NSA Firing 90% of Its Sysadmins

sl4shd0rk writes "NSA Director Keith Alexander has decided that the best way to prevent illegal data leaks is to reduce the number of ears and eyes involved. During a talk at a cybersecurity conference in New York this week, Alexander revealed his plans to cut 90% of the System Administration workforce at the NSA. 'What we're in the process of doing — not fast enough — is reducing our system administrators by about 90 percent,' he said. Alluding to an issue of mistrust, Alexander further clarified: 'At the end of the day it's about people and trust ... if they misuse that trust they can cause huge damage.' Apparently, breaking the law and lying about it leaves one without a sense of irony when speaking in public."

Hmm

[spike hay]

So having a huge amount of very disgruntled people with at least previous access to large amounts of classified data isn't a security risk?

So then, this is the way you secure your systems

[Chris Mattern]

You fire all the people who are responsible for the security of your systems. Wait, what?

Re:Hmm

[the eric conspiracy]

Previous access to stuff that really isn't secret any more.

Alternatively...

[Nogami_Saeko]

They could just pay them well, give them a fair amount of responsibility and respect, and, perhaps... not break the law or violate the constitution.

Not the mistrust issue we were thinking of

[Sockatume]

Am I reading this right? The NSA think that the issue of mistrust around PRISM is that we worry some whistleblower will leak our information, and not that it's being harvested in the first place? They're deep into cognitive dissonance land over there I see.

Re:So firing 90% of their admins

[h4rr4r]

And announcing that you are going to fire 90% of them ahead of time. So they have lots of time to collect what they want to leak.

Re:At the end of the day

[ColdWetDog]

From TFA:

Using technology to automate much of the work now done by employees and contractors would make the NSA's networks "more defensible and more secure," as well as faster, he said at the conference.

Which sounds eerily like:

The strategy behind Skynet's creation was to remove the possibility of human error and slow reaction time to guarantee a fast, efficient response to enemy attack.

Skynet was originally activated by the military to control the national arsenal on August 4, 1997, at which time it began to learn at a geometric rate. On August 29, it gained self-awareness, and the panicking operators, realizing the extent of its abilities, tried to deactivate it. Skynet perceived this as an attack and came to the conclusion that all of humanity would attempt to destroy it.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

total stupidity

[MickyTheIdiot]

He is going to increase the work of each sysadmin by 10x... ->

Making what is perpetually an overworked position 10x worse ->

Making it not worth the stress for the amount of pay ->

Making every sysadmin in the NSA a ripe target for various bribes...

BRILLIANT!

The people in leadership positions in the USA (government and corporate) are all idiots.

Umm

[wbr1]

How about REDUCING 90% of the ILLEGAL data tapping instead?

Re:So firing 90% of their admins

[cusco]

And create dummy accounts with remote access, hide old desktop machines in dusty closets with modems attached to the fax machine, and take home that secondary hard drive out of their desktop machine. I tell you, this guy is truly a manager's manager!

Amazing

[gmuslera]

An organization that have no respect for other people having no respect for their workers too? Working for them is no magic shield, only gives them more tools to hit you harder when comes your turn.

ever hear of best practices?!

[Thud457]

During a talk at a cybersecurity conference in New York this week, Alexander revealed his plans to cut 90% of the System Administration workforce

DERP
holy shit, why not give them a warning that you're going to kick their ass to the curb before security comes to their desk with a brown cardboard box. Yeah, that's not gonna piss any of them off before you cut off access. At least the private sector has that one figured out.

Alexander needs to go, yesterday. He's more inept than Ballmer.

Re:Hmm

[Feyshtey]

My initial question was, if you can do the work with 90 people, why the FUCK were you paying 900?!? And people actually debate against the need to reduce the size of government...

Re:Question....

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Can we fire 90% of the NSA?

. . . and hire more detectives, instead. The government doesn't need more SIGINT, they need HUMINT. Like, if Russia warns you that you have a potential terrorist living in Boston, go check him out . . . but thoroughly, please!

Start checking out places where these terrorist folks hang out . . . like radical Mosques.

Recording folks like me calling their mothers in the US from Europe is a waste of time and resources. Cut the NSA budget. Hire detectives.

Re:ever hear of best practices?!

[camperdave]

Alexander needs to go, yesterday. He's more inept than Ballmer.

Hang on a second. Do we *really* want a competent person running the NSA?

Re:The actual deterrent

[nitehawk214]

So firing 90% of their admins and pissing them all off, giving them no job to lose, is going to somehow *prevent* further leaks?

I'm pretty sure the threat of life imprisonment for revealing "secrets" was and is a bit more of a deterrent than the loss of wages ever could hope to be. If someone kicks you while holding a gun to your face are you worried about their foot or the gun?

And if you pull a gun on someone with nothing to lose? They just might decide to take you with them.

Re:If they don't need them, fire them

[ebno-10db]

the NSA may end up being a huge liability to the security of the country

Wrong tense - they are a huge liability to America's security, because our real security is dependent on adhering to the Constitution and the faith of the people in their government.

Re:Hmm

[MaskedSlacker]

That is the incorrect question. The correct question is: "Why aren't you firing 100%?"

