>Thomas,
>
>I'm reminded of Steve McConnell's metaphor for software design...construction. Every basic job you could find in building, say, a frame house, you can find building an application.
>
>Both have architects.
>Both have designers.
>Both have carpenters (programmers/coders).
>Both have people that make the materials and the tools (operating systems and compilers as opposed to wood and hammers).
>
>Now let's say, that some construction company builds a wood frame house, and after 3 days of use, one of the floors in a room collapses.
>
>What they say here is blame the carpenters (programmers), but in this situation, who was really at fault? Did floor collapse because the architect failed to properly calculate the stress? Or was that the designers (engineers) fault. What if the wood was rotten? Or nail gun didn't provide enough force to properly drive the nail?
>
>What this reminds me of, Tom, is that female PFC who was stationed in Iraq at the prison, who was recently sentenced to 3(?) years in prison because of her actions there. The thing that bothers me is that no one further up the chain of command has been charged.
>
>I may not have served in the military, but both my parents did and there was a neighbor (a captain) who was stationed at the 5th Army headquarters in the neighborhood. Now I may not know all there is to know, but I know this. PFCs, who are not in the field, do not do things like this unless explicitly ordered to. Yet...

Yes, George, it is easier to get to “the least common denominator”, the grunts (enlisted personnel and programmers), rather than look at this from the top down.

Where do problems begin? That is the question. There is a shared responsibility but it is easier to blame the person on the bottom of the totem pole.

Surely an officer and gentlemen as well as our security forces (CIA etc.) would not allow immoral acts to be committed! The same goes for CEO’s and Presidents of corporations. The little guy is the problem. After all, we grunts just do not see “the big picture”! :)

By the way, who in their right mind would place top secret or personal information on the Internet? :)

Tom