I suspect you are being sarcastic, but in case you aren't, you may want to reexamine your assumptions.
The colossal incompetence that is synonymous with government work doesn't magically stop at three-letter agencies. The FBI/CIA communication fuckups before 9/11 are just one famous example.
The idea that the NSA is staffed with "uber hackers" is a Hollywood fantasy. A government job working as a hacker is still a government job. Why would someone with that skillset, who can get a job at FAANG for 10x the salary, submit to the bureaucracy and monitoring BS that comes with working for an intelligence agency? I'm sure there are a select few who find this appealing, but the vast majority are just going the take the money and the free life.
And I strongly doubt that agencies that are known to routinely violate the law, the constitution, and human rights care about "contractually mandated" 40-hour workweeks.
lol they 100% do.. because they're all contractors bidding for the work.. so if one company bid X man hours for a cost plus contract and won as the lowest bidder and then put in 3x the time, either the winner would sue for being underpaid or, if they were paid, the loserss would sue because of impropriety.
I understand that it pays very well and there's decent work/life balance in terms of hours. But you have to essentially work in a windowless cell with no internet. And for lots of people with the curious hacker mentality, it would be a chore to "keep your nose clean" as they say.
I live in the DC area and the stereotype of the bland, khaki, polo, and white sneakers wearing boring person is true.
> Not being able to partake in THC consumption EVER
The all caps tickles me. I don’t think this is a huge sacrifice outside some limited circles. Some of the smartest people are ethical vegetarians.
See also all of the intelligence the US has provided about the Russian invasion into Ukraine. The US is really good at spy craft.
That’s really all you need dude. And yet both private and public sector intelligence jobs are selective. Supply and demand might help you reconcile your other points.
You slightly underestimate the pool of extremely patriotic or nationalistic smart engineers and scientists around.
If your basic thesis was correct no video games would get made either. Most of them could go get that FAANG money for arguably better work life balance. People have more motivations than you realize. And the idea that all the smartest engineers and scientists exclusively work for FAANG is a contrivance only believed on this dumb site. (The equally idiotic corollary is that all the smartest people work in software).
I also think you are underestimating the lifetime earning potential of top intelligence workers. 9 to 5 government jobs don’t have to be forever.
Finally, the sophistication of state level attacks such as in Iran is clear. The evidence exists, and you are wrong.
And you’re missing the point, it isn’t even that this attack wasn’t sophisticated it was that clearly no one sat down for even a few minutes to discuss how it would be detected. An organization, even a private hacking group, would have discussed this.
Inversely correlative, the idea that the NSA/CIA/FBI are staffed by incompetent technologists (hackers, devs, etc) is a Hacker News fantasy.
It's funny when you don't understand who you are replying to.
It's funny when you don't read carefully.