In message <CAPPYGuwCB-r3OzYTHM+ywTApgdtYOn+j3L6t+N0A7eaF6_chFA@mail.gmail.com> Cryptographrix <cryptographrix@gmail.com> wrote:
If you watch her testimony in front of Congress,...
I did, actually. And it pissed me off so much that I started the petition (to get her fired). I encourage everybody to watch the video of her congressional testimony on Tuseday. She how she tries to stonewall simple questions like "Why wasn't the data encrypted?"
From the sound of it, she ran into the ceiling of available workers that were willing to work for the pay grade that the government offers for those positions, which is usually much less than private industry offers and - as a consequence - they are not nearly as familiar with migrations of that size. I do not envy her position, and doubt in the ability of anyone in her position to do more than she has attempted. Give her some credit.
I _do_ understand the point you are making. But if you are charged with the safekeeping of untold millions of extraordinarily detailed personal data files, and if you don't have the resources to do your job properly, wouldn't the Right Thing To Do be to either (a) resign in protest or else (b) at the very least send a letter to members of Congress telling them just how effed up things really are, so that they will understand what is at risk? This lady did neither, as far as I can tell. She just followed the first rule of government service: To get along, you go along. In most cases, that course of action would not have resulted in any great harm. But in this case the result was provably and absolutely catastrophic. If there were any justice in the world, Mr. Snowden would be back home in the U.S.A. now, and Ms. Archuleta would now be hiding out in Russia. Regards, rfg