Story Friday October 27, 2023

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

 

https://www.egscomics.com/comic/layers-064  

Edward has previously commented that his professional conversations are dominated by the need to keep secrets and the need to keep people happy. 

How odd is it to discover Tedd is happy if Edward doesn't keep secrets?  

 . . . . . 

So how long has Tedd been an Unpaid Intern for the agency?

Of course, if Tedd has been producing useful results for the agency without getting paid why should they start paying Tedd at all?  

 

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Of course, if Tedd has been producing useful results for the agency without getting paid why should they start paying Tedd at all?  

They haven't said that they are going to pay him, just give him a lab.  Granted I suspect that the "lab expenses" account is going to have more than one pizza party on it.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

How odd is it to discover Tedd is happy if Edward doesn't keep secrets? 

Not at all? I have been privy to government secrets, and keep them; it is a bit of a stress factor in close relationships, such as spouse and kids, more so if they know that you are keeping secrets (so it's best not to advertise that detail). In my case, the kids were too young to be aware, and my ex was in a similar situation, so at least understood.

Tedd should be happy if Edward keeps his mouth shut and does not talk about things he's not supposed to. Talking out of turn is bad for both of them. Edward could be disciplined, potentially loose his job, and if the situation is egregious, could face prison time. Tedd would come under scrutiny, would have a file, and might be barred in the future from government service or holding a clearance. That's in the US, some places would be much worse, some might be a bit more benign.

FWIW, you are never told, "That's not a secret anymore." I see stuff in open sources and wonder if it is still classified; I make a point of not drawing attention to it. People routinely go to their graves with odd formerly secret trivia that is no longer meaningful.

 

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So how long has Tedd been an Unpaid Intern for the agency?

In his initial contact with Will and Gill, he's younger than his is in the bulk of the comic, appears somewhat childish, but understands modding and bench work. I'd estimate no younger than eight, no older than ten; but a little higher would be less surprising than a little bit lower. Can we call it nine years old?

The gang is graduating this year. School districts vary in how they admit children into grades, but graduating at seventeen is typical. We have not heard that anyone was graduating early (but Susan is supposed to be younger, and yet is also graduating?), and specifically have not heard that Tedd is. And he recently was assigned a government sponsored lab, which could be viewed as a form of compensation (I'm sure he sees it as a windfall). So eight years is my guesstimate.

If you don't want to count the lab as compensation, and assume he will be an unpaid intern while at Moperville University, assuming a typical graduation track, add four years until he graduates and they hire him for an overall total before he's done.

 

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Of course, if Tedd has been producing useful results for the agency without getting paid why should they start paying Tedd at all? 

This is probably not discretionary. If he is noted as an asset, he is also categorized, and there is a policy dealing with how he is treated, including compensation. As a for instance, I am employed on a government contract. My employer has a contract with the US government. How much I work affects how much my employer gets paid. I am required to record and report all of my hours worked. I cannot work overtime without authorization, because money and contractual obligations are involved. If we have an emergency, yeah, some government official will give us the OK to work on it until it is resolved, but normally, I am constrained to eight hour days.

Edward was in effect doing extra duty shepherding Tedd's transformation gun efforts, per the recent exposition sequence with Assistant Director Leifeld, and there may have been some level of compensation involved for either Edward, Tedd or both. It could involve a trust fund that Tedd is not aware of until he reaches an age; I suppose it could have been tied to results. I'm guessing that is not the case, because it has not been a part of the narrative, but it would not be impossible.

Of course there is the obvious, 'get to screw around with exotic alien technology', which is compensation in itself, just like being eventually funded for a lab.

Looking at this from a different angle, why would they pay Tedd if he is willing to work for free? There are several reasons that it is beneficial to pay Tedd. It establishes a relationship and roles. It lends a sense of legitimacy to his efforts which can help keep his focus on their goals. It enhances their legitimacy from his point of view. It serves to avoid future issues of being taken advantage of. It seems, too, that it is greasing the skids if they plan to hire him in the future; cultivating an asset. "We are your friends, remember that."

Why do you tip, when you could easily avoid it (assuming you do tip)?

 

[Amiable Dorsai 70]

On 10/27/2023 at 10:43 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

I have been privy to government secrets, and keep them; it is a bit of a stress factor in close relationships, such as spouse and kids, more so if they know that you are keeping secrets

Yes, even though the so-called secrets boiled down to "this is how the Soviets do it, too." I figured that once the Iron Curtain came down and Soviet Army surplus hit the open market, that it would be OK to talk about it, but nobody ever told me it was alright now.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

5 hours ago, Amiable Dorsai said:

Yes, even though the so-called secrets boiled down to "this is how the Soviets do it, too." I figured that once the Iron Curtain came down and Soviet Army surplus hit the open market, that it would be OK to talk about it, but nobody ever told me it was alright now.

Someone has to go through the trouble of actually assessing and then declassifying the information. That basically does not happen unless there is an external pressure to do so. Mere mortals who deal with classified are not authorized to decide what is classified; that authority resides with the 'classification authority', who is a brass plated muckity-muck who does not care about those details; fair chance he's long since retired or passed away. So degaussing the information is a troublesome task that does not self-initiate.

So even when the actual threat is long since passe, you are not free to reveal classified information.

A review can be prompted, but it generally takes a rationale and letters to congress critters. Congress critters are good for that. Like roaches, no one wants to deal with them.

The baseline prescribed response when you see classified in open source is "Neither confirm nor deny", also notify a security person. I have seen books that revealed too much disappear from book stores in days, pretty sure they weren't purchased by readers. I do not recall titles, they would probably be nearly impossible to find anyway, and if I did remember, I wouldn't reveal it. We got "Do not comment on this title" for a couple of books, which is why I noticed when they disappeared.

Notably, this was before 9/11. I do not think 'Homeland Security' enhanced anything, especially not at its creation, although it seems to be doing a fair job now. I think it the long run, it is too top heavy. It pulled in worker bees and made them security managers. Now DHLS gives direction to other agencies, but the manpower to do the assigned tasks, especially the experienced manpower, is lacking.

Just in general, it seems like common sense has left the arena.

[mlooney 3,417]

13 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Someone has to go through the trouble of actually assessing and then declassifying the information.

Some classified documents have a "sunset" date included in them.  For example the documents (schematics, theory of operation, users manuals) for Nike Hercules were set to expire in 1978.  1978 rolls around and "Oops, still using Nike, better remove the sunset date from the cover".  It's declassified now, other than the parts dealing with nuclear warheads and command burst as the actual warhead is still in use in other weapon systems.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Some classified documents have a "sunset" date included in them.  For example the documents (schematics, theory of operation, users manuals) for Nike Hercules were set to expire in 1978.  1978 rolls around and "Oops, still using Nike, better remove the sunset date from the cover".  It's declassified now, other than the parts dealing with nuclear warheads and command burst as the actual warhead is still in use in other weapon systems.

I applaud such forethought. I have not seen it myself.