Duh of the Week: A Fox to Guard Your Chickens

by Ron Daly

We've given this award to a few crooks before. Nothing like this, though. 

Let's talk about Max Ray Vision, the computer hacking expert hired by - get this - the Departments of Defense and Energy, the US Air Force and NASA to test their system security. The man who was sent to prison in 2001 for leaving vulnerabilities in these systems was re-hired as a government informant upon his parole. In the time he worked for the feds, he stole thousands of account numbers and PINs and distributed them on an info-trading website. 

Let's go back over that. 

1) He works for the government and hacks their websites
2) He goes to jail for compromising government information
3) When he gets out of jail, the GOVERNMENT HIRES HIM AGAIN
4) HE STEALS MORE INFORMATION AND GOES BACK TO JAIL

Who on earth got the bright idea of putting this guy back to work on the government dime? Who couldn't see that putting the chickens under the watch of the fox wouldn't work? 

You might think, faithful reader, that we're about to award Mr. Vision the "Duh of the Week" for his two arrests and his Dick Tracy-esque name. No. The "Duh of the Week" - and a high pole position for the "Duh of the Year" - goes to the Government for hiring this guy twice. And being caught with their fly down...TWICE. 

Enjoy the award, recruiting personnel for the Departments of Defense, Energy and NASA, respectively. Hopefully nobody steals it - especially the person you hire to protect it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rent a DVD copy of "Catch Me If You Can".