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I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows. Imagine knowing this and not being able to get e

I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows. Imagine knowing this and not being able to get emotional support from your friends and family.

YesThatTom2 1mo ago
(Replying to my own post). Also, it’s gotta be mentally draining to be told by the president they have to win but also always let Russian attacks though. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-orders-halt-offensive-cyber-operations-rcna194435 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/defens...
- rbanffy 1mo ago
  Presidents come and go and, hopefully, this one will be held accountable.
  - squidbeak 1mo ago
    Just as important, the US will need to figure out exactly what strings Putin's managed to attach to Trump - kompromat? threats? bribes? elaborate man management? something else? - or this vulnerability could be exploited again.
    - lesuorac 1mo ago
      Idk maybe there is something nefarious but afaik Putin's always been cordial with Trump as well as let him do various investments in Russia. I'm not sure there's much reason for Trump to alienate his friend; if you've ever see Trump's staff meetings you'll know how much cordiality is important to him.
    - estearum 1mo ago
      It's almost certainly just that Trump is a fundamentally fragile, insecure man. He has proven over and over that he will happily fellate (proverbially speaking) any man who says nice things about him, and at least refrain from assaulting most women who say nice things too. Putin (and everyone else) knows this.
    - inigyou 1mo ago
      None. No vulnerability. The population and the RNC just voted for a known Russian asset for some reason.
      - SubiculumCode 1mo ago
        Our vulnerability is an open internet that includes Russia, leaving our populace completely open to Russian influence campaigns of micro targeted propaganda, recruitment, and incitement.
        analognoise 1mo ago
        I like how the “Chinese propaganda” against datacenters was found to be mostly a collection of facts. While Russian propaganda is more clumsy and emotional, we’ve produced such an unequal society with such low regular education and outright corruption that people fall for it. That says something negative about US, not them. If we admit our system cant even survive an open internet, it should be dismantled or reformed rather than free exchange closed.
        SubiculumCode 1mo ago
        Education would blunt, but not eliminate the threat of nation-state funded micro targeted influence campaigns. Moreover, it would take years, and we have the problem now. In terms of data center propaganda and fact. Both are true. China is funding anti data center sentiment for geopolitical power, while at the same time, there are legitimate reasons for people to not like/ or fear AI. The problem is we (the U.S.) have to solve both. We cannot let China have significantly better AI models than we have because that is a real national security threat, while AI also threatens potential mass destruction dangers and an avenue of utter concentration of wealth, etc
        analognoise 1mo ago
        I’m not buying the “AI security threat”, and I don’t really care if the best models are open source - and Chinese. If everyone can buy enough hardware to run the best models, what’s the threat? The same tired arguments as banning books on encryption or chemistry? I see the crazed AI investment as worthless financial gambling, a house of cards that will eventually crumble, and the argument that “we need to fund AI” really is “your tax dollars should bail out our financial mistake, because security”. It’s nonsense all the way down. Covid showed we didn’t even manufacture basic drugs in the country anymore, and were openly threatening our biggest/best/longest allies (Canada, Mexico, NATO). AI is so far down the security list as to make it noise, compared to our recent missteps.
    - TheOtherHobbes 1mo ago
      All of the above, plus death threats. Trump isn't the weakness. The weakness is the almost complete collapse of the checks and balances around the president. If those were in place Trump would have been in prison by the end of 2021 at the very latest. The DOJ, the military, both houses, the AIPAC wing of the Democrats, and corporate media are all fully captured. So are "independent" organisations like the NRA. The Supreme Court is mostly captured. The lower levels of the judiciary are still holding out, but have limited enforcement ability without the DOJ.
      - noir_lord 1mo ago
        It's why I don't see the US making the course correction it actually needs - realistically the "best" feasible outcome is that a presidential election is held and a business as usual democrat is elected who will immediately not address any of the problems for whatever reason (part of the system/paid by the same people pick one). Candidates come and go but the system endures and it is the system that is rotten at every level all the way down to the core. Then 4-8 years later the GOP candidate wins subservient to the same interests as Trump and the US Gov is back there again. Not really sure what the outcome is for the US at this point, things will have to get a great deal worse before enough Americans decide this is unacceptable but that state can last years/decades before the dam breaks.
        SubiculumCode 1mo ago
        The winning Presidential campaign message would be this: I promise to work to reduce the power of the Presidency via supporting and campaigning for legislation and Constitutional amendments. It is time for Congress to once again be ascendent like it was in the first century of our great Republic. We need a G. Washington, who refused more power than he was offered, setting precedents and expectations.
