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A brief update
- ocdtrekkie 10y agoNote that Matt here claims he's taking a "leave from Google" to join the Defense Digital Service at the Pentagon. This is in addition to the recent announcement three months ago that Eric Schmidt would also be taking on a job at the Pentagon... also while he still works for Google. Google's partnership with our current administration has me increasingly uncomfortable. Before this year, it was generally limited to former Googlers in DC, or former government employees at Google, but this year, we have two major, very high level Google employees working directly for the Department of Defense.
- Jerry2 10y agoGoogle and USG are joined at the hip. If you haven't seen this article, give it a read and check out those charts: https://theintercept.com/2016/04/22/googles-remarkably-close-relationship-with-the-obama-white-house-in-two-charts/ https://theintercept.com/2016/04/22/googles-remarkably-close...
- madeofpalk 10y agoCompletely off topic sidenote: even when completely muted, my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) makes a sound when hovering over the names in the first chart, and a different (deeper and quieter) sound when hovering over the second one. The sound appears to come from below the F2/F3/2/3 keys. I tried to record it, but its too quiet and there's too much background noise here to hear it on the video. Anyone have an idea what this would be? I presume it's the CPU/GPU underneath, but I've never heard this before. Does this happen to anyone else?
- mschuster91 10y agoWith my Fall 2011 MBP, it's the wall wart that produces a wide variety of sounds depending on the CPU load. Desktop motherboards are known for high-frequency sounds in response to varying load - the source are the low-voltage regulators for the different CPU domains.
- jacquesm 10y agoThat's interesting. Stick an old fashioned AM radio near it and see if you can amplify the sound.
- rbinv 10y agoHe did work for the DoD before, though, so it's not exactly a "new" connection.
- imglorp 10y agoIn the old days, we needed "separation of church and state", but now it seems we need to add "separation of corp and state"..
- HillRat 10y agoSchmidt is sitting on an advisory board, not taking a position within DoD. You can ask about the propriety of a corporate executive sitting on a board advising the civilian defense component on new and emerging technologies -- especially since Google until recently was a speculative-tech defense contractor through BosDyn -- but it's not uncommon and certainly nothing unusual to Google. As for the OP, well, consider me skeptical of the idea that "digital government" can have a significant effect on governance itself. The problems within government agencies lie in a mix of politics, policies, processes and people, with a healthy dose of iron-triangle confusion of interests where applicable. Better digital can improve an agency's operations, but can't address whether those operations are fundamentally misguided.
- ocdtrekkie 10y agoWhile they were technically a defense contractor through Boston Dynamics, yes, they claimed they didn't want to be, and would end the relationship as soon as Boston Dynamics fulfilled it's existing obligations at acquisition time. Which shows some hesitation, apparently, to work with the DoD. Except for all the Googlers working with the DoD.
- kaid 10y agoseems the whole world is falling into a state capitalism shit hole.
- SwellJoe 10y agoThe phrasing of this makes it sound like he wants to paint it as though he's doing community service or something. But...Defense Digital Service? At the Pentagon? That's not exactly curing cancer or solving poverty.
- tomglynch 10y agoYeah, isn't this just taking on another job?
- progers7 10y agoI think it's pretty charitable since he's taking a massive paycut. The maximum GS payscale is 160k which is nowhere near his current compensation.
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoMany in the government space can go higher than that through special exceptions, projects and various other reasons. So I'm not convinced you can simply conclude that he's making $160k.
- curiousgal 10y agoHow much does he make in Google?
- nullptr888 10y agoI think he's already married ;)
- f_allwein 10y agoMatt is one of the nicest, most ethical people I have worked with, so I have no doubt his work in Washington will be for the benefit of society. Also, he's an expert on fighting abuse, so should be able to make some interesting contributions.
- programmarchy 10y ago> "nice ... Pentagon ... interesting contributions" Reminds me of the study: > People with more agreeable, conscientious personalities are more likely to make harmful choices. [1] [1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-green-mind/201406/are-polite-people-more-violent-and-destructive https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-green-mind/201406/a...
- stdbrouw 10y agoOriginal study: http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_01158395/document http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_01158395/document
- amelius 10y ago> Are Polite People More Violent and Destructive? Substitute "Diplomatic" for "Polite", and it makes sense.
- dang 10y agoThat's probably a fascinating study in general, but if you bring it up in the context of one specific agreeable, conscientious person, it's a personal attack, and those are not allowed here. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11927709 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11927709 and marked it off-topic.
