The FBI Wants To Hire Young Tech Savants, Has No Idea How To Attract Them
from the nearly-a-half-century-of-image-problems-not-helping dept
The FBI is suffering from an image problem. Its boss has spent a great deal of time arguing against protecting phone owners from thieves and malicious hackers. Its anti-terrorism program seems to be focused on pushing vulnerable people into doing things they'd never do on their own. And it has, along with the NSA, seen whatever street cred it might have had stripped away by leaked documents, litigation, and the realization that all Americans and their rights are subject to the agency's chants of "national security."
In order for an agency to keep up with the hacking Joneses, it needs periodic injections of new blood. The problem is, the only decently-skilled hackers the FBI can apparently press into service are those it's arrested. It's having a difficult time attracting new hires that honestly want to use their skills in the ways the FBI would like to deploy them.
So, the FBI is trying to alter its stance on hiring, as well as the public's perception of the agency. And, of course, it's failing to do so because it's allowing Jim "Nerd Harder" Comey to act as spokesperson for the FBI's youth movement. After being informed by his daughter that the FBI = "The Man," Comey is using this dad anecdote to lead into a series of dad jokes that seem better suited for attracting people like him, rather than the people his agency actually needs.
His daughter was right, he said. But the agency is trying to get more hip to attract recruits who will help the agency keep pace with a digital landscape in constant flux, according to Comey.
"We’re working very hard inside the FBI to be a whole lot cooler than you may think we are," he said during his remarks at a Symantec Government Symposium this week.
The agency hasn't added "beanbags and granola and a lot of whiteboards" — stereotypical hallmarks of West Coast start-up culture — at least not yet, Comey said.
And much dad LOL-ing ensued. Comey's joke doesn't work -- at least not in terms of convincing people the agency is "hip" enough for youngsters -- because it relies heavily on an out-of-touch person's stereotype of what a "hip" tech company's campus might look like. The fact that the agency already doesn't use "a lot of whiteboards" suggests it is more than just a few years removed from hipness. It suggests the agency is several decades behind, presumably relying on overhead projectors and chalkboards to present info to agents.
While the FBI has occasionally discussed relaxing hiring standards in order to attract fresh blood, it will never relax them to the point needed. The FBI wants young hackers to help develop its tech tools, but it expects them to have the same sort of background as its field agents: free from drug use, criminal activity, and presumably interested in pursuing a degree in criminal law during their spare time.
If the FBI can't find the hires it needs, it will continue to slide into tech irrelevance. But it created this downhill slope itself. It's going to be impossible to attract new talent when the unspoken part of Comey's pitch is that this talent will be used to punch holes in encryption and strip internet users of their anonymity. It's "us vs. them" all over again, but Comey thinks he can get hackers to switch sides by promising them beanbags and granola at some point in the future.
The problem is that Comey appears to be relying on jingoism and patriotism to make up for the concessions he's unwilling to make. But it's been a long time since younger generations felt a moral obligation to serve their country -- something that headed downhill quickly with the Vietnam War draft and the War on Drugs that followed shortly thereafter. Around this same time, the FBI's dirty laundry was being aired, showing it routinely engaged in pervasive surveillance and civil rights violations by targeting anyone who wasn't a straight, white, Protestant male who routinely voted Republican.
Comey isn't just working against recent revelations. He's working against more than 40 years of "The Man" viewing younger generations and countercultural activity as threats or investigative targets, rather than just healthy parts of a nation that will always be engaged in growing pains.
It's not even clear that Comey actually wants to make the FBI more attractive to the tech talent it needs. It looks more as though he just wants to give that impression, rather than make the sort of necessary cultural changes within his agency that might actually attract private sector talent. If they're ever going to buy in, the public needs to see actions, rather than more words. The FBI wants top tech talent, but so far, it's only willing to send out its worst possible selection for "Youth Ambassador" to spread the word.
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Filed Under: coders, encryption, fbi, going dark, tech
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Re:
REAL Patriots are willing to DESTROY the constitution in order to SAVE the constitution!
And War is peace!
Also, in America we destroyed the Village in order to save the village!
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Pick your two most hated people in history an imagine that it was a world war with those two vs each other.
A nuked world shockingly looks like a good proposition.
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"We like 'em skilled but stupid."
Knowledgeable in a very narrow way(just enough to do the job) but utterly lacking any form of curiosity or ability to think for themselves. Flexible and able to grow their skill-set to keep up with the adapting field they're hired for but obedient enough to never question or think about what they're told or the orders they're given.
And he wonders why they're having trouble finding people that are both qualified and willing to work for the agency...
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Proven Resourcing Strategies
Why isn't this plain as day? No out-of-box thinking required here.
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Re: Proven Resourcing Strategies
Government employees cannot, by definition, be H1-B holders. They must at least be green card holders. (This applies to any government agency, no matter what they do.) I'm pretty sure most governments worldwide have such a requirement.
