

The NSA has its own team of elite hackers - austengary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/29/the-nsa-has-its-own-team-of-elite-hackers/

======
jobu
Six months ago the idea of a team for hacking foreign evil-doers was awesome,
and though I'm not an "elite hacker" I would've jumped at the opportunity. Now
that we know the NSA is spying on everyone and collecting everything I don't
think I would even consider working there.

It makes me wonder what these hackers think about their jobs now, and how much
more difficult recruitment has gotten for the NSA.

~~~
AsymetricCom
They probably know a lot more than we do about the geopolitical situation and
that's why they still work there.

~~~
Zigurd
Alternatively, there would be no shortage, even among your friends, of people
who would march you to the gas chamber.

------
Ryoku
I don't see anything surprising here... Pick a government, any government, do
you really think they don't recruit their best hackers for such team? Or was
the general thought that only China's gov makes viruses to target other
countries? I even know someone in my country who got recruited into our gov's
hacking team after being arrested.

------
cafard
Roughly forty years ago, I saw an NSA recruiting notice tacked up on a
bulletin board in the college math department's hallway. As I remember it, the
notice said that the NSA aimed to stay five years ahead of the outside state
of the art.

------
nrmilstein
Information like this, and some of the other documents that have been released
from the Snowden leaks recently, seem to be more than just "whistleblowing"
and appear to do serious damage to the US's counter-terrorism and security
efforts.

~~~
jobu
Unlikely. The terrorists have known for years that all of their technology was
compromised by the US government. Osama Bin Laden would send his people
hundreds of kilometers away to make phone calls on his behalf.

Also, it was Eugene Kaspersky that pointed the finger at the US and Israel
over Stuxnet and Flame.

The only thing these documents do is make it clear the NSA has been lying or
spinning much of the denials about these programs to avoid public scrutiny.

~~~
nrmilstein
Public scrutiny? I, for one, don't really care if the NSA does these things,
and I don't think most people in the US do. Or do you mean scrutiny from other
governments, and people outside the US? Then yes, it seems like a pretty good
idea to keep it covert.

------
misiti3780
i wonder how those links to linkedin are going to go over ?

~~~
ihsw
I'm more worried about LinkedIn being infiltrated and national intelligence
employees -- be it government or private contractor employees -- becoming
targets for reconnaissance.

It stands to reason that enumerating a list of past and present employees
wouldn't be at all difficult, be it an automated or manual process.

~~~
1337biz
Why do you think so? I am sure they are proud of working for such a fine
agency. With their skillset they certainly would have other options but choose
to do NSA work instead.

The sad truth is that I'm not even being ironic here. I am sure the us vs.
them ideology is deeply rooted with many three letter agency employees. Any
form of backslash is therefore interpreted as a confirmation that they are
doing the right thing and those not "with" them do not understand / undermine
their "mission".

------
bsullivan01
_The NSA has its own team of elite hackers_

And the sky is /looks blue .

Maybe that's why there's no gag order or NDA for the former employees that
detail what they did. Everyone knows and expects it.

~~~
victoriap
and they enjoy HN too, I suppose.

