Hacker News Reader

Comment by iteratethis | Hacker News Reader

This is bad news for entire genres of books, TV shows and movies that are based on the supreme competence, sophistication and wealth of the Pentagon, NSA and CIA.

Turns out US military strategy is the same as me and my mates setting up a bar date.

It's a disturbing leak in itself but i take issue with the journalist obsessing over the tool of choice whilst ignoring the actual strategizing.

The casual way in which a mass murder is planned. The emphasis on "messaging" and how to spin this on Biden and Europe. The teenage-like emojis to celebrate acts of war.

This administration looks bad from the outside but through this leak we can see that their shocking press moments are still the polished and spun versions of a reality that is far more sick.

View on HN

Film and tv are safe, this was done by political appointees. The civil servants (you know, the "deep state") are much better about it because it's their job.

> Turns out US military strategy is the same as me and my mates setting up a bar date.

Typically these positions are filled by highly qualified people with decades of experience.

This administration is not typical. They deliberately chose inexperienced people who would be loyal above all else.

Selecting for incompetence was part of the plan, and it’s been obvious from the start.

Hegseth was a Fox News host, not someone qualified for this position.

This story is stranger than fiction.

The most excellent steak can be ruined by an amateur chef easily.

I agree with your point on the spin, although I wonder if the Signal angle is the only thing even republicans can agree with to be kinda bad, given that even the most egregious reports on the current administration don’t really cause as much as a raised brow there. So to make it a story that doesn’t just resonate in the liberal echo chamber, include something despicable to both camps.

> on the supreme competence, sophistication and wealth of the Pentagon, NSA and CIA.

Agencies with no oversight are seen as competent? That's news to me. There's a definite waste of taxpayer dollars on propaganda to try to make this point publicly but I didn't think anyone was poorly educated enough to actually believe it.

Sorry are you claiming that the United States intelligence community is incompetent and that anyone who things otherwise is poorly educated?

What are you basing this on?

Yes.

History.

Are you genuinely incredulous?

Yeah man, you sound like a 14-year old edgelord who just learned about the Bay of Pigs. How many contemporary security professionals would call them 'competent' versus 'incompetent'?

"This concrete, unambiguous example contradicts my worldview so I am going to report it."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com