        don_esteban 1mo ago
        No, that is your wishful thinking. Based on recent years and the power of personalized AI influence campaigns, the winning Presidential campaign message (after 4 years of 'change nothing substantial Democrat' would most likely be 'I need real, full (silently: fascist) power, to finally drain the swamp'.
    - oneshtein 1mo ago
      Epstein files?
    - AngryData 1mo ago
      I think Trump is just that naturally that stupid and always has been.
  - aeortiz 1mo ago
    I'm an agnostic, but when I read about what he does, it makes me devoutly wish that hell exists. He has made countless people's lives hell on earth, and he doesn't care at all. No one is holding him accountable in this life: it's inconvenient for those in power.
    - Loquebantur 1mo ago
      It's a systemic issue, not due to one man. What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of inconvenient information is very real. The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps". The assumption, those actions were "justified" somehow is entirely baseless: there is no transparency and no effective oversight. What is supposedly being kept secret there might simply be illegal corruption or embarrassing and inconvenient to those in power.
      - TFNA 1mo ago
        Almost every discussion here on HN about those "deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research" has been about how, when you actually dig into the data, they have been very statistically likely.
      - andrewflnr 1mo ago
        There are long standing systemic issues, and then there's also one man making things dramatically worse in new, stupider ways.
      - mikestorrent 1mo ago
        Calling things "systemic" is unfortunately often just a way of offloading the problem into the pile of Things We Can't Fix. It removes individual accountability, in an era where we are increasingly able to assess the effect an influential individual actually has - because their dialogue is public and recorded, and the consequences of that can be studied. I think there are plenty of individual men who are absolutely responsible for things becoming worse, and we do the world no favours by helping them shrug the burden of their actions.
  - SubiculumCode 1mo ago
    Not every nation survives a tyrant by the virtue of patience.
    - DivingForGold 1mo ago
      Especially in Russia...
  - MBCook 1mo ago
    You’re kidding right?
  - iso1631 1mo ago
    This was wasn't after January 2021, and hasn't been during his second term. There are methods to hold presidents accountable, there are institutions to prevent the harm from happening. These have failed.
  - epolanski 1mo ago
    Yeah, January 2021 says no.
  - dboreham 1mo ago
    There may eventually be a Nuremberg II for the henchmen but the ship has sailed on bringing the dear leader to justice.
- manoDev 1mo ago
  The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent. Causing and sustaining friction everywhere is aligned with this policy. This is the result of a shift of power in the US politics, from the global financial capital of the last decades back to the military and industrial sector.
  - Forgeties79 1mo ago
    > The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent. Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis? A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”?
    - serf 1mo ago
      Well yeah, probably -- during this self made crisis oil prices in the US are some of the most well controlled. Destabilizing everywhere else is a potential step taken toward achieving continental superiority in certain regards. ( not a GOOD step, mind you)
      - cosmicgadget 1mo ago
        I choose to believe the unhinged rants about Iran are genuine and that he expected Venezuela and got Vietnam.
    - manoDev 1mo ago
      > Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis? Yes. Oil price hurts China industrial capacity more than the US economy. Oil companies made a $93 billion profit amid the war [1]. The US is a net oil exporter, while China halved their oil imports [2]. ExxonMobil and Chevron are US-incorporated. TotalEnergies (French) BP (UK), Shell (UK) also have significant US-based ownership (~50%, ~25% and ~25% respectively), including BlackRock, Vanguard, mutual funds, and US pension funds. > A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”? 1. Venezuela was under embargo and selling oil to China. The Nicolas Maduro hijack and the country's political realignment with US will have the double effect of negating oil to China and securing large nearby reserves. 2. Argentina has a Trump-aligned president, who is vocal about undermining the Mercosul agreement and is currently in diplomatic attrition with Brazil. Recently signed a $20 billion loan from FMI. 3. Paraguay signed a treaty for a US forward operation base in their territory. The Paraguay border is home to a large hydroelectric, a major power source for 3 countries: Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. 4. Colombia has a new Trump aligned president. It's a young president with no political background. The US State Department announced a $1 billion assistance upon his election for military investment. 5. Peru’s new president Keiko Fujimori is Trump-aligned. 6. Chile’s new president Jose Antonio Kast is Trump-aligned. 7. US retaliated against the prosecution of former Trump-aligned Brazil president for attempted coup by announcing an 50% emergency tariff (which didn't hold legally), then crafting a Section 301 investigation to justify a 25% tariff in July 2026. 8. US is giving asylum to the former president's son, who is vocal on social media about defending the US tariffs as retaliation, defends military intervention of the US in Brazil, as well as stating (but without proof) that Brazilian polls are rigged – not the one his father ran and won, apparently. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/aug/04/revealed-major-oil-firms-make-93bn-profits-amid-war-and-climate-crisis https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/aug... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1uxdx8p/china_is_only_importing_half_of_the_crude_oil_vs/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1uxdx8p/chin...
