posted on Sep, 21 2010 @ 11:42 PM
Most of them work for contractors - as another poster already commented.
The rest generally come from military service - whatever reasons they have for joining. They perform well, make rank, and earn the respect of their
senior leadership. When the leadership has a problem, the 'conscripted genius' is either asked to develop a solution - or simply proposes one. If
it's that expensive, political favors get called in and things are made to happen.
That's drastically simplified and makes it sound like competence begets rank, 'genius' is realized, and that said 'genius' has the connections to
be utilized. To my knowledge, there's not an organization looking for bright, agile minds to work for the government. It is all up to the managers
within defense contractors and senior leadership within the military (enlisted and officer) to take note of the abilities their people have, and what
is within their budget. The only commands I know of that actively seek out bright minds are spec-ops related, and they recruit from within the
military with priority-one billeting (if you apply and they want you, they've got you, regardless of who you are currently billeted to). They are
also the only commands really given a budget to do prototype and field development. They buy a standard predator drone, gut it, then fill it up with
all kinds of technologies to fit a mission requirement.
It should also be noted that 'genius' can also be replaced with 'fool,' 'tool,' 'douche,' etc. Rank does not equate to competence. Nor does
a link (direct or indirect) to Washington. Look at some of the people we vote into those offices - they aren't going to fund things with any more
intelligence than the mass brain-fart that put them in charge.