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That's an over-simplification that obscures the important issues. What matters is in what way their interests diverge - espionage and whistle-blowing are of no
by Amadou 13y ago
That's an over-simplification that obscures the important issues. What matters is in what way their interests diverge - espionage and whistle-blowing are of no more interest to a contract employer than to the government itself because the contract employer is answerable to the government. Most contract employers live and die at the whim of their single customer.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> That's an over-simplification that obscures the important issues. What matters is in what way their interests diverge - espionage and whistle-blowing are of no more interest to a contract employer than to the government itsel Whistleblowing, sure, generally. Espionage on behalf of a foreign power, probably; espionage on behalf of the company itself... heck, government contractors in non-security related fields not-infrequently expend considerable effort to gather non-public information about their current and potential employers and competitors.
- Amadou 13y agoI'd say you have a point when talking about wholesale outsourcing of an entire division to a private contractor. But individuals who report to managers which are government employees are not a consequential risk. Even then it isn't quite espionage that's the problem but simply working to steer more business their way - inside information on operations feeds into the lobbying arm of the contractor and the lobbyists convince congress to create or expand the work available for which the contractor has a high probability of winning the bid.