- exe34 1mo ago
  The US and Russia are allies.
  - aetch 1mo ago
    No, despite what the conservatives and Fox News say, we are not
    - PunchyHamster 1mo ago
      Does US know it ? Coz it certainly acts like one for most part of the war
    - exe34 1mo ago
      In what sense? Removing the embargo on russian oil? Inviting the gremlin from the kremlin to Alaska (of all places!) and rolling out the red carpet?
- dismalaf 1mo ago
  > always let Russian attacks though The article doesn't say anything of the sort. Literally just said to put a halt on OFFENSIVE operations. If I were to guess I'd say it was an overly ambitious negotiation tactic. Also, that was a year and a half ago. The current status quo is that Ukraine is producing more drones than Russia can deal with, bombing Russian targets daily and the US-Ukraine relationship is much closer, with Ukraine sharing drone technology and intel with the US.
cookiengineer 1mo ago
There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. Starts with simple stuff like package rerouting, then goes on to gathering intel about places, people, putting in USB flash drives to their laptops, theft, death threats, arsony, and actual murder. Each step of the way the kids get deeper into trouble because they have to prove that they have done it for the payout, making photos of themselves... which gives the other end increasingly more doxxing material on them. It's a real problem, and they use the luckystrike branch also to go after witnesses in big lawsuit cases, which then fall off due to all witnesses accidentally dying under seemingly random causes.
- Loquebantur 1mo ago
  What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of information is very real. The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps".
  - XorNot 1mo ago
    You have absolutely no information on whether this is probable or likely, and the recent news on scientists was a conspiracy theory powered as usual by a cherry picking facts and exaggerating biographies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...
  - SubiculumCode 1mo ago
    If so, then the family members of the president are in danger!
  - quickthrowman 1mo ago
    > The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it The pattern being that the deaths and disappearances among people with top secret clearances is lower than the national average would suggest. > According to science writer Mick West, more than 700,000 people work in top-secret-cleared positions in the U.S. aerospace and nuclear sectors. When viewed against existing mortality rates and causes, this would suggest around 250 persons in the industry would normally succumb to homicides and suicides over the time-period during which the 10 or 11 alleged "missing scientists" had died or disappeared, with thousands more dying of natural causes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...
salemh 1mo ago
Unjust wars and enabling genocide is probably the more likely factor here, realizing there is no honor in defending these things overseas. This has been an issue for decades: overseas, not knowing 'why' Americans are dying for nothing, and, the veterans being treated as refuse when they return. Edit: that may have come across too callous. The crushing of ones consciesness for unjust foreign wars, protecting a global network of the worst crimes (Epstn files and the international group within it, operating under the umbrella protection network of the US vis a vis NATO). The most immoral army in the world, the IDF, also has a very high suicide rate - ones conscience cannot be destroyed, it can only be atrophied and dulled, and then depression hunts you.
cushychicken 1mo ago
Used to work in this field. You're correct: not being able to talk about it is the worst part. This is equally true of successes as well as challenges. I did some cool, very impactful stuff in that job. I will go to jail for a long, long time if I ever go into detail about it.
- amarcheschi 1mo ago
  What can you say, if anything, without going into detail?
  - lesuorac 1mo ago
    Everybody here is all so small minded. The government has spent centuries doing spycraft and has a budget in the billions.
    - yndoendo 1mo ago
      When you know you can't kill the message, kill the messenger. This is the tactic used when journalist Gary Webb started reporting on the USA involvement with selling crack to Americans so they could fund Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. They did this so well that other news organizations turned on the journalist. I could easily imagine the USA not wanting to patch holes so they have access to the systems and these experts know this.
      - anonymousiam 1mo ago
        The US agency that we entrust with evaluating and recommending our encryption standards is the same one (albeit a different branch) that focuses on breaking encryption. There is an obvious conflict of interest with this arrangement. Many examples of deliberate weakening are documented, especially with the "export approved" stuff that we sell to our allies. This problem goes beyond just encryption, and also involves deliberate data leaking (with plausible deniability). So yes, you don't need to imagine it at all -- the NSA works to create and maintain access to "everything everywhere."
