As the United States faces possible retaliatory attacks from Iran, a “brain drain” in top Justice Department and FBI national security and counterterrorism units could reduce their ability to prevent potential terror and cyber attacks from Tehran, according to six former senior DOJ and FBI officials.
Staff levels in the DOJ National SecurityDivision’s Law and Policy section have dropped by as much as two-thirds, two former DOJ officials said. Its counterintelligence and export control section — which tracks foreign espionage in the U.S. by Iran and other foreign rival — has lost about a third of its workforce, two former DOJ official said.
A former senior FBI official said he was aware of at least 20 national security personnel who had left the bureau in the last 3 months.
Bobby was solicited at 16 by an army recruiter that said he’d have a desk job and free college. Bobby is a mechanic in the states for 2 years, and sent on an overseas tour as infantry as soon as he turns 18. If he doesn’t go, he’ll be put in jail and dishonorably discharged.
This is the reality of our current recruitment efforts. The number of people that say “I want to shoot terrorists” is very low, and they get kicked out at the psych eval.
And Bobby might just be at a base in the region at the invitation of local government helping protect regional stability, not “shooting up brown people”. He is innocent yet now a legitimate target
If the alternative is killing some innocent villagers who didn’t do anything, they should choose the prison sentence. They are still making a choice, even if that choice may have consequences trying to force them to the alternative.
While I don’t fully disagree, dishonorable discharge is already effectively a sentence to starve to death on the streets. It makes it incredibly tough to get a job in the States, if not impossible in a lot of places. With the death of a thousand cuts to the welfare system and the fact that minorities and poor whites are overwhelmingly represented in the military, your choice narrows down to “either deploy or get beaten to death by cops in 5 years.”
Bobby is an idiot not paying attention and made his choice, stop pretending these people aren’t able to make decisions on their own
Reminder that we are talking about teenagers being groomed and targeted by adult military recruiters.
Reminder that we are talking about teenagers that are almost completely politically unaware because they can’t vote yet and have no reason to know what’s going on.
Reminder that we are talking about teenagers who can’t vote, can’t smoke, can’t drink, at 16 maybe can’t drive yet, but are old enough to be recruited by adults who are introduced to them as trusted government officials, usually through our own education system.
Yes, Bobby is an idiot, by definition. He is 16, indoctrinated, poorly educated, and pumped to the gills with testosterone. He is easily manipulated by a propaganda mill that has been systematically brainwashing almost everyone since long before he got his first toy soldier, before he saw the flyover at the big ball game, since the first war movie where his countrymen were the heroes. And this same system that fucks with his head is the same system that fucks him into a life of poverty, then promises him prosperity if he signs up. Bobby has almost no defenses against this war machine.
Stop pretending that ordinary people have the skill to reject decades of government and social propaganda from childhood. Stop pretending that regular citizens are able make decisions independently of the influence from professional psychological manipulators.
Also, they specifically learned during Iraq 2 to target poor kids. Turns out it’s easy to get them to sign on if you tell them “hey, you don’t need to have finished HS, and when you get out, you’ll have your college paid for and job prospects lining up for you if you don’t wanna do college” - something a lot of these kids wouldn’t have otherwise.
It wasn’t even a lie. I never would have gotten my life in order without signing up. My life was falling apart. Fortunately, my ship during deployment only saved lives. Nobody died on our account. But that wasn’t guaranteed.
True, but that doesn’t excuse Bobby shooting up brown people in the Middle East. Joining the military and being surprised when you’re deployed to fight wars is pure FAFO.
It doesn’t excuse it, but it definitely does explain why Bobby thought he was the good guy and the other people were bad guys. If you’re only gonna pin the blame on Bobby, you’re never gonna understand and fix the real problem. Bobby isn’t just another guilty party. He’s a victim of the psychopaths in power too.
I agree; I just wanted to push back against the idea that American soldiers who go invade countries halfway across the world for oil and genocide are innocent. Victims yes, but not innocent. Glorification and whitewashing of the military is part of how America got here.
Most people who join the military aren’t doing it with the idea of protecting oil by committing genocide. The murderous types are frequently kicked out of basic training, for that reason. Most people who join believe that they are protecting their country from people who would do it harm. Before this current administration, there was still a sense that our leaders could be at least somewhat trusted to sometimes do the right thing.
Not the person that you’re responding to, but I don’t only pin the blame on Bobby. I acknowledge that the US Military propaganda hits hard, but Bobby still has agency.
Bobby absolutely has agency. But he has never had the privilege of an unbiased perspective free of weaponized propaganda.
"Yes, Bobby is a Nazi, but it’s just how he was raised!’
Yes, that is exactly how Nazis are made. Pretending otherwise isn’t going to fix the problem.
But there is a big difference between the average American soldier and fucking Nazis. If you can’t tell the difference, you’ll never be part of the solution to that problem.