back to article White House issues Executive Order on cybersecurity, including hacker Hunger Games

"A year after the White House eliminated the position of cybersecurity coordinator, President Donald Trump called for everyone else to do the opposite and push cybersecurity coordination through worker training and recruitment." "America built the internet and shared it with the world; now we will do our part to secure and …

  1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Bad boss

    Trump is that incompetent boss that comes up with an impulsive idea, orders everyone to make it happen, and then fires everyone when it fails. It's like he's expecting a genie to rewrite the universe to make the idea work.

    1. Chris G

      Re: Bad boss

      Can anyone get the BOFH and PFY into the WhiteHouse on temporary contracts?

    2. Geoffrey W

      Re: Bad boss

      Trump is the living embodiment of the PHB - Pointy Haired Boss - from the Dilbert comic...and yet Scott Adams is one of Trumps cheerleaders...what new kind of dissonance is going on in Adams head...I no longer understand the world...kernel panic!

      1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

        Re: Bad boss

        Nope, the PHB would be an improvement, Trump is the living embodiment of the CEO.

        1. beep54

          Re: Bad boss

          Trump is the living embodiment of the sociopathic with narcissistic personality disorder CEO. FTFY

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bad boss

        Probably Adams is just greedy. I'm sure he makes a lot of money off Dilbert, and loves the tax cut because he keeps more of it. Why should he care if the deficit is $1 trillion when the economy is good, and therefore assured to hit $2 trillion when the inevitable recession comes. He's got his, so he can easily move to another country if the day of reckoning for the US debt ever came.

        1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

          Re: Bad boss

          He gave lots of explanations. First was that you can't fix something until it's completely broken, and Trump will break it. That's a great response for a sociopath who doesn't care who is getting hurt while the government is broken. Later he said it was pure greed. About then I didn't care to read anything more produced by him.

          1. DavCrav

            Re: Bad boss

            "First was that you can't fix something until it's completely broken, and Trump will break it. That's a great response for a sociopath who doesn't care who is getting hurt while the government is broken."

            It's also obvious bollocks. If I hear a rattle in my car engine, I take it to a garage to be fixed. I don't wait until rods start shooting through the engine block like bullets.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Bad boss

            Wow. I saw that he was routing for the end so he can revel in the "told you so, now let's rebuild". But now I think of it... perhaps Dilbert is so spot on on the evil going on, not because Adams sees the evil and wants to prevent it... but because he is the evil boss cat after all!?

          3. Vometia Munro Silver badge

            Re: Bad boss

            I'm feeling like the stuff I enjoyed in the '90s is really falling apart, what with Adams, Glinner and others just turning out to be arseholes. I know any work should really stand on its own merits but there's always a sour taste when you realise the person who created it is an arse.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Bad boss

              Standing on it's own merit? TBF art is more available than ever before. And even then. The most skilled worker is worthless if they are also the worst person in the world.

              Meal of greens where there is love vs 3 course meal and the best steak but with backstabbing...

      3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Bad boss

        "I no longer understand the world...kernel panic!"

        Try a Guru Meditation. Much more calming even if the cause is the same.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bad boss

        The longer he is in office, the more incidents Scot can turn into cartoons???

    3. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: Bad boss

      Trump is that incompetent boss that comes up with an impulsive idea

      To be fair to Trump[1], the US Senate has mandated a minimum aircraft carrier force number and, if HST were to be decommissioned, the numbers would fall below the mandated minimum.

      I doubt very much however if El Trumpo had that (or any other rational reason) as the basis for his decision..

      [1] Words I never thought I'd write!

  2. lxndr

    PCCC, for real? Did he mean CCCP?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Da, tovarishch, because communism is man's inhumanity to man while capitalism is the exact opposite.

    2. Sherrie Ludwig

      Damn, you beat me to it - PCCC? Yep, we are becoming a Soviet Union, only more backwards.

    3. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      In Soviet America, cybersecurity competition wins you.

      (Y'know, this might be the only time I've used the Yakov Smirnoff template. I feel sullied, but it was curiously irresistible.)

  3. don't you hate it when you lose your account

    Invented?

