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Comment by DeathArrow | Hacker News Reader

>Adallom was founded in 2012 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik, who are former members of the Israeli Intelligence Corps’ Unit 8200 and alumni of the Talpiot program.

It's interesting that many people working in intelligence found ways to become very successful in business. I wonder what is the reason.

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Tight networks largely. THey've invested heavily into having these "assets" in US tech companies, and so pro-Israel folks in the US work hard to acquire them in.

See [1] to see the flow of people. I explain the connections a lot in [2], and [3] is our initiative to work on it.

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DAYsSPxpHFP/?img_index=1

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxvaembyMcQ&list=PLjHqnRFDnc...

[3] https://www.ethics.vc/get-involved

Military service in Israel is mandatory and the conscription rate in the core "educated" areas is ~90%. Each year, the intelligence corps then gets what is practically* first pick of the best minds of that year (typically kids who are already skilled in programing). They then get to have them for 4-6 years meaning unlike modern employers, they have time and motivation to invest in training them. Then you get the most apt programming minds of a generation spending six years together learning and building connections with each other in core programming and security skills.

Imagine if all the ivy league graduates in the US would be forced to work together for the same company, for free, for 4-6 years. Would you be surprised if suddenly former employees of that company found ways to become very successful in business?

* - Technically they get something like 3rd pick and there's negotiations and it depends on what sort of roles are involved etc. In practice, conscripts have some influence on where they'll go and if you have a choice in any role in the military, you are going to pick "write code in an air-conditioned office" over any other available option.

Intelligence communities tend to pick very smart people who are particularly good at acquiring niche skills and operating under extreme situational uncertainty. I think those are valuable attributes for someone in business.

It surely must be exactly that.

Network

Blackmail

well you might get downvoted, but its still true, just look what Robert Maxwell did with the PROMIS software. That was also coincidentally Mossad.

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