That's a pretty poor proposition to make to someone with a family to support. It's poor enough that they're going to ignore you and go on doing work you almost certainly object to.
Also, the skills required to be an effective network attack specialist have very little relation to those required to be a network engineer. I thought I covered this up-thread.
The parent is being a bit of a dick, but he does have a point. Not every job in the world is ethical, and simply being good at something is not always enough reason to do it for a living.
This is ultimately a deeply personal choice that everyone has to make, but sometimes we really can't both have our cake and eat it too.
I also work at a government sponsored R&D lab, so I'm familiar with the conundrum (not for myself - I'm just a dumbass programmer whose skills are so pitifully generic I could go literally anywhere in the world... some of my colleagues - not so much)
I don't know why it's so important that some random HN contributor be polite about this. Isn't everyone here speaking to you, and not your friends? Why does their tone matter so much?
Given that the context is that culture matters and that HN attitudes are relevant, I'm attempting to make the point that being rude does not help shape the attitudes in the way we-the-commentariat want.
Love it or hate it, it's a huge factor in how people make decisions. If you want to shape their behavior, you have to consider how they think and what they care about.
Also, the skills required to be an effective network attack specialist have very little relation to those required to be a network engineer. I thought I covered this up-thread.