Re: Meganet on Cryptogram again

From: Bob Silverman (pubkeybreaker_at_aol.comstuff)
Date: 09/29/03 

Date: 28 Sep 2003 22:58:29 GMT

Allow me to shed some light on this situation.

I was unemployed for two years following
my layoff from RSA Security. I can make
some claim to being an expert in mathematical cryptography.

I saw a position advertised by Sun for a
'cryptographic software developer'. I
even had Whit Diffie (a Sun employee) give
me a recommendation. The word came
back that I was "too senior" for the position.
(can you say "age discrimination"?)

I saw a number of similar positions advertised by a number of U.S. DOD
companies (Raytheon, Titan Systems, etc)
The word came back that they would hire
someone ONLY WITH AN ACTIVE SCI
CLEARANCE. This requirement seems to
be prevalent following 9/11; the U.S. govt.
is paranoid about clearances. The only jobs
available require ACTIVE clearances. I had
one. It expired in '96. I was told that 7 years is long enought to require a
completely new, full investigation. I was
told (name withheld) by a former high ranking employee at the NSA that I was
basically SOL. Companies will hire someone without a clearance and wait for
them to get one, but they are only hiring
people just out of school for this (i.e. cheap) and then training them. This
includes the NSA itself.

It is a catch-22. You need a clearance to get hired, but the only way to get a
clearance is to get hired and have the
company sponsor you. (they also must
have a need). A private citizen can not go to the govt. and ask for a
clearance so they
can get a job.

Furthermore, there are so many requests
for clearances that they are now backlogged and take an extensive period of
time (12-18 months). Most companies are
not willing to wait.

This is all a subtle form of age discrimination. If you have experience, you
are too expensive for companies to wait for
a clearance.

I even offered to Titan Systems to work for
a reduced salary. I sent a very nice, hand
written note (not by email) suggesting that
they would not find anyone better than I to
do crypto software development, and that
I would work for a reduced salary while
waiting for my clearance to be renewed.
The assholes (IMO) at Titan human resources did not even have the courtesy to
reply to my letter.
You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think.