Slashdot Mirror
NSA's Top Talent is Leaving Because of Low Pay, Slumping Morale and Unpopular Reorganization (washingtonpost.com)
Ellen Nakashima and Aaron Gregg, reporting for the Washington Post: The National Security Agency is losing its top talent at a worrisome rate as highly skilled personnel, some disillusioned with the spy service's leadership and an unpopular reorganization, take higher-paying, more flexible jobs in the private sector (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source). Since 2015, the NSA has lost several hundred hackers, engineers and data scientists, according to current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The potential impact on national security is significant, they said. Headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland, the NSA employs a civilian workforce of about 21,000 there and is the largest producer of intelligence among the nation's 17 spy agencies. The people who have left were responsible for collecting and analyzing the intelligence that goes into the president's daily briefing. Their work also included monitoring a broad array of subjects including the Islamic State, Russian and North Korean hackers, and analyzing the intentions of foreign governments, and they were responsible for protecting the classified networks that carry such sensitive information.
One way they can solve this is the same way as NATO, make them tax exempt on income tax it can help level the field with private pay.
these guys can clear $500k/yr working for Wallstreet. It's no wonder they don't want to settle for $140k/yr working for Uncle Sam. Having their Boss call them out for being part of the "Deep State" conspiracy is just a dingleberry on that shit cake.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
. . . .among her complaints were being pigeonholed (i.e. if you were good at a particular thing, they want you to concentrate on that thing, instead of broadening one's skill base), promotions were glacial (she had her Masters and STILL was a GS-9-equivalent), and the pay is abysmal, compared to their peers in the private sector.
On the other hand, 6 years experience out of undergrad, plus a Masters, and she wanted 300+K. You're not going to get that ANYWHERE in Club Feb. . . .
A quick check reveals that there are approximately 12,989 federal employees making salary more than the VP, in fact.
Virtually all work for the VA and are medical officers, doctors, or dentists. Many are employed by NIH as medical officers. A few by the military as, you may have guessed, medical officers, and a stray here and there by the FDIC, SEC, etc.Six federal employees make $400,000 or more. I do not include awards, which boost pay, but we're talking salary here.
Mind you, 13,000 employees in the US government is a relatively minuscule sample. You're not out earning the VP even for typical agency executive positions. But for doctors you have to compete, since asking a skilled MD to take an 80% pay cut isn't realistic, and a variety of skilled workers such as attorneys or financial experts likewise.
I'm not yet as concerned about the NSA being unable to retain experienced talent as I ought to be, because the mission of the NSA has been so perverted that a certain level of incompetence is appealing. But selective incompetence is what I would like, and that doesn't work either.
Time to restrain the surveillance state. A valuable but appropriate mission might attract good candidates. Restraining the self-righteous or over zealous might be part of the impetus for this exodus...
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
There is so much truth to this, 10x is high, more like 3-4x when the full burdened costs are taken into account. I used to manage the interop matrix and upgrade SOP for a generic comms truck. There were like 200 of these trucks floating around and it took a couple days to upgrade and PM the equipment. It was literally me another guy and 2-5 interns, depending on the time of the year. Some weeks we worked more other weeks we worked less to make up for the extra, but we never missed a deadline and getting done way early didn't really matter as a soldier had to come pick up the truck and drive it who knows where and they operate on soldier schedules. The subbed this out to some rinky dink contractor up the street. When I saw the contract I was shocked. Not just because of the price, but the division of labor. We kept the task of managing the interop matrix and the SOP and had to train them on SOP changes. We also had to do about 1 out of 3 trucks because with the amount of equipment something needed SOP mods. We went from never missing a deadline to missing almost every deadline, because the truck would come to us, then be loaded on another truck, then driven to the contractor, the when complete, loaded back up on a truck, driven back, and unloaded.
Net net, the decided that it was to costly, so they were going to sub the entire project out to yet another contractor whom I happen to be talking to about another job. I got a more then 2x pay bump, and ended up taking over all the work I used to do. I got a full time helper, and some interns, all making at least 2x what we made before. We had that contract for over 10 years until the base closed. With that contract cost they easily could have paid everyone's salaries with max step and grade increases, and all my other benefits for my entire career and retirement.
