Last month, the former Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell boldly took to the Senate floor and the Washington Post's editorial page to declare "The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing."

Thankfully for the American people, his company – the giant defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton – has now landed the contract to build the Pentagon's cyberwar control center. For a measly $14.4 million in taxpayer money, the outfit will help build a new cyberwar bunker for the U.S. Cyber Command.



Additionally, Booz Allen Hamilton won another contract for $20 million to "foster collaboration among telecommunications researchers, University of Maryland faculty members and other academic institutions to improve secure networking and telecommunications and boost information assurance," Washington Technology reports. While that might sound like a lot of money to set up a mailing list and a wiki, please don't be cynical. Undoubtedly, McConnell's crack team of consultants are providing the researchers with around-the-clock bodyguards and state-of-the-art bullet-proof monitors.

Meanwhile, we urge U.S. netizens to refrain from un-patriotic musings that McConnell intentionally uses fear and exaggerated rhetoric to land these kinds of contracts for his company and instead, be vigilant and keep their eyes out for signs of Chinese hackers (one telltale sign is a "Made in China" label on the bottom of your laptop).

Otherwise you might soon find yourself facing a Red Screen of Death (RSOD), making you just one more casualty in this tragic cyberwar we Americans are all bravely enduring as one nation united.

Photo: USAF

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