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A comment on Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006). Parent comment

Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by psunavy03 on Saturday October 21, 2023 @12:58AM (#37964225)
Lots of people who have never held a clearance don't seem to understand why state secrets exist, and why they're often a deadly serious matter. If intelligence sources and methods get revealed, that can sometimes result in someone ending up in the basement of a prison in some tinpot dictatorship with a pistol round in the back of their head. Or otherwise being literally taken out back and shot.

Some people's only frame of reference is that there's nothing "secret" that's of more import than that spreadsheet Katie from HR left out on her desk, and now OMG, everyone knows what everyone else makes, the horror . . .

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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by neverdot on Saturday October 21, 2023 @01:22AM (#37964308)
Many people I know don't believe there are any state secrets. They say somebody would leak it. Must be nice to think that's how the world works!
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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by sandworm101 on Saturday October 21, 2023 @09:12AM (#37966552)
Dont think there are state secrets, or dont think a state should have secrets? I know a few libertarians who honestly believe that a government should be totally open with its citizens. But none of them believe that the country's military planning should be shared with the enemy. None of them believe that weapon designs should be shared worldwide in the name of openness.
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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by cinquemb on Saturday October 21, 2023 @03:00AM (#37964714)
When people choose to go into that line of work knowing that's the risk they could take on (or outsource to someone else through dubious means), not sure why people have to be sympathetic to that compared to all those who don't go into such line of work and still get killed everyday. But hey, dress it up in a flag and declare it a secret, makes it all better...
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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by psunavy03 on Saturday October 21, 2023 @03:10AM (#37964757)
That's OK. I remember what sophomore year of undergrad was like. I mean, that HOT professor with those great ideas that Mommy and Daddy would never . . .
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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by cinquemb on Saturday October 21, 2023 @03:22AM (#37964802)
It's ok for people footing the bill in part to want know what exactly they are paying for, even if people may still keep dying? Good to know, I was starting to think people would be surprised...
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Re:Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident (2006) by inferiorhuman on Saturday October 21, 2023 @06:28AM (#37965597)
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

* Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

* Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

* When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

* Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

* Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

* Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.

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