    Really, America gave the world the Internet. You live and learn

    1. macjules

      Re: Invented?

      Well, if we are talking ARPANET then technically they did. If Trump is, as I suspect, referring to the Worldwide Web then that would be CERN, which is certainly not in the USA.

      1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Invented?

        What!

        Of course it is. It just thinks it isn't.

        Ask that nice Mr trump. He knows these things.

        /s {just in case it's needed}

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Invented?

        "Well, if we are talking ARPANET then technically they did. If Trump is, as I suspect, referring to the Worldwide Web then that would be CERN, which is certainly not in the USA."

        I think he was pointing out that some of the underlying technology that makes the "internet" work, such as packet switching, was a British idea. I'm sure there are other bits that are not stamped "Made In The USA". Give 'em their dues though, they did put it all together and slapped a shiny new interface on it and than called it their invention. Oh, sorry, maybe that's Apple.

        1. MacroRodent

          Re: Invented?

          I would be surprised if Trump had any idea that lower layers like packet switching even existed.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Every countries history books/classes...

        Has how *they* invented [it]. With [it] being the closes thing to the real invention.

        There are a few exceptions (moon landings etc). And a few real good close and honest examples ("We helped/added to").

        But language corrupts peoples perception. Columbus "discovering" instead of "re-discovering" (as I think the current natives may have disagreed with the discovered bit!).

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Every countries history books/classes...

          "But language corrupts peoples perception. Columbus "discovering" instead of "re-discovering" (as I think the current natives may have disagreed with the discovered bit!)."

          Not to mention that we've known for quite a few years that the Vikings got there long before Columbus and it was a lot more than a one off visit.

          1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: Every countries history books/classes...

            We've also known for a while that other European contemporaries of Columbus were well aware of the existence of the Americas. The Basque were selling salt cod, fished from the Grand Banks, in European markets throughout the medieval period; they weren't getting it from Amazon. (See Kurlansky, Cod.) There's a letter from Giovanni Caboto (aka John Cabot) to Columbus scolding him for letting the aristocracy in on what had been a monopoly of the merchant class - namely the existence of the Americas.

            I don't know offhand of any confirmed European landings in the Americas as far south as the Caribbean prior to Columbus, so he might have been the first European to "discover" that part of the Americas. Since both his hypotheses and interpretations were wrong for pretty much all of his career as an explorer, though, he makes a pretty feeble hero.

      4. expreg

        Re: Invented?

        TCP/IP, ethernet, BGP, the list goes on... And it's debatable that packet switching is a British invention, since an American theorized it independently (and before Davies), and is also credited with its implementation in the ARPANET (alongside Davies).

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Baran

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kahn

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Metcalfe

        It was ARPA's research and funding that made the foundation of the modern (non-http) internet... though certainly the whole set of technologies is a worldwide effort with geniuses from all of the world (notably from the UK!) making it all possible with novel and brilliant ideas.

    2. Aodhhan

      Re: Invented?

      Yeesh... where were you educated?

      The article states the USA BUILT the Internet, not created, not invented, or any other misleading thought in your brain.

      Built in a sense, the USA invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the late 80s to mid 1990s to begin the initial infrastructure everyone uses today. The taxpayers in the United States were even kind enough to invest in other countries as well to assist them with coming 'online'.

      I'm willing to bet, whatever country you come from needed to put money into a failing educational system, designed to increase reading comprehension and distribution of dictionaries.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: Invented?

      Everyone knows the internet was created in the 1860's by the Republican party, to help organise the hunt for Hillary's angry 15 peodo-baby killers.

      Joke icon - not that the icon will stop MAGA hat wearers believing it.

  4. sitta_europea Silver badge

    The Office of Personnel Management?

    Er, weren't they the people that...?

  5. Stoneshop
    Holmes

    "which will be open to government employees and armed service members."

    Armed.

    Shooting your competitors is one way to come out on top.

    1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      Re: "which will be open to government employees and armed service members."

      You mean like the police, whose policy seems to be "Fire, Aim, Ready".

      1. Chris G

        Re: "which will be open to government employees and armed service members."

        "Fire, Aim, Ready"

        The FAR doctrine.

        Fire first.

