Hot Cooler Chat & Dr. Hook on Current Events
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Machiavelli on Prozac: “It is better to be loved.” Contributor Christopher Burgess responds to the Harvard Business Review’s touchy-feely recommendations – “an approach of engagement, warmth and trust, enables the leader to garner the trust of their employees, and then follow with their strength, competence and credentials” – with Machiavellian-league wisdom: “In setting your expectations of the employee, set them up for success and stay engaged. Demonstrative actions and engagement enable your cleared employee to operate with confidence and in doing so they are able to make the greatest overall contribution to the customer’s mission.”
2. $38 billion for border security on the table. Contributor Marc Selinger considers the growing opportunities border security reform represents for contractors waiting in the wings: “The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency expects to award a contract for its Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) program sometime between October and December. . . . the winning contractor will have 12 months to build, install and test the system. The agency also indicated that it might eventually buy IFT systems for five more AORs in Arizona.”
3. Editor tells all about dabbling in dating sites. Lindy Kyzer fondly remembers the good old days: “Managing social media for the U.S. Army I had an odd yet interesting task – keeping track of general officers’ online dating habits.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. SecDef: mindless sequestration threatens readiness and security. Speaking from Charleston (you know, where the Civil War started), Hagel fires another shot across the congressional bow, according to American Forces Press Service’s Jim Garamone: “’We are unwinding from the longest war we’ve ever been in . . . . And as you do that . . . there are ramifications and consequences to budgets, to capacity, capability, priorities.’ The bottom line is that it is still a dangerous world, the secretary said, and while the challenges have changed, the need to confront them has not. ‘Sequestration is a mindless, irresponsible process. You know it; I know it,’ Hagel said. ‘I’m hoping that our leaders in Washington will eventually get that and come to some policy resolution.’”
2. $200 million says we still care. In Afghanistan, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is putting their money where Taliban gun sights are fixed: women with a voice. Khaama.Com reports, “Head of the USAID in Afghanistan Rajiv Shah said the figure that could double with international support and could reach to $416 million after Australia, Britain, Japan and the European Union had expressed interest in providing money. The program called ‘Promote’ will . . . aim to create more than 3,500 small businesses to generate domestic growth to make up for an expected decline in foreign spending in Afghanistan. Women between the ages of 18 and 30 will be covered under the program to jobs, to support women entrepreneurs with credit and microfinance, and provide training to women who want a role in policymaking.” Also, Taliban leadership add insult to injury: “A senior commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following a letter to Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousufzai said that he wish the attack never happened. . . . The Pakistani Taliban commander, Adnan Rasheed urged the 16-year-old girl to return back to Pakistan and called the attacked on her as ‘shocking.’” Finally, formal invitation from Pakistan to Karzai this Saturday.
3. Et tu, el-Sissi? From Cairo, AP’s Hamza Hendawi describe the subtle drama leading to Morsi’s overthrow, which unfolds like a cross between The Tragedy of Coriolanus and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar : “A series of interviews by The Associated Press with defense, security and intelligence officials paint a picture of a president who intended to flex his civilian authority as supreme commander of the armed forces, issuing orders to el-Sissi. In turn, the military chief believed Morsi was leading the country into turmoil and repeatedly challenged him, defying his orders in at least two cases.” And if you haven’t read Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, well, get on the ball.
4. You do have to live like a refugee. AP’s Matthew Lee, reporting from Zaatari, Jordan, reports on Kerry’s brush-off of refugee’s petitions for more help from the United States: failing to recognize that many refugees have no shoes, Kerry said, “’I think they are frustrated and angry at the world for not stepping up . . . . If I was in their shoes I would be looking for help wherever I could find it. I share their passion and frustration for the plight that they face on a day-to-day basis.’” Kerry gladly accepted his gift souvenir “I’m with Stupid” t-shirt.
5. Like father, like son. Dad and his kid serve the Nation together as Soldiers in 2nd “Lancer” Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. Army Sgt. Bailey Kramer, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, tells the story: “’We don’t have the same leadership style. What I do, wouldn’t fit his personality . . . . It would be fake coming out of him, and people would see that. . . . [But] he has identified things that are wrong that I would have identified as wrong, and he has come up with solutions I would have.’”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. U.S.M.C. working to bring the oldest platforms up-to-date. Replacement, recapitalization, repair to increase reliability. DefenseMediaNetwork’s Scott Gourley reports on the Leatherneck’s search for “industry assistance in exploring various approaches for a limited reset of the service’s AAVP7A1 personnel variants of its Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV). As outlined in a recently released request for information (RFI), the Marine Corps’ Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault (PM AAA) is conducting market research ‘to analyze viable approaches for the sustaining maintenance of the USMC Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV).’”