- lifeisstillgood 10y agoDigital Government is one of the great challenges of the next decades, and I am worried that we still see software as a "rockstar" can solve it profession. Conways law means that changing software to meet our needs now means hanging the whole organisation. And changing government is a whole order of challenge greater than in private sector. But I see daily the problems of scrum sprints forcing poor architectural decisions that need strong coders to push back on - and while is suspect Matt would be one of those pushing back, really the system of digitisation of government should be more - sympathetic to the challenge. I am amazed and impressed by the XDS approach (gov.uk is a leader in this) but I remain under convinced and unable to express this coherently - I will sleep on it
- mmahemoff 10y agoI share your concern, but how else does radical change on this level happen without a wave of rockstars (as seen with UK's GDS)? One or two isolated rockstars, or even a team of a-bit-above-average engineers, have a negligible impact when faced with a bureaucracy. Their efforts are hampered and their results can easily be dismissed as noise. Is a team of rockstars alone sufficient? No. It still needs the kind of empathetic engineers who want genuine improvement and will work to permeate their efforts through the organisation. Rockstars by definition are outstanding technically, but their mindsets can vary widely. Rockstars of the precocious, arrogant, variety aren't suited for this, but others (like Matt Cutts imo) are.
- lifeisstillgood 10y agoHow Else is a very good question - and I fear that dropping in a "wave" of anyone is just going to end up wits one wet beach - GDS is having inspirational effect but as a private contractor who is making every effort to break into (for want of better term "let me get paid for developing open source solutions to the 2000 government needs - see http://www.oss4gov.org http://www.oss4gov.org) it is clear that they are not breaking down every barrier - there is a lot to do. I am not saying I know of a better way - but rock stars don't change organisations. Meaningful change is really hard and conways law is a two way sword. If you can't change the organisation good luck having the software change it for you. Here is a longer thought : Let's look at UK schools and the department for education. The essential jobs of the department are 1) school standards and inspection (ofsted) and 2) paying the schools and so forth. Fundamentally we don't need a whole department to funnel money from treasury to headmasters. There are many pieces of software that Matt Cutts could work on there, a whole career. But we could remove the need for that department and hence that OSS software by political action. This is the point I think I am making. Software literacy is soooo vital to making sure that organisations make the right choices in their software, and software is now and will be soooo deep in all organisations (they effectively become programmable corporations) that we need software "rock stars" at the highest levels of government making the highest levels of architectural decisions But when we talk about architectural decisions at government we basically are talking ministerial level policy making. And that implies that companies are going to need to have their it architecture decided by their internal political structures - which will have to become more democratic So - yeah still not making a good point. But when we want people to come in and transform digital in government, they will quickly ask political questions. And they need political answers. Even though the leverage and driving power lies in what software can offer.
- djrobstep 10y agoIt's not only not curing cancer or solving poverty, it's killing people.
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoWhile your former is true your latter is just horribly false. I worked in the DoD space for many years and the overwhelming amount of work you're most likely to do doesn't involve killing people even indirectly. More likely you're working on systems to go keep our people safe. For example I worked on software that helped soldiers look at patterns of IED placements to hopefully help them figure out where others were. I wouldn't consider what I worked on even indirectly supporting any type of killing but helping out people stay safer.
- alexeykr 10y agoI worked for the Russian military many years, and I believe Matt could do even more good for more people by using his talents in the Russian military. There is so much need there in software systems and support. It would make a great difference if there were more such volunteers. Like your experiences I agree that most of efforts were working on systems to go keep our people safe. It's nothing that involve killing people even indirectly.... But no matter Russia/US it all for a good cause - congratulations
- waterphone 10y agoUltimately, though, aren't you helping soldiers stay safer so they can continue to kill others? I'm not saying that in a judgmental way, but that is the reality of war and military-related work.
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoThis is incredibly tone deaf. I'm not sure why every thread about the DoD on Hacker News always ends up with the most extreme comments that lead to: "even if you're sending cards to the soldiers you're lifting their spirits to kill more people therefore you should feel bad about yourself". I get it. You hate war. Most people hate war, even the soldiers in our army hate it. You want change? Vote and get outside and protest. Don't shit on a DoD contractor while sitting there doing nothing. Real change requires real effort.
- bhartzer 10y agoI seem to recall that he used to work for cia or? Can't remember exactly.
- Baghard 10y agoHe interned at the DoD when he was a college student. Maybe you are thinking of the NSA? Though the NSA is part of DoD, I don't think it was ever confirmed that Matt worked for the NSA.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- coldtea 10y ago>For example I worked on software that helped soldiers Soldiers deployed in the other side of the world where they have no business to be in the first place? Securing cheap oil resources and/or control of strategic interests?
- res0nat0r 10y agoCan we please keep HN from becoming r/politics? I know it's too late now, but every single post even remotely involving government now turns into a USA IS EVIL type discussion and it's very irrelevant.
- djrobstep 10y agoThe moral consequences of technology are extremely relevant. Technology can be used for both great good and great evil. It seems weird to not want to ever discuss that.
- rvense 10y agoOnce the rockets are up, who cares where they come down!
- legulere 10y agoThis is not about the USA in general, this is about military and especially the US military. If this was about helping the military of my country, I would also find it questionable.
