Mental Health Clearances, Showdown in Egypt, Insurgent Numbers Up 15%

Things to know to look smart this morning.

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Psychoanalysis of clearance-related mental health questions. Contributor and retired federal clearance investigator William Henderson charts the history of mental health questions on the national security clearance application form: “Since 1981 when the mental health question was first included in a security clearance application form, the question has been expanded and later qualified in an effort to request from the applicant only information relevant to a security clearance determination and to remove perceived disincentives to seeking certain types of treatment.”

2. Citrix, NVIDIA, Qualcomm. Contributor Tranette Ledford (Tranette@Ledfordllc.com) explains what these 3 companies, and 9 more, have in common: “With the current government initiatives underway to streamline and speed up the IT certification process for transitioning service members, those with software expertise may want to check out the current list of companies offering the highest paying software engineer jobs.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. POTUS stance on Egypt. Armed Forces Press Service: United States remains “’committed to the Egyptian people and their aspirations for democracy, economy opportunity, and dignity. But the future path of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people.’”

2. There’s gonna be a showdown. LongWarJournal.Com’s Thomas Joscelyn tracks al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai and apparent moves to consolidate efforts in what Islamists interpret as a “conspiracy against Islam”: “A representative of al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai has announced the formation of a new front in the wake of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The front is called, ‘Ansar al Sharia in Egypt.’ The group is getting ready for a fight, saying it will “make preparations and acquire means of power such as weapons and training.”

3. 42 dead, and counting, in Egypt. Reuter’s headline says it all: “At least 42 killed in Egypt, Islamists call for uprising”: Tom Perry and Maggie Fick report, “At least 42 people were killed in Cairo on Monday, medical sources said, when Islamist protesters angered by the military overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi said they were fired on at the Cairo military barracks where he is being held. More than 200 were wounded in a sharp escalation of Egypt’s political crisis, and Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to rise up against the army, which they accuse of a military coup to remove the elected leader.” See related, Born in Chaos – Violence Spreads; Huge Crowds Rally in Egypt, Putin sees civil war coming; Adly Mansour asserts power.

3. Norway threatens aid cuts to Afghanistan. Norway, one of the top aid contributors to Afghanistan: “Norway has threatened to reduce aid to Afghanistan, signaling increasing frustration among donor nations over the Kabul government’s failure to implement reforms as NATO troops prepare to withdraw. At an aid meeting in Kabul on Wednesday, Norway said that Afghanistan was not living up to its commitments to prepare for credible elections, to improve women’s rights and to fight corruption.”

4. Insurgents rise in the east. Pakistan’s Daily Times reports, “Insurgents have stepped up operations in border provinces close to Pakistan, one of Afghanistan’s top generals said on Sunday, with militant numbers up on last summer as government forces work to improve security in the volatile east. Major-General Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, who commands Afghan forces in seven crucial southeast provinces, said insurgent numbers were up around 15 percent on last year’s summer fighting months, with an estimated 5,000 insurgents now in his area. Many were Pakistanis and Chechens, Yaftali said, reinforcing recent assessments by Afghan army chief of staff General Sher Mohammad Karimi that the insurgency’s backers in Pakistan had shut Islamic schools to send more fighters across the border.”

5. No progress with the Taliban. Pajhwok.Com (Pajkwok Afghan News) reports that Dr. Rangin Dafdar Spanta, Karzai’s National Security Advisor, has indicated that “reconciliation negotiations were yet to get under way and that the government was not in contact with any key Taliban figure.” However, “High Peace Council Chairman Masoom Stanikzai informed MPs some senior Taliban figures, including Syed Tayeb Agha, were in secret contact with the government to facilitate the process.”

6. Haqqani down. LongWarJournal.Com’s Bill Roggio reports, “An al Qaeda military commander and a Haqqani Network leader are among 17 jihadists reported to have been killed in a US drone strike that took place earlier this week. The al Qaeda commander, who was identified as Abu Saif al Jaziri, and Maulana Akhtar Zadran, a Haqqani Network officer, were killed in the July 2 drone strike in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan, the Urdu-language Karachi Express News Television reported.” Should have donned their Stealth Wear.

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Vegan invasion. 15 July is the deadline for contractor feedback, so to speak. GovExec.Com’s Kellie Lunney reports, “The General Services Administration is seeking information from vendors on redesigning cafeterias and offering healthier fare in federal buildings. . . . GSA manages roughly 99 commercial cafeteria contracts and more than 300 concessions facilities. The type of food service ranges from cafeterias and food courts to snack bars and vending machines. In particular, GSA is looking for ideas on improving operations, profitability, redesigning facility space, crafting a marketing campaign and revamping menus with an eye toward nutrition.” Yummy.

