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The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

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Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#3
The military is the antithesis of hacking culture: - Play by the rules, even if they don't make sense, because I said so. - Listen to people above your paygrade, even if they are clueless, because that's the way we do things around here. - There's a simple rulebook and checklists to follow to complete your task, and if you don't follow the rules you get punished. - Low pay for extraordinary work. - Endless meetings and powerpoint slides.

I know a lot of security folk, and none of them like any of these things. I don't know a single one who would enjoy making 40k a year while shining their boots for some drill instructor.

What a total joke. You want to get good hackers? You gotta pay up and stay the out of their way. This is not a problem you can throw bodies at, and you can't coerce people to be good at hacking.

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#4

Honestly asking - surely this isn't something that the United States would seriously consider in this day and age, is it?

The NSA has had a long history recruiting elite cryptographers and keeping secrets from the public.

Given today’s prevailing attitudes towards China and Russia (ie Cold War 2.0),I’m not shocked.

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#5

The military is the antithesis of hacking culture: - Play by the rules, even if they don't make sense, because I said so. - Listen to people above your paygrade, even if they are clueless, because that's the way we do things around here. - There's a simple rulebook and checklists to follow to complete your task, and if you don't follow the rules you get punished. - Low pay for extraordinary work. - Endless meetings a…

It’s up to intellectuals to tell the truth. The military has nothing to do with democracy, it’s an authoritarian system all the way. People often misunderstand the military, thinking for example, that military rule might enhance democracy in Egypt. That’s not how the military works.

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#6

Honestly asking - surely this isn't something that the United States would seriously consider in this day and age, is it?

The NSA has had a long history recruiting elite cryptographers and keeping secrets from the public. Given today’s prevailing attitudes towards China and Russia (ie Cold War 2.0),I’m not shocked.

Hackers being involved with the government isn't what surprises me, moreso the consideration of bringing a draft back, after the public backlash from Vietnam. I would have expected it to be politically suicidal to even utter the word?

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NSA has had a long history recruiting elite cryptographers and keeping secrets from the public. Given today’s prevailing attitudes towards China and Russia (ie Cold War 2.0),I’m not shocked.

Hackers being involved with the government isn't what surprises me, moreso the consideration of bringing a draft back, after the public backlash from Vietnam. I would have expected it to be politically suicidal to even utter the word?

>I would have expected it to be politically suicidal to even utter the word?

Backlashes are cyclical and sometimes generational - the hippies against the beatniks, the yuppies against the hippies, etc. The current political and cultural zeitgeist in the US seems to be much further right and pro-war than it might have been 40 years ago.

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#8

The military is the antithesis of hacking culture: - Play by the rules, even if they don't make sense, because I said so. - Listen to people above your paygrade, even if they are clueless, because that's the way we do things around here. - There's a simple rulebook and checklists to follow to complete your task, and if you don't follow the rules you get punished. - Low pay for extraordinary work. - Endless meetings a…

You are misinformed my friend. With respect to innovation and talent, and the military - One of the top officers in command of the US Marine Corps said this a few days ago, about the technical talent that the corps has been attracting [1]:

"My eyes are watering with what our young people can do right now..I have an engineering background, but I’m telling you, some of these 21- and 22-year-olds are well ahead of me"

and

"The men and women in uniform, they’re impressing us, they’re really smart and they’ve got a lot of really good ideas,” Neller said. “We would be well served to turn them loose. I saw that at the Innovation Challenge.”

They go on to describe how the USMC reduced an 18-month / $1500 maintenance operation for an M1 abrams tank, to 7-days / $50 by using 3D printing. That is remarkable when you know how wasteful the military acquisition process is.

This post was about security, but my point is - the thinking is changing, and it doesn't matter whether the 'domain' is cyber, or land warefare (as above) - the top leadership is ready to leverage every ounce of the technical talents that these new generations have to offer, and as an American - that makes me feel great.

Further, you can look at the US special operations command (SOCOM) and DARPA as other examples of military organizations which have discarded with bureaucratic process and traditional military organizational structures in order to attract the most talented people in the interest of national security.

I have no horse in this race btw. I work for a private company, but I found your assessment unfair and worthy of reply at length.

[1] - https://breakingdefense.com/2018/03/marines-love-affair-with...

Re: The US military could begin drafting 40-year-old hackers

#10
post #9

Drafting or enlisting? I don't think that anyone born after 1953 ever was drafted.

I agree, the last year someone could’ve been born and drafted was 1952, but how does that change anything? I thought the article was talking about reinstating the SSS.
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