- danso 10y agoReminds me of when Craig Newmark did a stint with Veterans Affairs, becoming a real evangelist for the agency and getting into the nitty gritty of office IT: http://craigconnects.org/2009/11/why-craigslist-founder-joins-va-innovation-search-panel.html http://craigconnects.org/2009/11/why-craigslist-founder-join... http://craigconnects.org/2013/04/veterans-disability-claims-backlog-setting-the-record-straight.html http://craigconnects.org/2013/04/veterans-disability-claims-...
- mtgx 10y agoA lot of back and forth between Google and the U.S. government lately. Even Eric Schmidt joined the Pentagon. I think if Google would've kept the robot division, it would've inevitably become a defense contractor (even though they promised they wouldn't). Fortunately, it's going to sell it, but there's still time to become that with DeepMind, etc.
- ams6110 10y agoThat's because Google is Skynet, of course.
- Yhippa 10y agoAnybody have experience working for the USDS? What was it like? I'm curious to know if people in industry on the East Coast recognize the program.
- marco_salvatori 10y agoI generally advise nice, ethical people who want to benefit society to avoid working for morally ambiguous organizations, as it can have a degradating effect on their character. Still, some people find their principles in unexpected places. And for someone who is an expert on fighting abuse, there is an rare opportunity for outstanding service to their country and the principles that made it great by applying such skills to the situation at Guantanamo.
- dang 10y agoWe detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11927709 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11927709 and marked it off-topic.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- sidcool 10y agoExpected and got the negative comments here. He's taking paycut and making a difference in Governance. Not Bill Gates level, but something at least. If nothing, it's better than people making condescending armchair comments here.
- barryaustin 10y agoIt's a common part of human nature. Assigning bad moral character on the basis of group identity, rather than on individual actions, is the essence of tribalism and bigotry. Sure, the DoD has an outsized impact on people's lives and a highly controversial history including both major evil and major good. It seems to me a positive thing that someone of good character and strong capabilities would go to make things better, vs allowing bad actors to accumulate and do what bad actors do.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- uola 10y agoWhy do think covert operations, black sites, secret courts and hidden budgets exist? Or chain of command, court martials and censorship? It's not a democratic organisation of individual actions. It's easy to say that he's of "good character" trying to make things better, but in reality he is lending his credibility to bad actors and he has little power to make things better. Keith Alexander doesn't go to defcon in jeans and a t-shirt to take input, but to sell a different image of the military. If it's anything that is human nature it's to despite evidence to the contrary justify how bad things are not your responsibility. NSA compromised google users data and here is one of the most famous googlers acting head recruiter for the military.
- Tannic 10y agoHe's working for the most violent military in human history. To make it more efficient! Humanitarian!
- rambos 10y agoPlease help make changes in the most efficient way possible. I've seen it before when these digital agencies filled with "innovators" come only to reinvent the wheel; spending ridiculous amounts of tax payer dollars and man hours to create things that could otherwise be brought in from the private sector. Good luck, do what's right with the tax payer dollars.
- Tannic 10y agoAnother turn in the swinging door between douchle and big gov
- dang 10y agoWe've banned this account for violating the HN guidelines. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com. We're happy to unban people when there's reason to believe that they'll only post civil and substantive comments (and particularly avoid personal attacks) in the future.
- legulere 10y agoMaking a difference in the branch of government that is about destroying lives in other countries.
- nnutter 10y agoTo be a little more fair it's also about defense.
- qmr 10y agoThe US is surrounded by two friendly nations and two big fuckoff oceans. I question the need for 'defense'.
- joshmanders 10y ago9/11, Boston, Orlando, San Bernardino, nah we don't need defense, nobody can get to us.
- geofft 10y agoSo why do those things keep happening in the US and not in, say, Canada or Japan? Do they have scarier armies?
- wnoise 10y agoHe didn't say we didn't need police.
- joshmanders 10y agoOh yeah, spray the fire extinguisher at the top of the fire instead of the base, that'll surely put it out!
- TeMPOraL 10y agoNo, just stop "extinguishing" the fire by burning other peoples' houses down. (It's as absurd as it sounds, and yet that's essentially the US strategy for defending from terrorist attacks)
- wnevets 10y agoWow good for you for matt, hope it goes well!
- angry-hacker 10y agoU.S needs the separation of state and corporation.
- ebbv 10y agoThis is really cool Matt, but here's hoping your appointment ends before January 2017 just in case the orangutan wins.
- tangled_zans 10y agoCan people rename this to something that makes sense? Seeing a post on the front page saying "A brief update" is so vague. An update by whom? About what? There's literally not enough information to gauge whether or not I should pursue this further without clicking on it.
- dahdum 10y agoI'm surprised to see so much negativity in the thread. It's fantastic for government to add more people like Cutts, especially in a division with innovation as a goal. He brings excellent public communication skills, I'm excited to see what he'll be working on and hope they'll report broadly.
- bane 10y agoAbsolutely awesome. Thanks for setting an example of civil service. I'm in the D.C. area, feel free to drop me a line (email in my profile).