2. Prove you’re worthwhile, or step aside. As funding tightens to Victorian corset levels, GovExec.Com’s John Kamensky offers “4 Ways you can prove your program isn’t a waste”: “Within OMB, there is an active effort to catalyze agencies to develop and undertake a series of evidence and evaluation initiatives in ways that they can learn from each other and so they can quickly leverage promising practices. This was outlined in a memo to agencies in May 2012. A former Obama budget appointee, Jeff Liebman, explains OMB’s interest as: ‘The only way to make progress in this fiscal environment is to produce more value with each dollar that government spends. . . . We need to reallocate funds from less-effective programs to more-effective programs.’”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Eye-tracking technology that fits. VentureBeat.Com’s Ricardo Bilton reports on the rapid evolution of eye-tracking technology that, now, is small enough to compete with today’s technology: “While eye-tracking has been around for years, its underlying technology is finally getting small enough that manufacturers can implement it in smaller devices — including laptops, tablets, and, yes, smartphones. Two years ago, none of this would have been possible, but by next year, it’ll be everywhere. And the possibilities are exciting.”
2. If you don’t tell us, Snowden will. Tech giants politely ask POTUS for transparency in PRISM. The petition is to be published sometime today: According to AllThingsD.Com contributor John Paczkowski, “Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft are part of a broad alliance of technology companies and civil liberties groups that will tomorrow demand dramatically increased transparency around U.S. government surveillance efforts. In a letter to be published Thursday, the alliance — whose members include 63 companies, investors, non-profits and trade organizations — will call upon President Obama and congressional leaders to allow Internet, telephone, and Web-based service providers to report national security-related requests for information with greater specificity.” VentureBeat.Com’s John Koetsier adds, “Interestingly, . . . the companies are not asking that surveillance be stopped, merely that they be allowed to report more fully on government access to data: the number of government requests, the number of accounts or people the requests reference, and the types of requests.”
3. The Dagger Sanction. Der Spiegel’s Judith Horchert reports that a feisty German decided to tease the NSA with a “nature walk” around the NSA’s Dagger Complex in Griesheim. It was all fun and games until the United States got involved: “He described the outing as though it were a nature walk. He wrote on Facebook that its purpose was to undertake ‘joint research into the threatened habitat of NSA spies.’ He added: ‘If we are really lucky, we might actually see a real NSA spy with our own eyes.’ He suggested that those interested in coming should bring along their cameras and ‘flowers of all kinds to improve the appearance of the NSA spies’ habitat.’ Perhaps not surprisingly, not many of his friends showed much interest in the venture. But the authorities did. Just four days after he posted the invitation, his mobile phone rang at 7:17 a.m. It was the police calling to talk about his Facebook post.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Dick Dougies; Liz La Voltas. Time.Com petitions the former VP for thoughts on his daughter’s run for the Senate: “’I’m a strong supporter of hers.’” Politico.Com reports that Dick is Liz’s best weapon: “Disliked as Dick Cheney is nationally after his controversial tenure as vice president, he remains an esteemed figure in the state he represented three decades ago in the House of Representatives. Ironically, Liz Cheney’s last name will be her biggest asset in next year’s Republican primary against three-term incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi.” See also, Cheney threatens Enzi.
2. Republican Robot Dance. USNews.Com’s Rebekah Metzler takes a look at the Republican party’s apparent identity crisis as elections start to loom: “Gathered at the liberal leaning think-tank the Brookings Institution, the GOP experts – including Republican consultant Alex Castellanos, National Review reporter Robert Costa, Republican strategist Liz Mair and Real Clear Politics demographic and trend specialist Sean Trende – agreed the party needs a shake-up. . . . the party may just need a transformational figure to come along, but he’s not convinced one is emerging yet.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. We killed him, but we didn’t mean to. Nasser al-AWLAKI writing from Sana, Yemen, gets voice in the New York Times: “The Drone that Killed my Grandson”: “The missile killed him, his teenage cousin and at least five other civilians on Oct. 14, 2011, while the boys were eating dinner at an open-air restaurant in southern Yemen. . . . My grandson was killed by his own government. The Obama administration must answer for its actions and be held accountable. On Friday, I will petition a federal court in Washington to require the government to do just that.”
2. We will respect you in the morning. WaPo Opinionaire David Ignatius argues, “One of the worst recurring features of U.S. foreign policy is a process that might bluntly be described as ‘seduction and abandonment.’ Now it’s happening in Syria.”
3. Three cheers for SecDef. WashingtonExaminer.Com’s Paul Bedard gives credit where credit is due: “Hagel, a rare Republican in Obama’s inner-circle, has a long record of looking out for enlisted troops. Most notably, he quit the Veterans Administration years ago after the agency’s director suggested Agent Orange, the Vietnam-era defoliant that has had a devastating impact on some of the troops exposed to it, shrugged off the effects of the chemical.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Giant Twinkie.
