at some point someone is going to discover the history that the hacker subculture was intelligence influenced all the way down. it has never not been within a degree of separation at every angle from the IC.

it's fine, hackers were probably one of the few constructive successes to come out of it ever. Personally, I suspect the hacker project was on the scale of what the US did during the cold war with abstract expressionist art[1] and literary magazines[2].

As a funnel for getting great, principled talent into the IC, we should be happy and grateful there were people to balance what was coming out of the colleges.

Just because the classified world values hacker skills doesn't mean people shouldn't. I'd say the opposite. There is absolutely a secret world that is accessible on a need to know basis, and it hides everywhere in plain sight for those with the skills to see it. All you have to do is be the among the very best at what you do, in whatever field you are in, and you will encounter it. Saying the Army undermines the subculture that was defcon misses the point. The message of hacking was, develop elite skills and others will find you. not only has this not changed, it is more true than ever.

[1]https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/did-you-know/la-cia-y-e... [2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037t501

"... the hacker subculture was intelligence influenced all the way down ..."

Oh stop.

There was zero intelligence at any of the five CuervoCons ...