Political colouration, etc. aside (which is really just pettiness... literally classing billions of people as "one of those two types of people"), how do intelligent people work in blind obedience to service to their nation?
I think the answer is, they buy into the propaganda and the myth of what America is and stands for. They basically believe the reasons we are given for why we go to war. They think that while the US may occasionally behave badly at home or abroad, it is generally a good nation that tries to live up to its ideals.
Personally, I agree with Gen. Butler's view that war is a racket, waged to make money for the corporations involved, extend American power and influence, and to make the world safe for American business. I would never work for the military or intelligence industries, because I do not share their perspectives and values. But for those who take the world at face value, and generally don't look too deeply into what is going on and why, it can be an attractive option.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
"moral" or "morale"?
When you meet a guy who goes into the army because he failed school, sure, that's a good option for him... job security, a decent amount of respect and professionalism, transferable skills. It makes sense. But when you meet someone who obviously has a brain and would have been successful even if they hadn't chosen to be a high-ranking officer, you have to wonder what their motivation is. I've never really got to the bottom of it because those people I've met like that are quite cagey and tend to hide behind some argument about "service to the country" and so on.
You are the people fake news is written for. There is a world of information available to you, but you only want to hear what is slanted for you. I'll give it a shot since you haven't gotten to the bottom of it - the words will be wasted, but you've provoked my moral outrage.
I enlisted in the US Army in 1998; among different scholarships I had a full four-year scholarship to Michigan State. I opted to join the army instead. I enlisted for the maximum enlistment (six years) because of my intent to make a lifetime in service to trying to make the world a better place - to do my part to see that kids didn't grow up like I did. I joined the infantry - 11B. My ASVAB scores were phenomenal - I could have done anything.
I didn't join for guns, or for a uniform, or for failing school - I joined because I wanted to help - to be a part of something with a noble cause - protecting America, bringing peace to war torn parts of the world. Patriotism is a real thing. Young men committed suicide when they were denied entry to service during World War 2. This country's administration, its choices, and treatment of its citizens might not be worthy of such loyalty, but infantrymen enforce the last 300 meters of foreign policy; they don't make it.
Two years into my enlistment, I was much...much more worldly. I was regretting having turned down college because I'd met so many retired infantry NCOs serving food in mess halls and defacs with the same story: "I've been infantry for 30 years, retired, and I don't have any useful life skills in the civilian world, so now I serve food." That's a terrifying future for a 20 year old. In theory, the military pays for 75% of the schooling costs for classes you take in service, but trying to go to college while being a soldier isn't very plausible. At least for an infantryman.
Three of the officers in my company were West Point graduates (USMA). I was young, impressionable, and that's what I wanted to look like when I grew up. Officers could do more; help more - I wanted that. I wrote a letter to my senator, my congressman, the President - I went up my chain of command and got a letter of recommendation from my battalion commander; paired with the nomination of my Senator (and I had a powerful story to tell about overcoming adversity), I got into West Point.
My army career ended up taking me into the world of Information Assurance - and here I'm going to get hazy - but I helped develop and test zero day exploits, develop cyber policy for the army - did some really interesting things. I still have my "I am the Fed" T-Shirt from one of the DefCons I went to when I got targeted in the "Spot the Fed" game. In the last decade, there's been lots of feds, so I don't know if they even play it anymore.
I have a thousand stories of helping people - because its the right thing to do.
Patriotism is real. It exists for people of all backgrounds and all educations. People make choices beyond their self interest - philanthropy is a word. If you truly discard that story and look for ulterior motive, its because you have self-imposed blinders and earplugs and refuse to hear or see anything you don't already believe - *YOU* have an ulterior motive.
...Trump is calling them liars and unamerican on a daily basis...
Are they not liars? Have they not lied to the American public and kept secrets from the very public they ostensibly serve?
Is it not un-American to spy on everyone at all times and assist in undermining the liberty of the American people?
Our forefathers fought wars over less.