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Comment by hawkharris | Hacker News Reader

When one of my friends in college landed a math-related internship with the NSA years ago, I was very impressed and proud of her. If a friend were to land a similar job or internship now, my gut reaction would be vert different. As illustrated by this video, the agency's prestige among the public seems to have degraded considerably. I wonder how this has affected its ability to recruit bright young people.

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I think it does hurt the NSA's recruiting position indeed. The NSA naturally hires mostly technical people, and in general I think it is exactly this population that is disgusted most by what the NSA is doing. For me, the issue wouldn't be as much about prestige, but more about morality.

As for the more general public, they're just following the news. The news has devoted a lot of attention to the NSA lately, but will move on to different topics sooner or later, and the general public will forget.

You are obviously saying that because you are pissed. And deep down inside you are hoping that they won't be able to recruit bright young people. But the truth is, economy is a bitch, unemployment rate is high, if they actually pays well, I'm pretty sure bright people will still join them, whether they are young or old.

Young people who earn jobs or internships with the NSA are generally in the tops of their classes. While they aren't immune to the recession, they have more prospects than the average grad, and employers sometimes compete for them.

I couldn't find any publicly available data about NSA recruitment, but there are some interesting anecdotes to show that the NSA is having a harder time recruiting top-notch students:

http://reason.com/blog/2013/07/09/nsa-recruiters-peppered-wi...

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130704/12162223721/nsa-re...

Lets not forget that many NSA "employees" are actually contractors from companies like Booz Allen Hamilton. Also Palantir doesn't seem to be hurting finding people to build surveillance technology.

That's not how it works at the highest levels. Employment of capable hackers is sky high right now and everyones paying top dollar.

I feel horribly cynical for saying this, but: if you like playing the long game, this is actually a great time to join the NSA. Their ability to source talent is probably at an all-time low. One way or another, their reputation will probably rebound within a decade, and you'll have it all.

> their reputation will probably rebound within a decade

Really?

It's perfectly plausible. Such cycles are the way of things.

I'm not going to make predictions for the future because you know as little as me, but I'd be shocked and horrified if they did unless there were sweeping changes that made the NSA and its foreign equivalents more acceptable.

I think your view of history is just as myopic. The NSA has been around since the 50s and the original FISA of 1978 was written specifically because it was revealed that the NSA was spying on domestic targets at the request of Nixon.

Everything old is new again.

Fair point!

Only people with no ethics or morals would take an NSA job now, no matter how bad the economy is.

What about the arms industry? There are more jobs there and those are more directly hurting people.

Relevant - https://soundcloud.com/madiha-1/students-question-the-nsa-at

I'm a student at U of I, my major is CS in the Engineering college and I'm fairly certain the NSA isn't even making an appearance this year (at least from what I've seen) at the career fair, though the CIA will be here.

If they did show up I think it would be one of those booths that are neglected for the most part.

There are plenty of people that desire money more than following their ethics.

And NSA is where the money is? Always thought federal institutions payed less than private initiatives.

I always assumed the NSA was one of the notable exceptions since they would have to attract the smartest people.

That said, how smart can they be if they got way too enamoured of just collecting everything rather than analyzing it properly...

Smart people have plenty of blind spots, just like normal people.

Yes, that's right, they just collect everything and don't analyze it properly. And you know this, how? Of course they do analysis, it's just of the "needle in a haystack" variety because of the sheer volume they collect. The most intelectually demanding type of analysis.

On the basis of that contribution alone, you've proved you're not smart enough to work for the NSA.

Like it or not, there are also plenty of people who have no ethical dilemma with NSA's conduct.

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