5 ms·

"The report says Gottumukkala requested a special exemption to access ChatGPT, which is blocked for other Department of Homeland Security staff."

by lysace 9mo ago

rbanffy 9mo ago
That they got this is shocking in itself.
- lysace 9mo ago
  Surely that must have been approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, his former boss back in SD.
  - rbanffy 9mo ago
    Every cause that led to this event is, in itself, quite shocking. I feel for my American friends, and hope they never again optimise their government for comedy value.
    - mcmcmc 9mo ago
      Unfortunately it’s not so shocking anymore. The Secretary of Defense texting imminent war plans to a journalist in a Signal group kinda jumped the shark.
      - granoIacowboy 9mo ago
        Secretary of War
        dragonwriter 9mo ago
        In law, it is still the Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense, no matter what cutesy nicknames the executive branch invents.
        somenameforme 9mo ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 9mo ago
        [deleted]
        somenameforme 9mo ago
        It was always called the Department of War [1] from 1789 until 1947. At that point it was repackaged as the Department of Defense when we started framing invading countries half-way around the world as 'defense'. Prior to that rhetoric around war was far more honest. We tried to buy a sizable chunk of Texas from Mexico. They rejected our offer so we invaded and took it, because we wanted it. It's only in 1947 and later that somehow invading countries half-way around the world and shipping weapons to anybody with a buck began being framed as 'defense' or somehow saving the world from whatever - tyrant, terror, communism, burdens of oil, and so on. So in many ways I think it would be far more apt to say that 'Department of Defense' is the cutesy name. They're not defending anything - nukes and geography take care of that, more or less, on their own. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Wa...
        dragonwriter 9mo ago
        > It was always called the Department of War [1] from 1789 until 1947. No, what became the Department of Defense didn't exist from 1789 until 1947. The cabinet level Department of the Navy (current Department of the Navy) and the cabinet-level Department of War (later split into the current Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force) did, as separate, co-equal entities with no single civilian head over them beneath the President. The National Military Establishment under the cabinet-level Secretary of Defense was created as a unified military structure in 1947 over both the Department of the Navy (which remained a cabinet-level department) and what had been the Department of War (which was split into the cabinet-level Departments of the Army and the Air Force). And in 1949 the three service departments were fully subordinated within the NME instead of being cabinet level, and the NME was renamed the Department of Defense (pribably not entirely because it was really awkward having the combined military organization use an initialism that sounded like “enemy”, but...) More detailed version in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825849
    - delaminator 9mo ago
      > Every cause that led to this event is, in itself, quite shocking. accidentally based > Madhu Gottumukkala was born in Andhra Pradesh, India
- cybertronic 9mo ago
  meanwhile https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/13/elon-musk-grok-hegseth-military-pentagon https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/13/elon-musk...

"The report says Gottumukkala requested a special exemption to access ChatGPT, which is blocked for other Department of Homeland Security staff."

by lysace 9mo ago

"The report says Gottumukkala requested a special exemption to access ChatGPT, which is blocked for other Department of Homeland Security staff."

rbanffy 9mo ago

That they got this is shocking in itself.

lysace 9mo ago
Surely that must have been approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, his former boss back in SD.
- rbanffy 9mo ago
  Every cause that led to this event is, in itself, quite shocking. I feel for my American friends, and hope they never again optimise their government for comedy value.
  - mcmcmc 9mo ago
    Unfortunately it’s not so shocking anymore. The Secretary of Defense texting imminent war plans to a journalist in a Signal group kinda jumped the shark.
    - granoIacowboy 9mo ago
      Secretary of War
      - dragonwriter 9mo ago
        In law, it is still the Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense, no matter what cutesy nicknames the executive branch invents.
        somenameforme 9mo ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 9mo ago
        [deleted]
        somenameforme 9mo ago
        It was always called the Department of War [1] from 1789 until 1947. At that point it was repackaged as the Department of Defense when we started framing invading countries half-way around the world as 'defense'. Prior to that rhetoric around war was far more honest. We tried to buy a sizable chunk of Texas from Mexico. They rejected our offer so we invaded and took it, because we wanted it. It's only in 1947 and later that somehow invading countries half-way around the world and shipping weapons to anybody with a buck began being framed as 'defense' or somehow saving the world from whatever - tyrant, terror, communism, burdens of oil, and so on. So in many ways I think it would be far more apt to say that 'Department of Defense' is the cutesy name. They're not defending anything - nukes and geography take care of that, more or less, on their own. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Wa...
        dragonwriter 9mo ago
        > It was always called the Department of War [1] from 1789 until 1947. No, what became the Department of Defense didn't exist from 1789 until 1947. The cabinet level Department of the Navy (current Department of the Navy) and the cabinet-level Department of War (later split into the current Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force) did, as separate, co-equal entities with no single civilian head over them beneath the President. The National Military Establishment under the cabinet-level Secretary of Defense was created as a unified military structure in 1947 over both the Department of the Navy (which remained a cabinet-level department) and what had been the Department of War (which was split into the cabinet-level Departments of the Army and the Air Force). And in 1949 the three service departments were fully subordinated within the NME instead of being cabinet level, and the NME was renamed the Department of Defense (pribably not entirely because it was really awkward having the combined military organization use an initialism that sounded like “enemy”, but...) More detailed version in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825849
  - delaminator 9mo ago
    > Every cause that led to this event is, in itself, quite shocking. accidentally based > Madhu Gottumukkala was born in Andhra Pradesh, India
cybertronic 9mo ago
meanwhile https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/13/elon-musk-grok-hegseth-military-pentagon https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/13/elon-musk...