Slashdot Mirror
NSA CTO Patrick Dowd Moonlighting For Private Security Firm
First time accepted submitter un1nsp1red (2503532) writes Current NSA CTO Patrick Dowd has taken a part-time position with former-NSA director Keith Alexander's security firm IronNet Cybersecurity — while retaining his position as chief technology officer for the NSA. The Guardian states that 'Patrick Dowd continues to work as a senior NSA official while also working part time for Alexander's IronNet Cybersecurity, a firm reported to charge up to $1m a month for advising banks on protecting their data from hackers. It is exceedingly rare for a US official to be allowed to work for a private, for-profit company in a field intimately related to his or her public function.' Some may give Alexander a pass on the possible conflict of interests as he's now retired, but what about a current NSA official moonlighting for a private security firm?
Conflict of interest is just what they do - ever wondered why there's a vast web of private contractors with points of failure (or patriotism) such as Snowden when it should really be a tight military operation? It's all about rewarding cronies. Retiring and getting millions funnelled into your pockets is far more lucrative than being promoted a rank.
He is obviously for sale, so consider it the least worst case.
Amazing how all the comments are merely mocking and resigned to the fact this is happening. This should outrage you, a public official at the top of the NSA has taken on another (very high) paying private section job. This guy should be fired. Policies should be put in place to stop these people from screwing the public purse. I expect he is paid substantially to reach that level, it's a very small leap from reselling your secrets to private companies to committing treason with foreign governments.
This just eliminates the time frame Beltway insiders have typically had to wait while spinning through Washington's revolving doors.
It also serves to legitimize the fact we live in a corporatacracy.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
"If we want to fix things, then there's only one [wolf-pac, CU McC] solution:...]
I'm sorry, your cure is worse than the disease and only treats the symptoms to begin with. Packing legislatures and bureaucracies with committees of carefully selected (and by who, eh?), politically-correct "community activists", "stakeholders", and so on is Not Going Fix A Damn Thing. It will make things that much worse, in fact. It already has. Now, you may think otherwise, and surely you're entitled, but you'd be damned wrong. I could give examples and arguments, but for now I'll just point to the State of Georgia, which has had, for example, a Community Planning law for about 25 years now, which requires each county and municipality (now being subsumed by more banker-tractable "Regions") to have Planning Committees constituted as above, advised periodically by cadres of economics, poli-sci, and public administration profs from GA Tech or the Carl Vinson Institute at UGA, responsible for producing Comprehensive Land Plans and such, as opposed to property owners exercising their right to do such things solely or in cooperation with one another. You know, eliminate such quaint, outdated notions like market forces, rational self-interest, creativity, and so on, and replace them with modern, foundation-approved,corporatist academic direction.
I should note that these committees are selected, not elected, by incumbent powers-that-be. Not exactly what you'd call democratic. Be that as it may, how have Georgians fared as a result? I invite readers to visit the state, venture outside Atlanta metro and its fingers extending to Columbus, Macon, Augusta, Athens, Savannah, and Brunswick to judge for themselves. Once you get outside the zones of banker-favored urban sprawl, now being held up by the suspension of disbelief being put forth by the Fed, things are pretty grum. It's shocking how far small towns have fared, and to realize how much more advanced my parents and grandparents were, in terms of civic knowledge and participation, than my generation, and I'm no spring chicken.
Even in the cities, most people are on the dole, one way or another. They are not engaged in any productive activities, just getting by waiting month to month for a check or an EBT deposit from the treasury or the state. Engaging in any kind of activity independent of the usual suspects and incumbents is shot down in a hurry, unless you are superhumanly persistent or able. Or just ruthless yourself. It could all be very depressing, but ironically it has led to a situation where you can often write your own ticket, if you know what you're doing, and you're willing to do right by people. But it is hardly what most people would call a "recovery", much less growth, for the economy as a whole. The nearest area of growth to me is Statesboro, home to Georgia Southern University, but all the growth is in predefined, sanitized, homogenized, corporatized, and franchised areas, mostly around the uni, favored by the bankers and central planners. The rest of town is filled with stagnant and even decaying areas. You can get a good deal on commercial rents, there, I guess.
My point is: all of this is exactly the result of previous ventures into "removing money from politics". We all know they were self-serving shams, of course, but they made for such noble hand-waving, didn't they? I don't see that your favored proposals are one bit different. Just more so, maybe.
In my view it would be much better just to have a real Treasury Dept. printing real Treasury notes and minting silver and gold for general circulation again. You know, just make the money honest again, as it has not been for a century. It's not surprising that social and civil rights injustice follows from economic injustice, and it seems obvious that restoring economic justice might have salutary effects elsewhere. You could do a lot worse, and looks to me like the bunch you favor are trying. Sorry.