

DHS Announces Expansion of Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative - detcader
http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/12/16/dhs-announces-expansion-cyber-student-volunteer-initiative

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jonnybgood
It seems people are already downplaying this because it's volunteer. However,
this is actually an awesome opportunity. First thing I see in the job posting
[1] is "Security Clearance: Secret". That Secret is worth quite a bit,
especially for technical positions at government contractors. That's money in
the bank in the long term and can almost always guarantee a job.

Secondly, the best way to get a technical government position (it's pretty
competitive), whether it's at a federal laboratory or DHS, is to get to know
the right people. Yes, it's more about who you know than what you know.

[1]
[https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356670600](https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356670600)

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secret123456
A Secret clearance also comes with a cost. You will have to accept a level of
control from the government. You will have to agree that you will be subject
to harsher penalties than a typical citizen, if you pass on ANY classified
information to an authorised person. For example, reading or passing on a
Snowden document, without authorisation, will become a crime for you. An
individual can't revoke the clearance once granted, so the obligations last a
lifetime.

A Secret clearance isn't a romantic carte blanche to read secret documents of
your choosing. That world is compartmentalised and you will be fed information
on a "need to know" basis. In a computer analogy, a clearance isn't a
loosening of permissions, but a tightening, in that you are agreeing to
harsher penalties if you stray outside the boundaries of what others decide
you "need to know".

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mapt
The world is _now_ compartmentalized, since Bradley Manning. We appear to have
had a stretch there where they just ran a Secret Clearance wiki and document
dump, and a separate TS/SCI wiki and document dump, and that was it except for
the genuinely sensitive things.

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bhewes
Even the federal government evades having to pay their interns. The DHS is
looking for 100 unpaid student volunteer assignments. Oh please, having to
take a free internship in one of the highest paying fields, cyber security, is
ridiculous. And then having the audacity to call it an Honor's program is just
abusive.

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jorgem
The government has no business circumventing minimum wage laws.

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mmcclure
Nor does anyone else that gets work for free and calls it an "internship".

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swalkergibson
Reading deeper, it appears as though these interns will primarily be doing
menial IT support.

The TSA job description also contains this nugget, "Assisting with Digital
Forensics, e-Discovery, and cyber threat/intelligence." I would be curious to
know what cyber threats/intelligence are going to be discovered via the TSA.

[https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356670600](https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356670600)

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dragonwriter
> The TSA job description also contains this nugget, "Assisting with Digital
> Forensics, e-Discovery, and cyber threat/intelligence." I would be curious
> to know what cyber threats/intelligence are going to be discovered via the
> TSA.

The airport screeners aren't the whole of the TSA, just the most visible part
of it.

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HCIdivision17
I was under the impression that it was illegal to work for the federal
government for free. It came up during the USG Shutdown hoopla, where workers
had to expressly forbidden from anything work related.

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jacalata
The issue during the shutdown was that it was illegal for them to create a
financial obligation for the government during the shutdown by working a job
that was supposed to be paid.

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jacalata
Does it make a legal difference that it's not called an 'internship'?

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detcader
That's something I wondered after I had already submitted the story; I
apologize if winds up being misleading. I feel the page is noteworthy either
way.

Edit: the title's been changed

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pekk
What an incredibly misleading title.