rightbyte 1mo ago
How about that they do bad stuff and feel bad about it? You make it sound like they are taking a bullet or something. Desillusion is probably way worse.
markus_zhang 1mo ago
This thing probably never stops and doesn’t have holidays. I read about Operation Gladio back in the day, which was not a cyber operation, but a preparation of guerrilla operations in case the WP occupied EU. But I got the feeling that the war in darkness (cyber is part of it) is non-stop.
- sph 1mo ago
  WP = Warsaw Pact. Took me a while to decipher, but I get that bytes are expensive these days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
  - gliall_err 1mo ago
    [dead]
kstrauser 1mo ago
This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s still a heavy burden, but you have people who were there telling you that you’re a good person and did the right thing. The Air Force did something shockingly reasonable (according to the newspaper coverage): they require all pilots to attend mandatory counseling sessions. Then there was no sign of weakness or any of that toxic nonsense. “Ugh, guess I have to go talk to the doc today, and I don’t want to, but guess orders are orders.”
- Loquebantur 1mo ago
  [flagged]
  - Barrin92 1mo ago
    >The concentration of deaths is entirely implausibly described as "suicides", The article talks about 19 people. Given the size of those organizations that's statistically elevated but too small a number to descend into conspiracy theories. As the article points out they apparently had internal warnings and studies about lack of mental support for people in signals intelligence and cyber related roles. Given that this cluster of deaths seems to have happened in June/July, the Iran war and how the American government has conducted itself I don't find it surprising there's elevated numbers of suicides. You don't need to be on the frontline, if you're in sigint and involved in that attack on the school that casually blew up 150 girls and probably the stuff we don't know about I wouldn't be surprised people off themselves.
    - Loquebantur 1mo ago
      You supplant your lack of knowledge in statistics with unfounded assumptions and overt bias. The relevant metric here is number of deaths per size of the specified group and per time. You compare to completely different numbers and confabulate entirely unconnected "explanations". These deaths are most likely due to "housecleaning", as I said.
cco 1mo ago
Counterpoint, industry cyber security is so generally weak, if there were actually a secret "huge cold cyber war" on-going, we'd see real world impact. Since we don't, it probably isn't happening.
- nullpoint420 1mo ago
  I mean, isn't that all counter-intelligence? They wouldn't want to be seen?
  - deadbabe 1mo ago
    The entire US powergrid is so vulnerable right now, if there really was a cyber cold war the entire thing could be shut off overnight probably. Given that it's not happening, then it's probably just not a thing.
    - CircuitSeuss 1mo ago
      It’s definitely happening. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories?f%5B0%5D=advisory_type%3A94 https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories?f%... Don’t mistake prepositioning for “not happening.” As you said: “cyber cold war” means there are a lot of incentives not to reveal capabilities or trigger escalation from your adversaries. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa26-097a https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa... Although, that is changing as we continue to escalate. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-fbi-epa-and-us-government-partners-update-warning-iran-affiliated-threat-actors-targeting https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-fbi-epa-and-us-go... If you’re not convinced the threat is real and the cyber warfare is happening, I highly recommend checking out Nocole Perleoth’s To Catch a Thief. S1E7 is especially relevent: Everything Everywhere All at Once. https://www.rubrik.com/lp/to-catch-a-thief-podcast https://www.rubrik.com/lp/to-catch-a-thief-podcast
      - deadbabe 1mo ago
        Where?
beloch 1mo ago
This could be a factor, but there are other things that probably do more to explain the uptick in suicides. 1. There's a new hot war with Iran, a country that has put a large amount of resources into its cyberwarfare capabilities after previous U.S. cyberstrikes (e.g. stuxnet). Iran is likely a lot tougher target than it was ten years ago and that means pressure for members of the U.S.'s cyber command to perform. 2. Computer nerds probably struggle with getting respect from the rest of the military even at the best of times. That just got a lot harder with Hegseth as secretary. 3. The U.S. is likely not targeting just Iran right now. Imagine being called upon to go to work against countries you consider to be allies, like Denmark, Greenland, Canada, Spain, etc..
fryanyway_swe 1mo ago
Regular Cold War people could not disclose anything to their families either...
AlexCoventry 1mo ago
I suspect Hegseth's atavistic attempt to turn the US military back toward a culture of machismo is resulting in misery for anyone who doesn't fit the part, whether they're skilled at their duties or not.
varispeed 1mo ago
How can you fight such fight if the government at highest level is compromised by the enemy - Russia?
aaron695 1mo ago
[dead]
saidnooneever 1mo ago
it is very harsh pressures both professional and personal
jambalaya8 1mo ago
yeah, I can't imagine how stressful.
bijowo1676 1mo ago
or they just got tired of feeding data into Palantir that results in hundreds of civilians being butchered

