NSA can't hire the hackers they want because they all smoke weed. China sends all their drug users to the execution van so all the new CS and security grads can go right to work for the govt.
I once worked with a guy who had previously worked for GCHQ doing something with cyphers/cryptography. He said he had never consumed more drugs in his life than during that period. They didn't care he took drugs as long as he was open about it and couldn't be black mailed through his use of drugs.
Interesting! Though GCHQ is UK, I'm not sure what the NSA is like. My impression so far here has been that they tend to hire people who live rather boring, quiet personal lives, since they're easier to vet.
I'm sure non-mainstream political views likely count against you more, though.
Also a lot of hackers/engineers have ethics that don't necessarily match that of government security agencies. I would happily work to protect my country from terrorism or foreign attacks, but not if it means sacrificing the freedoms that we were originally trying to protect.
Brazillian here. Living in country of Rio. I avoid going to Rio (capital) as much as possible. Tomorrow I'm visiting family there and the tension increases a bit because of uncertainty. I have watched robberies live, car stealing. Two of my neighbords were shot by a rifle in Rio when crossing "linha vermelha". My wife has been kidnaped once. This year her brother had his car shot 3 times. (He does Uber) My brother was almost hit by a lost bullet recently in Rio downtown, missed by 50cm. I could probably go on listing this sort of things endlessly. People from Rio are used to this and consider it the way life is. It is not like they like or accept violence but don't have the means of doing much about it. Brazil is a puppet state. Not sovereign. The state is dysfunctional. The violence problem can be tracked to state policies. But the state has no will to solve any of it. Just mask it and keep going (nowhere good for civilians). It is an actual goal of state to things to not work. That is the goal, and standard policy. Like the last 5 times tried to contact police for reporting ongoing (live) stealings all failed. Most times couldn't even report. There is a queue of calls that take a long time. And when they answer, they just tell you to mind your business. Now I even don't bother reporting anything. They won't do a thing. They don't care. In fact, they are just FOLLOWING ORDERS.
People are too powerless to influence the state in any meaningful way. At the end of the day the law/state is at the side of criminals. I wish Brazil would change ownership so policy could be changed.