(And contracting won't work either; you can contract out IT work, but for actual law enforcement, most jobs are considered "inherently governmental" and must be filled by actual government employees. The same is true for jobs involving policy, budget, etc.)
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Re: Re: Proven Resourcing Strategies
The FBI clearly has no legal limits -- they can do as they please, and generally do.
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Re: Re: Proven Resourcing Strategies
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The FBI and other TLAs brought this on
The very people they want to attract are against violating the constitution and turning the US into a police state. It's not a secret that the FBI and other TLAs objectives are not the same.
These young professionals are likely to be deeply against the FBI's actions. The mention of the name Aaron Swartz conjures up memories of the FBI's role in that.
Finally it is insulting to professional people to ask the impossible, of following contradictory goals and doing the impossible. Assignment: create a secure system that is insecure when we want it to be, but where the security can never be compromised. Good luck with such an assignment! And if you don't believe in this magical fairy dust you are un-American and not patriotic.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Sep 8th, 2016 @ 11:24am
If it works in movies why wouldn't it work in reality?
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There is a way
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Poindexter in the 90's
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Re: Poindexter in the 90's
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FBI has always projected tech incompetence
However, you have to wonder. Given the FBI's Hoover DNA, maybe they're bluffing, faking it, like Unit 2702 in The Cryptonomicon. I know, never assume malice where incompetence can explain, and there's plenty of incompetence to go around, but still... the FBI lies, or at least tells the least untruthful story.
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Re: FBI has always projected tech incompetence
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Re: bell bottoms
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They must be doing something wrong
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Really??
How many (companies) say "Get a warrant" who are not legally obliged to provide information under penalty of law now, let alone in a year or two.
How many Jurors, more than I hope for I suspect, refuse to convict in Federal Court, how many will there be in a year or two? More I hope when government over-reach and overcharging seems clear.
.GOV requires the consent of the governed. It is up to us to stop them when they must be stopped.
Don't be stooped, vote your conscience, at work, in the jury room, and the polls.
refuse to obey
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Tech savants are tricky...
Now make no mistake: if they chose to be a career criminal, they can work in a consistent frame. But the FBI constantly pretends to perform legalized operations, and the obvious mismatch is just going to be dissatisfactory.
Also, bona fide career criminals tend to get better pay.
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Re: Tech savants are tricky...
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Re: Tech savants are tricky...
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Re: Re: Tech savants are tricky...
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Yes, Yes that is exactly the people they want.
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Chalkboards probably green
use mimeograph.
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"Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
The 'problem' the FBI faces is that they've essentially got two groups, both of them with problems.
White Hats
This groups has the desired skills and the clean criminal record, but they are also the most likely to object to the FBI's tactics and stances towards the public. Convincing anyone from this group that the decades of hostility towards the public the FBI has and continues to display is just a 'minor misunderstanding' is going to be an uphill battle to put it lightly.
Black Hats
This group has the skills the FBI is looking for along with the contempt for the public and/or the ability to not care what happens to the public so long as the FBI's short-term goals are met, but they are also likely to have a criminal record disqualifying them from working at the FBI(which is weird really, with how the FBI operates you think they'd want people with career criminal mindsets).
The people with the skills and clean records aren't likely to want to work with/for the FBI due to their incredibly toxic image, well earned over the course of the agency's history, while those that have the skills and are willing to overlook said history are also likely to have criminal records that disqualify them from being hired.
The FBI has a problem alright, and it's entirely it's own fault.
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Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
Anonymous is the closest thing to white hats and that is pretty questionable.
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Re: Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
I'm not saying that Anonymous consists of primarily people with criminal records, but their gimmick is only doing things they find funny. Anonymous might not be a group of black hats, but it's sure as hell not white.
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Re: Re: Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
Anyway, what's wrong with grey?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
Anonymous has exposed dirty rot before like Scientology, but it's more of a result from happy coincidence than intrinsic altruism.
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"The problem didn't exist until you told us about it!"
With such a hostile reception towards white hats the black hats have free reign, and more and more the first time a company will learn about a vulnerability in their product/site/service is when someone uses it against them, instead of when some well meaning person finds it and tells them about it.
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Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
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Re: Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
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Re: Re: Re: "Have you tried NOT being utterly contemptuous of the public and it's rights and safety?"
And if the state can't be held accountable regardless of how heinous its acts are, why wouldn't they?
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Shut it Down!
The problem FBI has with wanting to hire young tech savants is they are capable of seeing through the tissue paper thin lies J Edgar Comey and his predecessors dispense on a daily basis.
Once you get past the window dressing facade employed as cover by political hacks and government propagandists FBI has absolutely nothing to do with liberty and justice.
FBI's entire raison d'etre since it's inception in 1908 is defending the status quo at all costs.
If young tech savants are really interested in helping American's cast off the repressive/criminal/unconstitutional yoke of the US government they would work to shut down and expose the unaccountable tyrants infesting the Capitol.
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Re: Shut it Down!