YesThatTom2 1mo ago

(Replying to my own post). Also, it’s gotta be mentally draining to be told by the president they have to win but also always let Russian attacks though. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-orders-halt-offensive-cyber-operations-rcna194435 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/defens...

rbanffy 1mo ago
Presidents come and go and, hopefully, this one will be held accountable.
- squidbeak 1mo ago
  Just as important, the US will need to figure out exactly what strings Putin's managed to attach to Trump - kompromat? threats? bribes? elaborate man management? something else? - or this vulnerability could be exploited again.
  - lesuorac 1mo ago
    Idk maybe there is something nefarious but afaik Putin's always been cordial with Trump as well as let him do various investments in Russia. I'm not sure there's much reason for Trump to alienate his friend; if you've ever see Trump's staff meetings you'll know how much cordiality is important to him.
  - estearum 1mo ago
    It's almost certainly just that Trump is a fundamentally fragile, insecure man. He has proven over and over that he will happily fellate (proverbially speaking) any man who says nice things about him, and at least refrain from assaulting most women who say nice things too. Putin (and everyone else) knows this.
  - inigyou 1mo ago
    None. No vulnerability. The population and the RNC just voted for a known Russian asset for some reason.
    - SubiculumCode 1mo ago
      Our vulnerability is an open internet that includes Russia, leaving our populace completely open to Russian influence campaigns of micro targeted propaganda, recruitment, and incitement.
      - analognoise 1mo ago
        I like how the “Chinese propaganda” against datacenters was found to be mostly a collection of facts. While Russian propaganda is more clumsy and emotional, we’ve produced such an unequal society with such low regular education and outright corruption that people fall for it. That says something negative about US, not them. If we admit our system cant even survive an open internet, it should be dismantled or reformed rather than free exchange closed.
        SubiculumCode 1mo ago
        Education would blunt, but not eliminate the threat of nation-state funded micro targeted influence campaigns. Moreover, it would take years, and we have the problem now. In terms of data center propaganda and fact. Both are true. China is funding anti data center sentiment for geopolitical power, while at the same time, there are legitimate reasons for people to not like/ or fear AI. The problem is we (the U.S.) have to solve both. We cannot let China have significantly better AI models than we have because that is a real national security threat, while AI also threatens potential mass destruction dangers and an avenue of utter concentration of wealth, etc
        analognoise 1mo ago
        I’m not buying the “AI security threat”, and I don’t really care if the best models are open source - and Chinese. If everyone can buy enough hardware to run the best models, what’s the threat? The same tired arguments as banning books on encryption or chemistry? I see the crazed AI investment as worthless financial gambling, a house of cards that will eventually crumble, and the argument that “we need to fund AI” really is “your tax dollars should bail out our financial mistake, because security”. It’s nonsense all the way down. Covid showed we didn’t even manufacture basic drugs in the country anymore, and were openly threatening our biggest/best/longest allies (Canada, Mexico, NATO). AI is so far down the security list as to make it noise, compared to our recent missteps.
  - TheOtherHobbes 1mo ago
    All of the above, plus death threats. Trump isn't the weakness. The weakness is the almost complete collapse of the checks and balances around the president. If those were in place Trump would have been in prison by the end of 2021 at the very latest. The DOJ, the military, both houses, the AIPAC wing of the Democrats, and corporate media are all fully captured. So are "independent" organisations like the NRA. The Supreme Court is mostly captured. The lower levels of the judiciary are still holding out, but have limited enforcement ability without the DOJ.
    - noir_lord 1mo ago
      It's why I don't see the US making the course correction it actually needs - realistically the "best" feasible outcome is that a presidential election is held and a business as usual democrat is elected who will immediately not address any of the problems for whatever reason (part of the system/paid by the same people pick one). Candidates come and go but the system endures and it is the system that is rotten at every level all the way down to the core. Then 4-8 years later the GOP candidate wins subservient to the same interests as Trump and the US Gov is back there again. Not really sure what the outcome is for the US at this point, things will have to get a great deal worse before enough Americans decide this is unacceptable but that state can last years/decades before the dam breaks.
      - SubiculumCode 1mo ago
        The winning Presidential campaign message would be this: I promise to work to reduce the power of the Presidency via supporting and campaigning for legislation and Constitutional amendments. It is time for Congress to once again be ascendent like it was in the first century of our great Republic. We need a G. Washington, who refused more power than he was offered, setting precedents and expectations.
        don_esteban 1mo ago
        No, that is your wishful thinking. Based on recent years and the power of personalized AI influence campaigns, the winning Presidential campaign message (after 4 years of 'change nothing substantial Democrat' would most likely be 'I need real, full (silently: fascist) power, to finally drain the swamp'.
  - oneshtein 1mo ago
    Epstein files?
  - AngryData 1mo ago
    I think Trump is just that naturally that stupid and always has been.
- aeortiz 1mo ago
  I'm an agnostic, but when I read about what he does, it makes me devoutly wish that hell exists. He has made countless people's lives hell on earth, and he doesn't care at all. No one is holding him accountable in this life: it's inconvenient for those in power.
