Federal agency spent $3 million fighting non-existent malware
http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/09/technology/security/commerce-malware/index.html?source=cnn_bin
Even more interesting than the $3 million thrown away was that the agency wanted to toss another almost $30 million after it:
The report has a silver lining: Government watchdogs eventually caught on to the EDA’s unnecessary panic and turned down a request for $26 million to fund further “recovery efforts.” The agency’s remaining laptops and computer mice are safe from the incinerator.
If the government would simply pay the going rate for qualified people (or actually listened to their 3x more expensive contractors (though contractors are just as likely to inflate a problem), how that is supposed to save money is a mystery to me) they could get people that actually knew how to do their jobs instead of relying on people unable to get jobs in the private sector (at typically a substantial pay premium!). Sure, there used to be a life-time equivalence for govt vs private sector work (when the govt had its great pension plan), but that was then, this is now. Only dummies and a handful of patriots are going to give up the 2x paycheck for work in these fields. What is the chance that the patriot is going to wind up in the critical decision making position? And just because she is a patriot doesn’t also mean she is qualified, keep in mind!