Whoo now. That is not what the FBI's politician overlords and their corporate masters want at all. But you, you're obviously some type of subversive that must be tracked and handled at all costs.
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Growing up...
All the white hats are waiting.....
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They could just outsource IT work to Booz Allen Hamilton like the NSA does...
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Re: I'd go work for them
so they can never hire anyone that is ethical.. it's gonna be and is already an "Interesting time" stupid Chinese better than Nostradamus.
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Booz Allen probably got a black eye over Snowden.
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Re: Re: truncation madness
in any case Booz Allen didn't get even a reprimand, they are still one of the biggest contractors , like black water or bandi bush when you know the people at the top you will never be held accountable.
Real life is just like high school.
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Drug Testing
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Re: Drug Testing
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Re: Drug Testing
(valid experimentation requires many trials !)
AND what, um, all these *other* people were told, was that as long as you admitted to _____ , and indicated it was past tense-ish, then it would not be a factor in being denied clearance... (i sure wasn't)
now, this was NOT for a direct gummint job, or the feebs, just a subcontractor; but not sure if the same might not apply to a some extent in the USG at large...
*kind of* the point is, if you have confessed or it is out in the open that you use(d) ______, then that supposedly inoculates you from being blackmailed by some nefarious third party who knows you use(d) _______...
of course, that is presuming a valid interest in any person's drug use, which i don't believe there is (aside from a few obvious exceptions, like airline pilots; in that case, i want to make sure my pilots ARE on cocaine, so i know they will have the alertness that is paramount in flying !)...
as a basic 'libertarian' belief: it is MY BODY, and I and I ALONE control it and what i want to put in it for whatever reasons i want, or no reason at all...
IF that were so (which it isn't, The State controls my body), then essentially there would be no 'illegal' substances/drugs... oops, there goes the stigma of illegality, jail, etc... oops, there goes the reason for many moral scolds to live in order to make others suffer by legislating morality... oops, there goes the unemployability of millions... oops, there goes the black market which undergirds the banksters with laundering drug monies...
ohhhhh...
ohhhhh, *now* i get why The They (tm) don't want it legalized...
huh...
that makes perverted sense...
The Bastards ! ! !
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Re: Re: Drug Testing
The problem is none of these people know what "Outsiders" look like they keep thinking it's american citizens while ignoring Saudis, Afghanis, Chechens, turks and other radical islamist.
no amount of letting pot heads into that system will help, you cannot find the thing your looking for if you don't know what it is. sorry for enphesis PERIOD...
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Then, two months later, I get t-boned in an intersection, the car nearly ramming my two year old daughter.100% not my fault.
Yeah-but maybe what was even more cool, AND coincidental, and 'random', was that a Minneapolis police supervisor just 'happened'to be toodling by 30 seconds in.
He spent the whole time chatting up the woman who hit me, never once asked about my daughter. Not. Once. Repeat: that Minneapolis cop never once asked if my two year old daughter who just got t-boned at 25 mph by an SUV-that Minneapols cop never once asked if the child was injured.
And that noble specimen of the law was overheard by multiple witnesses telling that woman 'you'll need a GOOD lawyer for this. I can refer you.' He pent some 20 minutes at the scene, talked to us for less than 2 minutes.
Yup. They really do cause accidents, and ruin lives-or try to.
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Categorical imperative
In other words, the END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS. And within that framework, the FBI is right now, a band of bandits, criminals, and outlaws.
And you don't want to work for organized crime.
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Re: Categorical imperative
This is why IP law is almost all nonsense.
Sticks and stones will break my bones.. there are real situations where power sociologically has real breaking bones effects and one of those is IP law it's harmful to real humans.
As to weather the ends justify the means, it always depends on what the ends are, and in this case it is harming the majority of people in arbitrary ways to benefit those that already have the most you know Communism American style.
--steal from the poor give to the rich, stupid bitch.
---denise moore
----denise moore.
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We really don't care how "cool" your institution is. We don't care if it's hip or trendy or whatever buzzword marketing came up with.
Don't hide behind closed walls and questionable tactics. Stop the sneaking, the lying and the stupidity. Stop trying to be an anti-terrorist agency (we have enough of those already) manufacturing plots and get back to real work.
Instead, perhaps try being "ethical". Or virtueous. Be open and honest.
Then maybe we'd work for you.
- Younger People
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what the nation needs is a whole bunch of snowdens joining up with the govt to keep an eye on those peckerheads before they ruin it for the rest of us.
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Hell they even arrested some of their OWN staff for developing software for the FBI just so they wouldn't have to pay them...............
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Hip to Cool
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China is known for gang stalking people who make comments on Weibo, and sends 'the Great Cannon' after them. Israel has us all illegally hacked and compromised already (Thanks, NSA! And Dianne Frankenstein, et al) and Russia is only a threat to Hillary.
Or just plain outsourcing it would open a new dialogue with a pre-qualified candidate pool that Comey has worked so hard to outfiend.
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