  - Loquebantur 1mo ago
    It's a systemic issue, not due to one man. What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of inconvenient information is very real. The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps". The assumption, those actions were "justified" somehow is entirely baseless: there is no transparency and no effective oversight. What is supposedly being kept secret there might simply be illegal corruption or embarrassing and inconvenient to those in power.
    - TFNA 1mo ago
      Almost every discussion here on HN about those "deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research" has been about how, when you actually dig into the data, they have been very statistically likely.
    - andrewflnr 1mo ago
      There are long standing systemic issues, and then there's also one man making things dramatically worse in new, stupider ways.
    - mikestorrent 1mo ago
      Calling things "systemic" is unfortunately often just a way of offloading the problem into the pile of Things We Can't Fix. It removes individual accountability, in an era where we are increasingly able to assess the effect an influential individual actually has - because their dialogue is public and recorded, and the consequences of that can be studied. I think there are plenty of individual men who are absolutely responsible for things becoming worse, and we do the world no favours by helping them shrug the burden of their actions.
- SubiculumCode 1mo ago
  Not every nation survives a tyrant by the virtue of patience.
  - DivingForGold 1mo ago
    Especially in Russia...
- MBCook 1mo ago
  You’re kidding right?
- iso1631 1mo ago
  This was wasn't after January 2021, and hasn't been during his second term. There are methods to hold presidents accountable, there are institutions to prevent the harm from happening. These have failed.
- epolanski 1mo ago
  Yeah, January 2021 says no.
- dboreham 1mo ago
  There may eventually be a Nuremberg II for the henchmen but the ship has sailed on bringing the dear leader to justice.
manoDev 1mo ago
The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent. Causing and sustaining friction everywhere is aligned with this policy. This is the result of a shift of power in the US politics, from the global financial capital of the last decades back to the military and industrial sector.
- Forgeties79 1mo ago
  > The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent. Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis? A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”?
  - serf 1mo ago
    Well yeah, probably -- during this self made crisis oil prices in the US are some of the most well controlled. Destabilizing everywhere else is a potential step taken toward achieving continental superiority in certain regards. ( not a GOOD step, mind you)
    - cosmicgadget 1mo ago
      I choose to believe the unhinged rants about Iran are genuine and that he expected Venezuela and got Vietnam.
  - manoDev 1mo ago
    > Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis? Yes. Oil price hurts China industrial capacity more than the US economy. Oil companies made a $93 billion profit amid the war [1]. The US is a net oil exporter, while China halved their oil imports [2]. ExxonMobil and Chevron are US-incorporated. TotalEnergies (French) BP (UK), Shell (UK) also have significant US-based ownership (~50%, ~25% and ~25% respectively), including BlackRock, Vanguard, mutual funds, and US pension funds. > A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”? 1. Venezuela was under embargo and selling oil to China. The Nicolas Maduro hijack and the country's political realignment with US will have the double effect of negating oil to China and securing large nearby reserves. 2. Argentina has a Trump-aligned president, who is vocal about undermining the Mercosul agreement and is currently in diplomatic attrition with Brazil. Recently signed a $20 billion loan from FMI. 3. Paraguay signed a treaty for a US forward operation base in their territory. The Paraguay border is home to a large hydroelectric, a major power source for 3 countries: Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. 4. Colombia has a new Trump aligned president. It's a young president with no political background. The US State Department announced a $1 billion assistance upon his election for military investment. 5. Peru’s new president Keiko Fujimori is Trump-aligned. 6. Chile’s new president Jose Antonio Kast is Trump-aligned. 7. US retaliated against the prosecution of former Trump-aligned Brazil president for attempted coup by announcing an 50% emergency tariff (which didn't hold legally), then crafting a Section 301 investigation to justify a 25% tariff in July 2026. 8. US is giving asylum to the former president's son, who is vocal on social media about defending the US tariffs as retaliation, defends military intervention of the US in Brazil, as well as stating (but without proof) that Brazilian polls are rigged – not the one his father ran and won, apparently. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/aug/04/revealed-major-oil-firms-make-93bn-profits-amid-war-and-climate-crisis https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/aug... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1uxdx8p/china_is_only_importing_half_of_the_crude_oil_vs/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1uxdx8p/chin...
exe34 1mo ago
The US and Russia are allies.
- aetch 1mo ago
  No, despite what the conservatives and Fox News say, we are not
  - PunchyHamster 1mo ago
    Does US know it ? Coz it certainly acts like one for most part of the war
  - exe34 1mo ago
    In what sense? Removing the embargo on russian oil? Inviting the gremlin from the kremlin to Alaska (of all places!) and rolling out the red carpet?
dismalaf 1mo ago
> always let Russian attacks though The article doesn't say anything of the sort. Literally just said to put a halt on OFFENSIVE operations. If I were to guess I'd say it was an overly ambitious negotiation tactic. Also, that was a year and a half ago. The current status quo is that Ukraine is producing more drones than Russia can deal with, bombing Russian targets daily and the US-Ukraine relationship is much closer, with Ukraine sharing drone technology and intel with the US.

