edit: here's the obligatory "but this is blogspam" note...Kelly's employment with the NSA was first reported by the the Times here a few days ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/technology/silicon-valley-...)...but yeah, here's a classic case of newspaperism vs. sexy-SEO-headlines...I didn't read "Web's Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders" because it sounded no different than other recent stories...but a Facebook exec going to work for N.S.A. is definitely a headline-worthy fact.
However, Kelly isn't the stereotypical young Bay Area millionaire ex-Facebooker...he previously worked as an FBI analyst before joining Facebook (https://twitter.com/wrox/status/1699420309)...So going from FBI to Facebook to NSA isn't as strange as, well, going from college to Facebook to NSA, unless the catered lunch at NSA is classified and delicious. Not knowing why he left Facebook...but after doing so, it's not out of left field to go back into federal security, especially if he had a NDA with Facebook not to go to other competing services, such as Google.
There are people from all walks of life from all sorts of industries who end up at the NSA. It doesn't mean they're all setting up systems and bringing back intel for spying. This is just a coincidence.
So I'm glad you brought this up but still think everyone is still going to play right into this article's trap. After all, conspiracy theories are much more satisfying to our egos than mundane reality.
Let me guess - NSA couldn't find anyone else who knew how to manage Hadoop.
Just because readers join the dots to reveal a conspiracy picture, doesn't mean the picture isn't convincing or removed from reality or designed to satisfy egos.
Just a coincidence you say?
The fact is, Kelly said "There isn't enough information shared". Okay... so he clearly believes more information should be shared between Facebook and the NSA. Now he has gone to work for the NSA. 1 + 1 = 2.
It's gone beyond "theory" and is now simply playing out like a documentary in real time.
Grab yourself some popcorn.
It's not really a coincidence that political influence in the security department at FaceBook is going to be seen as an asset by an organization interested in gaining access to FaceBook's data.
At this point, as has long been suspected, the word of FB cannot be believed in any respect with relation to any users' personal privacy.
Even seeing the supposed interface between FB and the USG - the station of the employees within/without are highly in question.
The relationship between these groups is very obvious.
I don't believe there is a secret group trying to build the IT infrastructure to subvert democracy and throw us into re-education camps a la Pol Pot version 2013.
However, the bureaucracy is essentially building that very same system regardless of which administration is "in charge".
Sarcasm?
Facebook received $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel, whose manager, James Breyer, now sits on the In-Q-Tel board. He was formerly the chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, whose board included Gilman Louie, then the CEO of In-Q-Tel.
One of the main managers of the facebook investors "Greylock partners", Howard Cox, sits also in the management board of In-Q-Tel. The offices of Greylock and In-Q-Tel are direclty next to each other at Sandhill Road in Menlo Park.
(yes, I know I just invoked Godwin's law by comparing the NSA controversy with WW2, but it was tongue-in-cheek)
His reasons for leaving Facebook and joining NSA may be completely orthogonal to each other...but in terms of likeliness, I think it's safe to argue that Kelly was wanted for his experience in security implementations in modern day networks, rather than him having a mid-life crisis and deciding to quit tech management work to try his hand at code cracking.
That said, this doesn't mean he joined out of nefarious motives. His work at the FBI could mean that he honestly believes he is doing God's work in helping government and private tech companies become partners for the good of all. His use at the NSA may be as someone who smooths out any hurdles that are encountered during perfectly legal processes between the two institutions...it doesn't have to be that he's Chief-Backdoor-Installer at the NSA.
On the other hand, just because you have great intentions doesn't mean the result is ideal...many government officials who become lobbyists may sincerely believe in their cause, but their access and power leads to unintended consequences.
In other words, the job transition could be entirely good natured, but it still could result in some people's worst fears being realized. So more transparency in this example would be nice...though I wonder how much Kelly can say without encroaching upon what the government thinks of as being top-secret-classified.
Maybe there isn't a plan to infiltrate existing big-data companies, but it seems like an awful coincidence that we see things like the above link and the headlines of today.