        Aim to have a reason.

        Be Ready to give the reason.

        An example of a reason would be " My life was in clear and imminent danger, he was standing with his hands up in a threatening manner".

        Otherwise known as Savage policing.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Securing cyberspace for future generations

    "America built the internet and shared it with the world; now we will do our part to secure and preserve cyberspace for future generations"

    There's nothing wrong with cyberspace security that needs fixing, the fault lies with the defective computers connected at either end.

    1. ITS Retired

      Re: Securing cyberspace for future generations

      There's nothing wrong with cyberspace security that needs fixing, the fault lies with the defective computers people connected at either end.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Who had a worst boss than Trump?

    @Kevin McMurtrie: “Trump is that incompetent boss that comes up with an impulsive idea, orders everyone to make it happen, and then fires everyone when it fails. It's like he's expecting a genie to rewrite the universe to make the idea work.”

    I worked for a Trump once, he ignored the core business, kept coming up with get-rich-quick schemes that invariably failed and managed to drive away the best people. And here's the main point: did not have a clue or any insight into his own defects. At least he was limited to a small tech company and didn't have to opportunity to destroy western civilization.

    Used to try and tell me technical stuff he'd read in a magazine. Like how many line of code there are in the latest version of Windows. Then he moved onto languages and mentioned Forth. Yes I said, a stack based language that was originally designed to control radio telescopes. At which he got up in a huff and left the vicinity. In places and with people like that, the thing to look out for is. If there are no original people left on the floor after ten months, then run like hell.

    1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Re: the thing to look out for

      If you get a call from one of the suppliers about a bill the has not been paid, you should have left the month before.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: the thing to look out for

        True in some places but sadly not in the UK. One of the worst things about life here is the late payment culture, especially big companies where the FD seems to get a bonus based on how high he can get the average payables days outstanding without quite losing a major supplier.

        Back in the days of BICC, the MD of the company for which my mother worked got a big order from them, and phoned the purchasing department to tell them it was being rejected because he would go bankrupt before it got paid. At that point they were up to 180 days. Yet a few years later when I placed an order with BICC they practically grovelled to ask for quick payment. Fired out of your own cannon.

        1. macjules

          Re: the thing to look out for

          A certain UK household name pharmacy company has payment terms 'up to 180 days from invoice date, settled in the payment run in the middle of the following month' which actually means around 210 days. This is presuming that their accounts payable actually remembers to process your invoice, which they often do not do. That payment mentality is mostly prevalent in 'predator' corporations who know that if they hold out long enough then the supplier will go into liquidation. Another good example of this is Haymarket Publishing who, following Michael Heseltine's business model, are widely renowned for not paying after 180 days until they have received at least one solicitor's letter.

  8. SotarrTheWizard
    Mushroom

    Ever TRY to work for Uncle Sam ??

    . . . .the process is lengthy and byzantine. No, you can't use your regular resume or CV. Instead, you have to write a custom document addressing required "KSAs" (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities) for each and every point of the job description. And then wait. In one case, I waited 14 months for a response, got a phone interview, and 6 months after THAT, got an email telling me I was not selected.

    All for lousy pay (compared to the private sector), but excellent benefits. Including being effectively layoff-proof. . . .

    Oh, and a list of certifications ? Department of Defense has had that for 11 years: why not use theirs ??

    All in all, the pain and hassle of putting in for a Federal Job in us.gov is pretty much not worth the payoff. . .

  9. Aodhhan

    Where are the cyber security professionals?

    All I see posting, is a bunch of political drabber without any intelligent thoughts about information security.

    I don't give a rats ass about your political beliefs or short sighted bitching.

    I have to laugh though, imagining how drab your life must be--and where it's going.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where are the cyber security professionals?

      "All I see posting, is a bunch of political drabber without any intelligent thoughts about information security."

      As this article is about a short sighted politician with no intelligent thoughts about information security, the responses seem quite appropriate.

      "I have to laugh though, imagining how drab your life must be--and where it's going."

      Yup, I'm retired with a number of health problems and I know where it's going.

      What's your excuse?

  10. King Bob

    1. Stop using Windows.

    2. Repeat.

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