high tech security and talent weak in us govt and military

[jefhatfield]

we all know that clarke, former counter terrorism chief has called the bush administration weak on terrorism and more and more americans are seeing that was probably the case, especially after condi rice's lame testimony

i just read most of a book about how the us govt and military is very ho-hum about computer security and even worse when it comes to getting and retaining IT talent

short of paying IT people their fair share in those publicly funded jobs, how can the govt and military get snapping on this issue which can greatly affect us?

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i once worked for uncle sam in an IT capacity and i got out of there as quickly as possible since i could no longer get a paycheck in such a joke of a job in such a joke of a department which essentially had a pecking order which shut out college graduates and rewarded the least qualified people as a policy

i have a friend who went from being a computer analyst/techie in the navy as a lt. to becoming a civilian working fewer hours for twice the pay in a similar IT job...and no ceiling on bonuses

he certainly was not a fan of the navy as a way of life as an IT person...the military treats IT like a minimal skill which needs very little training...some brass high up who are technophobes must have set policy for the IT needs of the troops...2600 magazine, the hacker quarterly, had an article by a hacker who had served in the us navy as a network administrator...he talked about the woeful training which was two weeks and day one covered the basics such as operating a mouse! there is far too much involved in networking to have complete newbies take on networking two weeks later for our armed forces

when i was at the govt., someone high up once locked many of our computers in a safe room at DoD and then somebody lost the keys...it was four months before they were able to retrieve them, or felt the need to actually get off their butts and do something...but by the time the keys were found and the computers were retrieved, the whole operation was kicked out of the rented office building it was in because someone at HQ in some dept in virginia didn't pay the rent for a long time...stories like these go on forever in the govt and military, and not just in the IT jobs...i only thought this form of ineptitude was a product of a socialist communist state with a huge, corrupt central government ;)

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but then higher pay, especially equal pay to the private sector, may be the only way to attract IT talent to the government gs salary ranks and the ranks of the military

visual basic magazie puts out an annual salary survey *among many others, and it's a real eye opener for any computer student considering a job in the public sector (low pay) vs the often high pay of the private sector

where i live in silicon valley it is not too uncommon to see very young, non college grads make salaries higher than a military general or government gs-15 (the highest civil service rank)

[jefhatfield]

we all know terrorists can attack us with bombs, nukes, chemical, and biological weapons

but what the press rarely talk about is cyberattacks on our government and military computer structure

and without even some talent in the federal, local governments, and the military ranks, our nation's large infrastructure computers are vulnerable...especially to terrorists

while W is spending over 100 billion in iraq, who are not related directly to terrorism or even at all, our govt and military IT folk are getting paid half or even a third of what they are really worth

and as security tightens around airports, bridges, govt buildings, and military installations, our infrastructure computers will be the only thing left unprotected

so where do you think al qaeda (or other terrorists) will strike then?

[zimv20]

but what the press rarely talk about is cyberattacks on our government and military computer structure

until the bush administration receives a note from UBL detailing exactly how, where and when such an attack will take place...


and without even some talent in the federal, local governments, and the military ranks, our nation's large infrastructure computers are vulnerable...especially to terrorists
part of dick clarke's testimony covered the fact that he wanted to leave his post (due to inaction by the bush adminstration) and move to counter-cyberterrorism. that move was supposed to take place in sept 01. i don't know if he ever made that move.