When DEF CON Partners with the U.S. Army

The world's largest hacker conference, DEF CON, has long been known for its countercultural self-image and alignment with alternative views on geopolitics. However, in recent years, the event has taken a dramatic turn towards aligning itself more closely with the United States military and intelligence agencies.

Amidst the backdrop of continually airborne beach balls and a remix of the indie rock hit "Heads Will Roll," entrants to the 'Arcade Party' on the second floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Friday were given free glow stick bracelets by the Military Cyber Professionals Association. Led by a who's who of former U.S. offensive cyber operations officials, the nonprofit also passed out flyers encouraging "Loyalty to the United States."

The popular party took place at the end of the opening night of the 33rd annual DEF CON — widely recognized as the world’s largest hacker conference — and attendees socialized over LED-lit foosball tables and free arcade games. Two participants donned full-body furry suits and danced feet away from the DJ and a screen alternating between the logos of the Reston-based defense contractors CACI and Peraton.

In November, a U.S. federal court ordered CACI to pay $42 million in damages for its support for the torture of Iraqi civilians within the Abu Ghraib prison during the U.S. invasion of the country, which more broadly killed at least 200,000 civilians. One of the plaintiffs of the successful lawsuit, Al Jazeera journalist Salah Hasan Al-Ejaili, described the CACI torture methods as involving being “kept naked, handcuffed, the hood on your head, then they would bring a big dog.”

DEF CON attendees appeared to pay little attention to the human rights atrocities committed by CACI while resting their Vegas-priced beverages on a table prominently displaying the company’s backlit logo. The conference has also recently announced its controversial plans to expand into two authoritarian countries militarily aligned with the U.S. Government: Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and Singapore, a member country of the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate.

The contradiction between the countercultural self-image of the U.S. hacker community and its close partnership with U.S. military and intelligence agencies is arguably the defining feature of DEF CON, with the 50-something founder Jeff “Dark Tangent” Moss recently telling a media property of the U.S. intelligence-backed threat intelligence firm Recorded Future that “If you don’t have a seat at the table, the decision might be made against you.”

Moss recounted the recent history of official collaborations between DEF CON and the U.S. military in the closing session of the conference, naming the 2016 DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 2023 Hack-a-Sat competition, and then the last two years’ DARPA AIxCC vulnerability patching challenge.

The U.S. Army also hosted an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) competition at this year’s DEF CON for an artificial intelligence data fusion tool, seeking “real-time fusion of noisy, unstructured, and multimodal data sources based on tactical priorities.” The winner was the California-based defense technology start-up Hoplynk.

Roughly six hours prior to the start of the NSA-affiliated Arcade Party, the prominent hacktivist Jeremy Hammond — recently released from a 10-year prison sentence for his role in the December 2011 hack of emails from the intelligence contractor Stratfor — was forcibly ejected from the conference after the end of a fireside chat between Moss and former NSA director Paul M. Nakasone.

Shortly after Moss took a final jello shot next to Nakasone, shouting “Go Army,” Hammond cried out that Nakasone was a "war criminal," further referencing the Israeli military’s ongoing, U.S.-backed genocide of Gazans by calling out “Free Palestine!”

A Controversial Alliance

The controversy surrounding DEF CON's partnership with the U.S. military and intelligence agencies has sparked heated debate among attendees and critics alike.

DEF CON strictly prohibits official press from filming talks, leaked footage of the exchange was published on the social media platform X by security writer Arin Waichulis. During the final transparency disclosure section of the conference, Hammond’s ejection was obliquely referenced as one of two “left wing” removals, with both said to have been “earned.”

A Darker Side to DEF CON

DEF CON has long been known for its countercultural self-image and alignment with alternative views on geopolitics. However, in recent years, the event has taken a dramatic turn towards aligning itself more closely with the United States military and intelligence agencies.

This shift has raised concerns among critics that DEF CON is becoming increasingly aligned with the very forces it once opposed.

A Call to Action

The controversy surrounding DEF CON's partnership with the U.S. military and intelligence agencies serves as a wake-up call for the hacker community to re-examine its values and priorities.

As Lorax B. Horne, a journalist and transparency activist, wrote on Friday, "Real hackers don't go to DEF CON. Real hackers get kicked out of DEF CON."

A Future Uncertain

The future of DEF CON remains uncertain as the event continues to navigate its complex relationship with the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.

One thing is clear, however: the partnership between DEF CON and the U.S. Army marks a significant shift in the event's trajectory, one that will likely have far-reaching consequences for the hacker community and beyond.