Re:Hmm

[NatasRevol]

I'm pretty sure he has no idea how many he needs. He just knows he doesn't trust the people that can see all the data.

Re:ever hear of best practices?!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you need some qualifiers on 'competent' first. Like 'moral', or 'good person', or 'not a dick'. If you have a competent, ruthless person running it... It'll just be worse, instead.

Re:Hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Something doesn't have to be A SECRET in order to still be CLASSIFIED AS A SECRET

Re:ever hear of best practices?!

[aztracker1]

Competent != (moral || lawful)

Re:So firing 90% of their admins

[Quila]

Or, they just set up massive auditing everywhere and aren't really going to fire anybody. Now they just sit back and watch which admins start accessing stuff they aren't supposed to. A bunch of little snively Snowdens we'll grab before they can flee justice.

Re:Hmm

[roc97007]

> My initial question was, if you can do the work with 90 people, why the FUCK were you paying 900?!?

Having been present when a company fired 88% of their IT staff, (and came to *really* regret it later) I have come to the conclusion that the real question would be "how the FUCK do you think everything is going to get done with 90 people?"

Re:Hmm

[Stargoat]

He makes America look like a foolish and ineffectual power mad state. Part of the Great Game is marketing, after all.

Re:Hmm

[Penguinisto]

What motivation does Putin have to do that?

Cheaper than hiring and inserting spies, for starters.

Re:Hmm

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

1. ". . . I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in; I neither took part in nor knew about any of the subsequent coverup activities; I neither authorized nor encouraged subordinates to engage in illegal or improper campaign tactics." (also: "I am not a crook.")
2. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
3. "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
4. "We don't have a domestic spying program."

Re:Hmm

[the eric conspiracy]

If some guy with a GED who had been on the job for 3 months got as much as Snowden did, what makes you think a real spy ring wouldn't just get everything?

Re:Hmm

[RabidReindeer]

That's called denial an one should have their mental health evaluated.

If you're looking for mental health in government, you're going to have a bad time.

Re:Hmm

[cayenne8]

Isn't Obama the one who said we don't have a cold war relationship with Russia anymore?

Isn't Obama the one who has said a LOT of things over the past couple years that have had nothing to do with reality?

Remember, this is all just a bunch of "phony" scandal/controversy.

Re:Hmm

[Salgak1]

No, AMERICA makes America look like a foolish and ineffectual power-mad state. Putin is just doing a bit of political judo, using our own actions against us. . .

And the REALLY sad thing ? Lately, I've had far more respect for Putin than I've had for Obama. . .

Re:Hmm

[CAIMLAS]

Previous access?

Let's think about this. You're a sysadmin for the NSA; you're not actually all that fond of what's going on there at this point. You catch wind that there's a 90% likelihood you will lose your job, and if you don't lose your job, you will have 10 times as much work hoisted onto your shoulders - so you're looking for a new job regardless.

This is true for every one of your coworkers as well, many of which will likely be pre-emptively disgruntled about their firings, and many will have at least marginally anti-government sentiments (as appears to be the case for pretty much everyone in our society at this point, barring a handful of idiots in NYC and San Francisco).

What do you think is going to happen? They still have access to everything and more or less know they're going to be sacked "just because" in what amounts to a pogrom. More data WILL be leaked - some through the media, some directly. It will be a massive shitstorm.

The irony of this epically foolish announcement is so incredibly thick. You operate a publicly funded secret organization which has been abusing the trust of the American people for decades, and you think the people you hire to perform devious, illegal work are going to be "trustworthy"? What a fucko.

Re:Hmm

[CAIMLAS]

More precisely, is there anything Obama has said since he gained the public eye in 2007 which hasn't been 180 degrees from the actual truth?

I think the only thing he's been honest about at this point is his intention of making gas/diesel/etc. more expensive and a couple slip-ups about healthcare not being available for everyone.

Re:Hmm

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

You're aware of this stuff, right?

http://www.policymic.com/articles/58649/russia-s-anti-gay-law-spelled-out-in-plain-english [policymic.com]

Is it possible to admit that all leaders have problems and none of them are only "Bad" or only "Good"?

Re:Hmm

[DrGamez]

America: Branches of the government growing out of control now revealed to be snooping on all sorts of our private data.

Russia: Literally killing gays and advocating for homosexuals to have their lives made miserable.

I'm fine with calling bullshit on both of them - nobody has to win here.

Re:So firing 90% of their admins

[symbolset]

They are all temps working for subcontractors. And the NSA doesn't even know how many of them there are - or even how many subcontracting companies. Think about that for a minute.

Re:Hmm

[saleenS281]

You're assuming they can do the work with 90 people. It's just as likely, just like in the private sector, they're going to layoff 90% of the people, and expect the remaining 10% to work 90 hour weeks until they burn out, constantly reminding them how lucky they are just to have a job.

Re:Hmm

[vawwyakr]

The reality is that what they are probably doing is just expecting the other employees there to do the admin's work. The thought being "hey we have lots of smart techie people". I have seen many gov divisions with very little IT support available....they usually still limp along painfully but very inefficiently. In the end this probably going to cost tax payers more than it saves.