cookiengineer 1mo ago

There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. Starts with simple stuff like package rerouting, then goes on to gathering intel about places, people, putting in USB flash drives to their laptops, theft, death threats, arsony, and actual murder. Each step of the way the kids get deeper into trouble because they have to prove that they have done it for the payout, making photos of themselves... which gives the other end increasingly more doxxing material on them. It's a real problem, and they use the luckystrike branch also to go after witnesses in big lawsuit cases, which then fall off due to all witnesses accidentally dying under seemingly random causes.

Loquebantur 1mo ago
What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of information is very real. The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps".
- XorNot 1mo ago
  You have absolutely no information on whether this is probable or likely, and the recent news on scientists was a conspiracy theory powered as usual by a cherry picking facts and exaggerating biographies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...
- SubiculumCode 1mo ago
  If so, then the family members of the president are in danger!
- quickthrowman 1mo ago
  > The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it The pattern being that the deaths and disappearances among people with top secret clearances is lower than the national average would suggest. > According to science writer Mick West, more than 700,000 people work in top-secret-cleared positions in the U.S. aerospace and nuclear sectors. When viewed against existing mortality rates and causes, this would suggest around 250 persons in the industry would normally succumb to homicides and suicides over the time-period during which the 10 or 11 alleged "missing scientists" had died or disappeared, with thousands more dying of natural causes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...

salemh 1mo ago

Unjust wars and enabling genocide is probably the more likely factor here, realizing there is no honor in defending these things overseas. This has been an issue for decades: overseas, not knowing 'why' Americans are dying for nothing, and, the veterans being treated as refuse when they return. Edit: that may have come across too callous. The crushing of ones consciesness for unjust foreign wars, protecting a global network of the worst crimes (Epstn files and the international group within it, operating under the umbrella protection network of the US vis a vis NATO). The most immoral army in the world, the IDF, also has a very high suicide rate - ones conscience cannot be destroyed, it can only be atrophied and dulled, and then depression hunts you.

cushychicken 1mo ago

Used to work in this field. You're correct: not being able to talk about it is the worst part. This is equally true of successes as well as challenges. I did some cool, very impactful stuff in that job. I will go to jail for a long, long time if I ever go into detail about it.

amarcheschi 1mo ago
What can you say, if anything, without going into detail?
- lesuorac 1mo ago
  Everybody here is all so small minded. The government has spent centuries doing spycraft and has a budget in the billions.
  - yndoendo 1mo ago
    When you know you can't kill the message, kill the messenger. This is the tactic used when journalist Gary Webb started reporting on the USA involvement with selling crack to Americans so they could fund Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. They did this so well that other news organizations turned on the journalist. I could easily imagine the USA not wanting to patch holes so they have access to the systems and these experts know this.
    - anonymousiam 1mo ago
      The US agency that we entrust with evaluating and recommending our encryption standards is the same one (albeit a different branch) that focuses on breaking encryption. There is an obvious conflict of interest with this arrangement. Many examples of deliberate weakening are documented, especially with the "export approved" stuff that we sell to our allies. This problem goes beyond just encryption, and also involves deliberate data leaking (with plausible deniability). So yes, you don't need to imagine it at all -- the NSA works to create and maintain access to "everything everywhere."

rightbyte 1mo ago

How about that they do bad stuff and feel bad about it? You make it sound like they are taking a bullet or something. Desillusion is probably way worse.

