The military loved Discord for Gen Z recruiting. Then the leaks began.
“We’re seeing massive security breaches and potential global instability just because someone was insecure about their popularity and wanted people to know they knew cool stuff about the military.”
You shouldn't be. Surprised, that is. Only believe half of what you read, remember? In this case, maybe not even that.
Turns out the military has been recruiting on the internet service, Discord, for years, chatting up teens and twenty-somethings over video games, telling war stories, playing to kids' fantasies of macho and dreams of adventure. But there was always a risk and it was known: “Some people may join the military because of the allure of the warrior ethos, and they may not feel very validated sitting in front of the computer all day,” says James Ivory, a Virginia Tech professor who studies online video game groups.
Just so. And now, of course, Official Washington is scurrying once again to paper over what damage may have been done by an Air National Guard member's boasting in a Discord chat room.
Intelligence services employ the mnemonic MICE to list the reasons people are led to betray confidences: Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego. Ego's the one that fits here, like a glove.
Shoulda seen it coming. In fact, did.
Last month, in a detailed guide aimed specifically at Discord users, Special Operations Command, which oversees the country’s most elite forces, told service members: “Don’t post anything in Discord that you wouldn’t want seen by the general public.”
Too late. And way too little.
Now the airman from Massachusetts will take the fall.
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