We could call this historical period a great dis-integration where the consensus that formed the equilibrium of the last 60 years has been disrupted by tech, and we're looking at a period of volatility before reaching a new equilibrium. I've argued before that U.S. critical infrastructure vulnerability will prevent it from intervening in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its lack of a strong homeland defensive posture on infrast…

If your cities immediately turn into "tribal warzones" when they lose utilities, you've definitely made some governance failures well before the cyberattack.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#146

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

gbasin wrote: post #142
motohagiography wrote: post #129

We could call this historical period a great dis-integration where the consensus that formed the equilibrium of the last 60 years has been disrupted by tech, and we're looking at a period of volatility before reaching a new equilibrium. I've argued before that U.S. critical infrastructure vulnerability will prevent it from intervening in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its lack of a strong homeland defensive posture on infrast…

I agree, and this may arguably be a good thing. A relatively painless way of rolling back the empire of Team America: World Police. We may be trending back towards a time of strong regional powers rather than global hegemony.

> a time of strong regional powers rather than global hegemony

A.K.A. a time of war, like the ones that rocked Europe and the rest of the world through the 19th and early 20th century, as regional powers struggle to become the new global hegemony.

Those who desire an end to the Pax Americana, be careful what you wish for.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#147

Post by SiempreViernes »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #139
api wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been talking about the prophecies of William Gibson for some time. He seems to have nailed the 21st century more than any other sci-fi writer.

Haven't read any of his books yet. Did he prophesize that all of this cyberpunk bickering will come to an abrupt halt as global warming destabilizes our civilization and kicks the survivors back to medieval age? After recent stream of climate change articles I just can't read these NSA statements without thinking that they're worrying about the wrong thing.

Isn't worrying about he wrong thing is their historical track record? Whenever they aren't actually measuring something directly intelligence agencies seem to rely on their paranoia, which makes for a poor tool to extrapolate with.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#148

Post by SiempreViernes »

bilbo0s wrote: post #96
antpls wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I live in EU) For the 3rd and 4th points, we could rather envision a massive decentralization of power, which would be effectively a change in the model, but not necessarily in a bad way. Telecom, batteries and local energy production will allow much more flexible forms of local auto-organisations and decision-making. Parts of centralized institutions will be obsolete or further decentralized to better fit local spe…

> Parts of centralized institutions will be obsolete or further decentralized to better fit local specificities. I predict something a bit different. ie - Most "centralization" will move to the private sector, and they will become more and more powerful. Governments will become less and less powerful. Less and less able to check corporate hegemony. More and more decentralized as they weaken and fracture. Corporations…

> Governments will become less and less powerful.

And why would governments accept this?

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#149

Post by body12 »

_Understated_ wrote: post #9

I've often thought about what the next "Great War" would look like. Not researched it or anything but mulled it over. I honestly think the enemy will take out our power stations via malicious code that may already be sitting there waiting to go off right now. A few days after that, when people are still in total darkness and the supermarket shelves are empty then we will turn on ourselves and our "leaders" because we…

The car thing is another big one. Almost every car, truck, or SUV made in the past few years has a cellular connection, either for tracking purposes or infotainment. A determined attacker could probably just shut down 10-20% of cars in the country, a number which is increasing every year.

Re: NSA Official: We Need to Prepare for the Future of War

#150

Post by boomboomsubban »

asdfman123 wrote: post #133
sailfast wrote: post #85

This opinion piece is borderline screed and I'm not sure what to make of it. Part of the piece is "OMG China!" with some pretty dubious assumptions, especially things like their GDP being bigger than the US is an existential threat. "The world is scary" is not a narrative I will respond to. Of course it is - it's bloody frightening. But have you tried framing the discussion in a way that is not so warfare and zero su…

> have you tried framing the discussion in a way that is not so warfare and zero sum-focused but rather collaborative? We live in extraordinarily peaceful times. Those have cropped up throughout history. They have never lasted because balances of power shift. We are not at the end of history. We are a footnote in a history book written a thousand years from now. I hope you're right, though.

>They have never lasted because balances of power shift

This is often the result of one side claiming everyone is about to attack them and massively increasing their military budget.

Post reply on HN