Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

Of course they can, what makes you think they aren't?

But a more interesting question is to look at what information is presented and what is missing. How much is new, how much is old. Then on policy stories like this one I sometimes pop over to the senate web site and look at what's coming up on the senate calendar [1] and oh look, on May 7th they are having a hearing to talk about

   Hearings to examine the Department of the Air Force in    
   review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal 
   year 2014 and the Future Years Defense Program.

Hmm, who is in charge of Cyber Command? Why it's the Air Force! Who would have guessed.

(yes I can be that cynical)

[1] http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/b_three_sections...

View on HN

It's not cynical at all. You just demonstrated an example of a phenomenon that was well-documented in the 80s by people like Noam Chomsky. His book Manufacturing Consent talks in great detail about how mass media is used to manipulate public opinion.

Too Chomsky's lost all of his credibility by aligning himself with all of the New World Order crackpots out there.

How so? Be precise. Otherwise, how much credibility do you think a blank assertion like yours has?

The logic here seems to be that because the mass media can be used to manipulate public opinion, it is used exclusively to manipulate public opinion.

Please point out where I said - or even implied - the "exclusively" part.

That is the reason for existing of Fox news.

It's not cynical when it's basically correct.

You can usually tell what hearings are coming up just by looking at what ads are currently plastered in and around metro stations

The Air Force and defense industrial complex are using this as a budget point, but they are also facing legitimate threats to both government and private industry.

Just like during the cold war, there were legitimate threats from the Soviets, but it also became a self-perpetuating thing.

The irony is this time we're borrowing money to defend ourselves from the Chinese from...the Chinese. So at some point a marginal dollar spent on defense actually reduces our security!

But I think infosec is one of the more efficient means of spending defense dollars; tens or hundreds of billions of dollars of other stuff I'd cut first.

>Hmm, who is in charge of Cyber Command? Why it's the Air Force!

Is that really the case, though? Their own verbiage makes it sound different.

"Who is assigned to USSTRATCOM? The men and women of USSTRATCOM come from all four services —Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force— and include Guard and Reserve members, Department of Defense civilians and contractors. Thus, the command is a unified command. This concept allows USSTRATCOM to adapt to the changing international political and military landscape with all military branches providing key input and recommendations."[1]

and

"Organization USCYBERCOM is a sub-unified command subordinate to U. S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). Service Elements include Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER); 24 AF/ Air Force Cyber Command (AFCYBER); Fleet Cyber Command (FLTCYBERCOM); and Marine Forces Cyber Command (MARFORCYBER)"[2]

Cyber Command seems to be headquartered at an army base, Fort Meade.

[1]http://www.stratcom.mil/faq/#faq2 [2]http://www.stratcom.mil/factsheets/Cyber_Command/

If you're going to assume that they are trying to manipulate public opinion, it seems more likely to me that they are pushing for CISPA to pass than an obscure Senate hearing.

For those who don't see the connection, CISPA is intended to allow the government to help with exactly this type of situation.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com