7 ms·

I've worked directly with people in the IC, and I have friends who've worked (or currently work) at various government agencies.

• throwaway76025 9y ago
  Did they convey those summaries to you? If so, is it accurate to say that shtf post-Snowden, and hasn’t recovered? You could be right, so I take it back, but I’ve heard there is some degree of strife and paranoia, but not general chaos as may be perceived.
  • brndnmtthws 9y ago
    It's mostly anecdotes and personal experience. I think that data on salaries, etc, is mostly public too, so you can probably see for yourself that they aren't competitive with SV or Wall St.
    • throwaway76025 9y ago
      Discussed here recently, there’s a path from public to private sector that does serve the need to retain talent, to some degree. Also, to say they are mostly corrupt or incompetent seems possibly too much of a broad stroke that is based on anecdotes. I don’t believe Snowden, for instance, ever suggested either of those are true — did he? Finally, if this is your assessment, your standard may be unusually high. Maybe your peers, many not quite as good as you, are actually quite skilled? Just a hunch, could be wrong.
      • brndnmtthws 9y ago
        Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any person or organization which contributes, aids, or abets in spying on individuals for political reasons is entirely corrupt in my opinion. Aside from some research that the NSA has contributed to humanity, they have done little good based on the evidence I've seen.
        • 34b907j 9y ago
          Is spying on people for profit and then sharing that data with various governments in exchange for political favors a morally sound pursuit? I was about to add "pot, meet kettle", but this is more of a "pot, meet handle" situation.
• panzagl 9y ago
  How does SF keep from drowning in all the special snowflakes there?