The NSA can't recruit or retain hackers because the pay sucks and the Agency is a bureaucratic mess

Not to my eyes. Russia is nowhere close to a legitimate democracy. Neither are many of the other ex-Soviet states.

As for the USA…

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/economist-intelligence-unit-downgrades-united-states-to-flawed-democracy-2017-1?op=1&r=US&IR=T

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

…and those are both from before the rise of Trump.

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