2. Fabricated background checks. FederalTimes.Com tells the story of Ramon Davila – failed custom services special agent turned contracted security clearance investigator: “Last month, Davila pleaded guilty to falsifying security clearance background checks, joining a growing list of at least 19 background investigators or researchers since 2008 to plead guilty to or face sentencing for falsifying background checks. The Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general is working on nine more such cases, but says a backlog of 36 others still awaits investigation because of a lack of resources.”

3. Small disadvantaged business schemes in IRS. FederalTimes.Com updates ongoing investigation into contract steering, false statements, and set-aside status irregularities: “’it is not unusual for IRS to award a large sum contract to a small disadvantaged business such as Strong Castle, only to have the bulk of the funds go to a large computer manufacturer such as IBM or Hewlett Packard’ . . . . ‘This practice completely undermines the goals of these programs.’”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

Farewell and thanks – we all knew you, even if we didn’t know we did.

1. Face-Saving Talks begin today in Washington: The Guardian’s Ian Traynor reports, “The talks on Prism and data privacy have been arranged to coincide with the trade talks in an attempt to defuse the transatlantic tension. EU diplomats and officials say the offer of talks by the Americans is designed to enable the leaders of Germany and France to save face following revelations about the scale of US espionage – particularly in Germany, but also of French and other European embassies and missions in the US.”

2. Can a secret court protect our rights? New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau describes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court: “the court has taken on a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny, according to current and former officials familiar with the court’s classified decisions.

3. Manning on the defense. Manning trial moves to defense phase: “Now, as his lawyers prepare to kick off their case, they will seek to convince the judge deciding the trial that Manning has been miscast by prosecutors. They are likely to argue, said legal experts, that he is a naive, well-intentioned 25-year-old who wanted to alert Americans to the reality of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

4. I am acting my shoe size. Salon.Com’s Scott B. Kaufman’s detailed examination of that damnable test: “. . . perhaps the biggest flaw in the severe discrepancy method is that it’s a fundamentally unintelligent method. It treats single IQ scores as the arbiter of truth, without looking at the person’s history and understanding the numbers in context. Responsible and intelligent use of IQ tests require us to consider the student’s overall pattern of strengths and weaknesses (not just on the IQ test but even more generally in terms of talents, and social and emotional functioning), life aspirations, developmental history, environmental circumstances, and opportunities to learn.”

5. Don’t forget your rubbers. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s J.R. Wilson reports on the latest technology to protect your electronics from the waterworks: “More than a decade of combat in Southwest Asia raised many new problems and led to new solutions for U.S. warfighters. But high on the list was an old concern, one that has plagued the military since the dawn of field electrical and electronic devices: Their vulnerability to high humidity and exposure to water, whether rain or by the user moving through a body of water.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Bipartisan Boogaloo. TheDailyBeast.Com’s Lloyd Green concludes, “Winning the hearts of the Democratic donor base is one thing, but imposing America’s will on foreign governments, gaining Vladimir Putin’s respect, or mastering the implementation of signature legislation are different challenges.”

2. Mosh Pit. Catch clips from the highlights of Sunday news talk shows: John McCain calls for suspension of aid to Egypt; Sen. Menendez warns Snowden-supporting countries, and more.

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. When S in IRS stood for service. In his “Tip of the Fedora,” John L. Smith of TheDailyBeast.Com pauses to remember when the IRS did some good: “the IRS has a patron saint. His name is Elmer Lincoln Irey. His life and legacy are reminders of the IRS’s long and largely unheralded effectiveness in taking down many of the most notorious gangsters, crooked politicians, and white-collar swindlers in American history.”

2. “Message to the Muslim World?” In The Nation, Eric S. Margolis argues, “The real story behind the military coup in Cairo led by General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi is much more complex than the Western media is reporting. Far from a spontaneous uprising by Egyptians, – aka ‘a people’s revolution’ – what really happened was a putsch orchestrated by Egypt’s ‘deep government’ and outside powers – the latest phase of the counter-revolution against the so-called Arab Spring. . . . The overthrow of a moderate Islamist government will send a message to the Muslim world that compromise with the Western powers is impossible and only violent resistance can shake the status quo.”