Though the U.S. government can still claim to be the top physical security player in the world, it can no longer claim leadership as the top cybersecurity player, according to retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who has served as the director of both the National Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA.

I think it's important to let other people know that their BS isn't welcome. I could understand rambling like that after day wasted filling tax returns or shit like that.

But if you want propper reply, here it goes:

There's a shoker,

...

the government is not as capable as the private sector at doing things.

Government isn't typically as "efficient", due to monopolous nature of it. Saying that they are incapable "at doing things", means nothing to anyone. You don't even specify which governement, so let's give you some random counter example to invalidate your bullshit. DARPA used taxpayers money to devolop ARPANET (decentralised research milnet), the thing that is nowadays called the internet.

NASA pioneered metallurgy and light materials they needed to get to space more efficiently, nowadays these composites and alloys are everywhere around us.

R&D money involved in these projects was absurd and they gave it all away to commercial companies to subsidize economy. Without DARPA there would be no Intel, no Motorola chips etc.

Could this be because they have no responsibility towards success because their checks are going to be paid for, regardless of their incompetence?

What the fuck are you even trying to say here? Governmental employees are public servants, most of them are underpayed and many of them has to deal with thousands of people like you. Somebody has to do the job and you absolutely cannot outsource certain things into private hands (judicial system, executive system, ...). I utterly resent your shitty implication that governmental employees "have no responsibility towards success" (as if that means anything), probably based on your keen observation of annoyed face of policeman who gave you traffic ticket and you were being dick about it. Same goes for calling them all incompetent, thats just retarded, many of govt employees such as public school teachers work for near minimal wage with university degrees.

In the government, if you don't produce, you blame it on a lack of funding and take the rest of the afternoon off.

This is retarded on many levels, first of all, it's not their job to produce anything, their job is to provide best possible environment for their citizens.

To quote Cicero, "Salus populi suprema lex esto", or "peoples welfare is the supreme law". I think some US state has it as their motto.

To dig even more into your shit, "private sector" doesn't have to "produce" anything in order not to become "history". Historically, GDP was divided into 3 categories, agriculture, services and industry. Services don't actually produce anything, they provide services (you can't produce haircut, you can't produce act of cooking the meal, you can't produce you providing a taxi service).

example GDP distribution

You can't blame anything on "lack of funding really" unless you are a politician, government can't "fail" their people. Governments subsidizes many "pointless" things like roads in the middle of nowhere just because few of their citizens happen to live there.

"...take the rest of the afternoon off. "

You ever saw a nurse in a public hospital take rest of the afternoon off? Can you even imagine how many people would die if underpayed firemen and policement took "rests of the day off"? In fact, public hospitals in my country are the biggest work law violators, many of nurses and doctors do 60-70 hour weeks because govt can't afford to pay them as well as private sector and somebody has to do the job else people will die.

There is more to say here, but I wanna finish with your shitty comment before launch so I will leave it at this.

For the former head of both the NSA and the CIA to expect to be able to turn to the very sector that it's targeting with it's invasive techniques is insulting to the very people who pay his salary.

I'm sorry you feel insulted, there are many citizens who made them implement these things, favoring "security" over their "freedoms", especially post 9/11. They reap what they saw.

Contrary to apparent belief Sir,

This means nothing unless you have statistical data to back it up.

... the private sector has absolutely no requirement to appease your desire to help you destroy the very privacy they are trying to protect.

Private sector alse has absolutely no requirement to give give me a private jet on christmas. Completely irrelevant and even if you were trying to make parallel with state sector, that would be a horse shit statement as well.

So long as there are "secret" facilities whose sole purpose is to invade and collect peoples sensitive data, you will never gain the trust of the populace.

Assuming you still talk about "former head of both the NSA and the CIA" (which is unclear in all that rambling): Classic condesending bullshit. Their sole purpose is to defend USA (which includes citizens and themselves, as governmental body). We have no way of knowing their intentions, but there isn't much point in "invading and collecting peoples sensitive data". Even if there were sinister intentions behind this "conspiracy", data collection and retention counts as means, not ends.

Now you see, this kind of vague bullshit arguments can be easily picked apart and dismissed. Have a good day sir.

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