CIA launches a podcast, hoping to ‘demystify’ the agency and boost recruitment | Hacker News Reader

CIA launches a podcast, hoping to ‘demystify’ the agency and boost recruitment

mcclatchydc.com

37 pointsmooreds37 comments

Super common for CIA to do PR campaigns, including content for kids. They also actively work with main stream media, including the movie industry, to shape the way they’re presented to the public.

Here’s link to first episode, which is just an interview with current director; didn’t hear anything of interest:

- https://open.spotify.com/episode/6A68ekTmSZY43VE5PwB5OH

One of oddest things I ever heard was a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence say that CIA’s primary source at one point for daily briefings was the New York Times; if true, pretty telling in my opinion, given the substantial difference in budgets, methods, sources, etc, the two organizations have.

> One of oddest things I ever heard was a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence say that CIA’s primary source at one point for daily briefings was the New York Times

Damn, and i thought only RedHat rpms had circullar dependencies. /s

Sorry, couldn't resist.

That's extremely baffling to me. Considering the CIA is usually depicted extremely negatively in American movies.

Not just the CIA — Secret Service, FBI, DoD, DHS, etc — all work with mainstream media; same is true for any large domestic media company in any country working with local governments, including: China, Russia, etc.

___

Source:

How the Central Intelligence Agency works with Hollywood

- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344370910272...

- https://www.google.com/search?q=cia.gov+office+movie+industr...

I think they’re negative only depending on your personal politics. They’re never depicted as incompetent, technologically challenged, or overly beaurocratic.

I don't think so. You are right that they aren't depicted as incompetent, technologically challenged, or overly bureaucratic. But they are also depicted as terrorists sponsoring, war mongering, torturous murderers that show little regard for life. I would say those are widely accepted as bad traits and not just my personal politics.

I wish those were table stakes for the entire electorate. But sadly I think they’re considered partisan issues.

That can't be right. I mean maybe, if they are going to shit, like didn't they leak all their Iranian and Chinese sources meaning they disappeared? The old-time folks using One-Time-Pads, I only remember that but come on it's American, Cowboy Cryptography, and it's the best bar none, only strong cryptography. Well there were other technologies that were really much older, just classics, and those sticking to them and suggesting they continue to be used were labeled "troglodytes" and basically called paranoid. Dude if I were a spy and my handler used the word paranoid pejoratively, flip right then and there. Instantly. Not even ask "do you mean that pejoratively?" That's a giveaway, she'll know you'll flip. The usage will be distinct and if it's unclear it's pejorative. This isn't binary search. That means this guy ifs sucking up to movies of Hollywood actors who are not the real deal like Audie Murphie who made autobiographical movies, and especially special effects visualizations, and a romantic interpretation of the job that doesn't really respect the integrity of the Iranian or Chinese traitor. I do not meant pejoratively, it's not always pejorative, for instance a hero means traitor to traitors, traitors call me traitor all the time, double negative, and by all means he is wrongly trusted by his country, which generally gave him privileges and access because it thought the beneficiary would not betray them, in place of a more loyal nationalist who gets shafted for that traitor's benefit. Maybe in a country of 10 people this isn't so, guess it only applies to continents north of the Antarctic Circle. But whatever, that traitor is in principle preferring American values. And of course payouts, in the Cold War some say spies never made any money, yeah spies on America that's all it mentions, CIA paid great then, for instance the Eastern Germany spymaster got a $8-million-dollar offer plus a house in California (meaning also protection from retal in California) that's like half of what the Communist spies made in total. One guy.

"hello, fellow podcasters!"

'arent you the guys that committed war crimes, tortured POWs, staged anti-democratic coups, created the Taliban, ..'

"no no no, that was some other CIA. We are the new CIA, CIA stands for Community, Inclusion, and Acceptance, check out our Tik-Tok!"

Make sure to smash that Like & Subscribe button!

Free Assange first, or try not to plot an assassination against him again. Then we can consider listening to your lies on the podcast.

CIA has the same problem other government agencies always do with recruiting programmers: they just don’t pay enough to compete with the private market.

Not to mention the strict drug testing requirements.

That's why they use contractors. Sometimes with disastreous effect.

CIA Operatives, if you would just not care about my large consumption of cannabis I would seriously consider joining. There are a lot of us out there that would love to serve our country in some fashion by way of technology but we’re not allowed to.

I mean, that's not the CIA's choice, is it? Cannabis is, for now at least, still a federally prescribed substance. I don't blame them for not wanting employees that break the law.

I bet as soon as the law is changed they'd welcome you with open arms.

At least our Cool Big Brother the FBI lets us smoke 24 joints.

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/fbi-clarifies-that-using-mar...

Or smoked at 24 occasions. The formulation is unclear.

What if you take 24 hits from the same joint but you're high and forget you're smoking a joint and it keeps going out? Is that the same session?

You got too stoned to remember you're smoking a joint, but remembered you took 24 hits?

They'd probably tell you to get a job at the IRS.

That's why I keep an abacus on hand when smoking my joints.

I don’t think it is their choice, but putting my opinion out there just so they know there’s a potential pool of applicants if this is dealt with.

Yeah, and it's even worse because FBI, NSA, etc. lose thousands of potential recruits every year because of the weed ban.

If you smoke enough you are qualified for politics.

Weed is More popular with their staff. Politicians tend to prefer blow.

Totally agree, we wouldn't want to put our illegal shadow government in the position of having to break the law.

Of course it’s the CIA’s choice. There is no law saying that the CIA can’t hire someone who has broken the law. Are jaywalkers banned from being hired by the CIA too? It’s their choice to determine their self-defeating hiring requirements.

Just to clarify, but recognizing the OP is probably referring to ongoing use:

- CIA will consider you if you smoked marijuana in the past, up until 90 days before applying -- or after applying.

- CIA will consider you if you have used illicit drugs up until a year prior to applying at CIA.

https://www.cia.gov/cia-requirements/

Back in college, two of my friends went to a CIA recruiting event. One friend was a native Farsi speaker and the other was born in Korea. Both came back dejected because the recruiter said they could not apply until at least a year had passed since they last smoked marijuana. Both ended up going to law school instead; few years after our graduation, Iran and North Korea made surprising (to U.S. intelligence) advances in their nuclear programs.

Think of all the resources we lose every year because of the stupid federal prohibition of weed.

you dont actually have to be a member, there are a lot of contractors. pass the background checks so you can get security clearance, and offer the most consistent best of your ability.

depending on where you go, it may be an asset to be able to identify fake drugs vs real, and to be able to function reliably if you are somehow intoxicated by a beverage spiked with extreme quantities of THC.

No doubt they are having trouble recruiting, given the state of affairs; 51 former intel heads…lied directly to American citizens to a corrupt end. What kind of work environment does this lead to? Would you genuinely want to build something to support whatever their supposed ambitions are?

Security clearances seem like the biggest issue here. Back when I was in college they needed them even for internships which was a deal breaker since you effectively had to apply for the internship a year earlier than other ones so that you could get clearance.

Yes, I was denied a security clearance because of the time when I was a homeless 17 year old and a town cop illegally planted weed on me at the scene of an accident. Sorry, CIA :-)

I thought they had already one, with Michael Morell's podcast. /s

https://art19.com/shows/intelligence-matters

We would like thank our sponsored VPN, for all the data and if you want to support us please hit the link in the description and purchase a subscription for 100% off today for 3 months with the code CIAROX.

Wonder if they will be sponsored by Audible

They've already been demystified by many, from Snowden over Greenwald to Trump.

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