Being a contractor, its a perceived strength to be as flexible as possible.

I think this is a good thing. I'll take honesty and transparency over perceived flexibility any day.

I work in neither in Gambling nor Defense, but I still wouldn't hire this guy because he sounds difficult to work with.

Software development is such a rush when you're young, and it's easy to be blinded to other concerns by the thrill of it. Those of us who have had this desire manipulated for malicious ends need to keep speaking up, to remind people that there can be real harm done by our actions and that we have to be thinking not just about the interesting problem spaces we're exploring but also what the product we're making is doing, what it's intent is, what effect it might have on people.

Please keep sharing this story to young engineers as you come across the opportunity to do so. It's a sobering truth about our duties that often goes unspoken.