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NSA Contractor Arrested in Possible New Theft of Secrets (nytimes.com)
The New York Times, citing senior law enforcement and intelligence officials, reports today that the FBI secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). The newspaper adds that the FBI is currently investigating whether the contractor (identified as male) stole and disclosed highly classified computer codes developed to "hack into the networks of foreign governments." From the report: The theft raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years an insider has managed to steal highly damaging secret information from the N.S.A. In 2013, Edward J. Snowden, who was also a contractor for the agency, took a vast trove of documents that were later passed to journalists, exposing N.S.A. surveillance programs in the United States and abroad. The information believed stolen by this contractor -- who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency's most sensitive cyberoperations -- appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden's theft.
Whew, for a minute there I was afraid we had a rogue Apache attack helicopter!
This guy sounds like a true patriot assisting the American people.
Will the consulting firm take the heat? and will this force them to move more people in house?
Is this someone being nailed for the Equation Group code leak? Or something else?
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
How? Try to email them to himself via Yahoo?
BAH doesn't do clearance investigations - the USG does through the Defense Security Service (DSS). Blaming the contractor is BS. The contractor cuts paychecks, handles vacation and health benefits, does the hiring and firing based on USG guidance, and sets business hours based on USG guidance. The rest is the USG - the contracting officer is in control, and after that the functional USG lead directing the effort.
This is a useful dodge for the USG appointees (aka civilian employees) to avoid personal responsibility for what is their failure. Having the USG hire the people as civilians would make sure of two things:
a. The best qualified would avoid the jobs like the plague due to low pay.
b. You'd get a lot of transferees and priority placements from elsewhere in the USG with inadequate qualifications, but qualifying for the job due to time in service or veterans preferences.
So that's why both answers are no.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Now we cant act all indignant when Russia hacks US!!!
Assuming this is a genuine crook -- stealing secrets and selling them or disclosing them to private parties... foreign/domestic/whatever. Then arresting him is pretty much the expected course of action.
The interesting angle to me at least, is that it really skewers the idea that Snowden put us at risk. For me, the biggest counter argument to that has always been 'if Snowden could do it so could others'. The fact that Snowden did it altruistically and gave the information to the public means we know about it; how many others have been doing it, that haven't been caught, that have been disclosing it to foreign governments, selling it, etc.
Now we have some real proof of what really should have been obvious -- that yeah, other people have been doing it too. All the "secrets" Snodwn revealed to the public, and in the process our 'adversaries' ...so what?? They probably already had it from their own pet NSA employees & contractors. It would be foolish to assume they didn't.
"Theft."
"Stole."
I can't get out of my mind the fact that these words are being (mis)used in exactly the same way as when the RIAA and its kind lie about lost profits and bribe legislators. A story told with such heavy bias makes it difficult to take it or its authors seriously.
It certainly is low pay compared to what GS-12/13 equivalent contractors get paid. Truth. Each FTE is paid $250k to the company and depending on their negotiating skill, the end result to the contractor could be approaching 150k. Do a 1099 arrangement and it can be even more.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
By the way, base pay for a GS-13 is $74k for Band 1...so you're not telling people the truth. Even with the regional adjustments, you can easily make less than $90k as a GS-13. So compare and contrast...of course quality people aren't going to respond to the GS jobs.
Besides which, the GS-13s have to show. That's about the only thing they have to do - just about the only way to get fired is to be a no-show or consistently late. True, they get lots of leave and various excuses for not being present, but that is notwithstanding.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I was thinking that too... I guess we'll see in the upcoming days.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
the contractor (identified as male) stole
I thought we had to be concerned with how the contract identifies zis self. I am still trying to get with the program here.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I'm sure the FBI will add an intent clause not included in the law, just like it did with Hillary Clinton. So this contractor has nothing to worry about. It is not like there are different standards for the politically connected and everyone else.
Respect the Constitution
"codes" is an exclusively Indian usage. And it's fairly harsh on the ears of any non-Indian programmers.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Yes, but the contractors have no job security, and will get fired if they fuck off all day. The GS's, on the other hand, have no liability and, in at least in my decades of experience, tend to fuck off most of the day and have the job on the basis of veteran or minority hiring preference.
True statement on the fucking off, though I know of notable exceptions with personal integrity. Those people tend to do well in the system, as screwed up as it is.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
The information believed stolen by this contractor — who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency’s most sensitive cyberoperations — appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden’s theft.
All we really know is that this guy got busted before he could act. It saddens me to write this but the FBI giving their word about the matter doesn't mean it's the truth because Comey has destroyed the FBI's credibility. :(
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I wish more people and companies were concerned about security so that we could start taking a serious look into solving the problem. Unfortunately everybody jumps on the latest and greatest instead of considering how terribly insecure any of it is. Facebook, Microsoft Widows, and even GNU/Linux are all great examples.