markus_zhang 1mo ago

This thing probably never stops and doesn’t have holidays. I read about Operation Gladio back in the day, which was not a cyber operation, but a preparation of guerrilla operations in case the WP occupied EU. But I got the feeling that the war in darkness (cyber is part of it) is non-stop.

sph 1mo ago
WP = Warsaw Pact. Took me a while to decipher, but I get that bytes are expensive these days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
- gliall_err 1mo ago
  [dead]

kstrauser 1mo ago

This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s still a heavy burden, but you have people who were there telling you that you’re a good person and did the right thing. The Air Force did something shockingly reasonable (according to the newspaper coverage): they require all pilots to attend mandatory counseling sessions. Then there was no sign of weakness or any of that toxic nonsense. “Ugh, guess I have to go talk to the doc today, and I don’t want to, but guess orders are orders.”

Loquebantur 1mo ago
[flagged]
- Barrin92 1mo ago
  >The concentration of deaths is entirely implausibly described as "suicides", The article talks about 19 people. Given the size of those organizations that's statistically elevated but too small a number to descend into conspiracy theories. As the article points out they apparently had internal warnings and studies about lack of mental support for people in signals intelligence and cyber related roles. Given that this cluster of deaths seems to have happened in June/July, the Iran war and how the American government has conducted itself I don't find it surprising there's elevated numbers of suicides. You don't need to be on the frontline, if you're in sigint and involved in that attack on the school that casually blew up 150 girls and probably the stuff we don't know about I wouldn't be surprised people off themselves.
  - Loquebantur 1mo ago
    You supplant your lack of knowledge in statistics with unfounded assumptions and overt bias. The relevant metric here is number of deaths per size of the specified group and per time. You compare to completely different numbers and confabulate entirely unconnected "explanations". These deaths are most likely due to "housecleaning", as I said.

cco 1mo ago

Counterpoint, industry cyber security is so generally weak, if there were actually a secret "huge cold cyber war" on-going, we'd see real world impact. Since we don't, it probably isn't happening.

nullpoint420 1mo ago
I mean, isn't that all counter-intelligence? They wouldn't want to be seen?
- deadbabe 1mo ago
  The entire US powergrid is so vulnerable right now, if there really was a cyber cold war the entire thing could be shut off overnight probably. Given that it's not happening, then it's probably just not a thing.
  - CircuitSeuss 1mo ago
    It’s definitely happening. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories?f%5B0%5D=advisory_type%3A94 https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories?f%... Don’t mistake prepositioning for “not happening.” As you said: “cyber cold war” means there are a lot of incentives not to reveal capabilities or trigger escalation from your adversaries. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa26-097a https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa... Although, that is changing as we continue to escalate. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-fbi-epa-and-us-government-partners-update-warning-iran-affiliated-threat-actors-targeting https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-fbi-epa-and-us-go... If you’re not convinced the threat is real and the cyber warfare is happening, I highly recommend checking out Nocole Perleoth’s To Catch a Thief. S1E7 is especially relevent: Everything Everywhere All at Once. https://www.rubrik.com/lp/to-catch-a-thief-podcast https://www.rubrik.com/lp/to-catch-a-thief-podcast
    - deadbabe 1mo ago
      Where?

beloch 1mo ago

This could be a factor, but there are other things that probably do more to explain the uptick in suicides. 1. There's a new hot war with Iran, a country that has put a large amount of resources into its cyberwarfare capabilities after previous U.S. cyberstrikes (e.g. stuxnet). Iran is likely a lot tougher target than it was ten years ago and that means pressure for members of the U.S.'s cyber command to perform. 2. Computer nerds probably struggle with getting respect from the rest of the military even at the best of times. That just got a lot harder with Hegseth as secretary. 3. The U.S. is likely not targeting just Iran right now. Imagine being called upon to go to work against countries you consider to be allies, like Denmark, Greenland, Canada, Spain, etc..

fryanyway_swe 1mo ago

Regular Cold War people could not disclose anything to their families either...

AlexCoventry 1mo ago

I suspect Hegseth's atavistic attempt to turn the US military back toward a culture of machismo is resulting in misery for anyone who doesn't fit the part, whether they're skilled at their duties or not.

varispeed 1mo ago

How can you fight such fight if the government at highest level is compromised by the enemy - Russia?

aaron695 1mo ago

[dead]

saidnooneever 1mo ago

it is very harsh pressures both professional and personal

jambalaya8 1mo ago

yeah, I can't imagine how stressful.

bijowo1676 1mo ago

or they just got tired of feeding data into Palantir that results in hundreds of civilians being butchered