What we need to do is start thinking smaller. Instead of jumping on that quad core 16GB ram system maybe we should think about what we can actually achieve with fewer resources and standardize on a minimal set of components that can be properly audited. Not just at the software level, but hardware too.
I'm glad to see one crowd sourcing campaign and project that aims to do just this even if it has a long way to go (as far as the software is concerned in the way of minimizing bloat, etc) and it has already largely succeeded in part at its core mission thanks to the project's primary sponsor ThinkPenguin (funded the first two housing designs and standard) and a groundswell of support from those crowd funding the first manufacturing run of devices based around the EOMA68 standard.
Basically EOMA68 didn't focus on the 'high end', but is instead a standard around which modular devices can be built. The first computer card based around EOMA68 is a simple (to today's desktop/laptop standards anyway) All Winner A20 dual core CPU with 2GB memory. The standard reduces the cost of designing and manufacturing devices that can be secured (quad core cards are coming that'll support the same housings, ie what the EOMA68 standard is for, one housing is a laptop and another a desktop, but others are to follow). The complete set of source codes available for all the components going into both the housings and computer cards designed around the EOMA68 standard. This includes keyboard controllers, LCD controllers, CPUs, and so on. All the places that we know at least one government has hidden backdoors and a 2nd we're reasonably confident has.
Time to bring all the people working with sensitive data or hardware back in house as direct employees. Also, the process of vetting them for clearances. Putting this part of the hiring process in the hands of private enterprise is the first step to contractors like Booz Allen Hamilton skimming the skilled people off the top and sending the knuckle-draggers to work as direct federal employees.
Have gnu, will travel.
for instance, ex-military, which presumably would be copacetic with maintaining operational security. anybody with bingo-number resumes can qualify as a contractor, able to take a higher bid with no remorse.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Wasn't he doing his job to lie, cheat, and steal?
And ignore the US Constitution and spy on American citizens without a specific court order and warrant?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The government seems to have the same accountants my company does...effectively paying twice for an employee but coming out ahead because OpEx.
Why in the world would the government hire contractors to work in the intelligence agencies? Even if they have their clearances, etc. you exercise less control over a contractor than you would your own employee. I saw a post above saying GS workers can't be fired and the government can't pay talented people enough -- I'd be tempted to take the "can't be fired" with a grain of salt given most /.'er's political leanings, but I could be wrong. Hiring contractors to work on sensitive material doesn't make too much sense to me. In my IT experience, contractors tend to be much more transient than permanent employees and a whole lot less interested in doing a good job (beyond what it takes to keep getting renewed.)
To me, it would make sense to fire all the contractors, hire FTEs to replace them, and bump up a few salary grades so they can be assigned to techies. That's one thing my current company does right -- the first 2 management ranks out of 4 are assignable to technical people as well, which allows smart people to be compensated for being smart rather than having to go into full blown management-only career paths. You're expected to mentor and supervise, but the political crap gets handled by managers. If government workers really do top out at a low salary, the benefits may not make it worth sticking around. However, with the spectre of offshoring and constant downsizing, I could definitely see the attraction of a very stable job in the next 10 years or so...people have different priorities. Some want to make as much as possible, and others want to do the family thing and have a safe income to fall back on.
Snowden did the right thing because the oversight is not/was not working. I agree that he should be held accountable for his actions, and I'm pretty sure he does also. The concern he had in seeking asylum is that he could not get a fair trial in the US, which I also agree with.
In other words, past where you said "I think Snowden did the morally right thing." there should not have been a "but".
Criminal intent is a prerequisite under the due process clause.
Sorry, the law REQUIRES intent to distribute as the third test of crime.
Here we thought you knew what you are talking about.
and with the new salary pay laws that must go up
Unconstitutional bulk domestic spying is the key to undoing any "Theft of secrets" color of law comments. The US gov/mil cannot hide a from the United States Constitution by invoking a few decades of "secrets".
Whistleblowing and criminal investigation would never work in the US if the gov can just pull "secrets" over any other part of the gov or mil asking legal questions.
So the US is very careful to allow the "secrets" part to drop when discovering legal issues within its gov/mil.
If not US gov/mil/contractors could just quote "security" all day before any US court as a form of total immunity and the US court system would not function.
That is why so much effort is spent hunting whistleblowers and their first contact with the press. "The Most Intriguing Spy Stories From 166 Internal NSA Reports" (May 17 2016)
https://theintercept.com/2016/...
FIRSTFRUIT was the effort to scan the media to find any contact with the press and track whistleblowing efforts.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Well, it was "catch and release" with HRC. I'd personally skin them both.
Just another day in Paradise
Come on, guys. It's just copyright infringement, and he hadn't even distributed.
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I am serious sometimes but I'm not very good at it.