FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Live free or die in New Hampshire. That’s the motto up there, and now you can work there, too. Contributor Tranette Ledford explains, “Cleared veterans looking for jobs in defense and aerospace may want to give New Hampshire a second look. It’s a small state with only 10 counties, and for that, it may not be on your radar. But it has more than 560 companies related to those two sectors, and already receives billions in Department of Defense and Homeland Security contracts. This month, the state’s cleared job prospects got even better with the launch of a new initiative to boost its influence around the world.”
2. Vet, woman, tech – a winning combo. Also from contributor T. Ledford, a partnership that can accelerate the job search: “Good news for cleared women veterans with technical skills. A partnership between the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (BPW) is designed to help women veterans better their chances of success in landing IT jobs. . . . The partnership’s goal is to assist women veterans interested in competing for the pool of 1.4 million computer-related jobs projected over the next six years.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Talking: Pakistan’s Sharif to White House today. Time’s Jay Newton-Small reports, “Fourteen years after his last Oval Office visit, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is poised to meet this Wednesday with U.S. President Barack Obama. In between, Sharif was deposed in a 1999 coup and then endured nearly a decade in the political wilderness. His arrival this week in Washington marks another moment of triumph for one of South Asia’s political heavyweights. . . . In the backdrop, though, remain the harder issues underlying the American military presence across the border in Afghanistan and Washington’s use of drones in the neighboring Pakistani tribal areas, which has led to significant civilian casualties.”
2. Talking: Afghanistan in Brussels. American Forces Press Service’s Karen Parrish reports, “NATO defense ministers are meeting this week as the alliance faces what many here call an inflection point: how to preserve hard-earned NATO operational capabilities while winding down operations in Afghanistan over the coming months. . . . Hagel emphasized to [Afghan Defense Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi] that concluding the agreement, continuing development of Afghan forces and conducting a secure, credible, and inclusive election are all in Afghanistan’s long-term interests.” NATO’s glass-is-half-full kind of guy, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Khaama.Com reports, “NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that he optimistic that the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington will be approved during a national meeting (Loya Jirga). Rasmussen on Tuesday said that NATO and Afghan government will also be able to sign a similar agreement once the Afghan-US security deal is finalized.” Also re Afghanistan, elections update.
3. No talking: Syrian opposition. Reuters’ Arshad Mohammed and Peter Griffiths report, “Syria’s opposition in exile resisted calls from Western and Arab countries on Tuesday to commit to attending peace talks, saying they would not take part if there was any chance President Bashar al-Assad could cling to power. . . . U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said talks were the only possible way to end the war. . . . Several officials, including Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, have said they expect the Geneva 2 conference to convene on November 23, though the United States, Russia and the United Nations have all said no date has been officially set.” See also, Russia still arming Syrian.
4. Too much talking: Iran, U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has said the kingdom will make a ‘major shift’ in relations with the United States in protest at its perceived inaction over the Syrian war and its overtures to Iran . . . . Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that Washington had failed to act effectively on the Syrian crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011.” Saudi’s concerns are Israel’s, too: “Amid growing unease in Israel at the prospect of a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement, Israeli leaders are reported considering military strikes against long-range missiles controlled by the Tehran-backed Hezbollah to threaten the Jewish state’s cities and strategic centers.”
5. Fighting: Nigerian Army and Boko Haram’s streets. AllAfrica.Com contributor Heather Murdock reports from Abuja, Nigeria, “In the wake of more insurgent attacks in Nigeria’s countryside, the Nigerian army says it is increasing security along northeastern roads. . . . Despite reports that the northeastern Nigerian countryside was becoming increasingly dangerous after security forces forced insurgents out of the cities, [Nigerian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru] said insurgents were not gaining momentum – they were just changing tactics.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Industry cybersecurity: balancing privacy and surveillance. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “The Obama administration has released a final draft of industry cybersecurity guidelines aimed at protecting commercial networks integral to daily living . . . . This version, however, clarifies how to balance privacy with computer surveillance. The policymaking has been controversial since there is talk of favoring only compliant contractors for future government business. In addition, following the most stringent new practices and technical controls could be cost-prohibitive for some companies.”
2. Navy’s virtualization strategies kill IT competition. DefenseOne.Com contributor Gunnar Hellekson explains, “Every server will be virtualized by 2017, and 7,500 desktops will no longer live on someone’s desk, rather that data will reside in Navy data centers. . . . a single company is doing the lion’s share of enterprise virtualization: VMware. There’s good reason for this: they have an excellent product, and practically invented virtualization as we know it. But that doesn’t mean that one company should have effective control over an entire layer of the Navy’s architecture. That kind of control gives strong incentives to extract as much rent as possible from its Navy customers . . . . Worse, the Navy may find that the flexibility and agility of virtualization is actually undone by a vendor who has no reason whatever to ease migrations to other, cheaper platforms.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Army’s Exoskeleton. Wired.Com contributor Matt Jancer reports, “After surgery, military personnel whose legs have been crushed or blasted can end up with a limb that looks healthy but is debilitated by pain and weakness. Some patients even ask for amputations. The Army solution is a sort of scaffold for intact but malfunctioning legs called the Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis, and now, thanks to a company called Hangar, it’s going to be available to civilians too. Basically, the IDEO is a carbon-fiber exoskeleton that attaches below the knee and connects to a foot plate that fits into a shoe. Taking a step and pushing off the plate loads the IDEO with energy just like a prosthetic running blade. Then it releases, providing auxiliary power to the leg.”
2. Laptop time. AllThingsD.Com’s Walt Mossberg helps navigate the new, attractive laptop market: “There’s good news for laptop buyers in my fall guide this time: The confusing changes in the sagging laptop industry have settled down enough that if you need one, now may be the time to buy one. . . . Bottom line, It’s safe to buy a laptop again. Just pay attention to those Intel stickers.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Dancing ‘round drones. Drones are all the rage until somebody gets an eye put out, and D.C. is trying to figure out exactly what the right policy is: “White House Press Secretary Jay Carney rejected the idea that the United States has violated any laws. ‘To the extent these reports claim that the U.S. has acted contrary to international law we would strongly disagree,’ he said at a press briefing Tuesday. ‘The administration has repeatedly emphasized the extraordinary care that we take to make sure that counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable law.’ The U.S. government has said strikes by the unmanned aircraft are a necessary part of the fight against militant groups. In May, Obama defended the drone program and disclosed the guidelines determining its use.”
2. What’s in an NSA name? Ideally, nothing. WaPo’s Al Kamen takes us deep inside the belt loop this time: “The latest in a string of revelations about the formerly top-secret National Security Agency’s operations is a project in which U.S. agents hacked into Mexican officials’ e-mails. It’s dubbed ‘Whitetamale,’ which could be the name of a vegetarian special at a Tex-Mex joint, or possibly an ethnicity-bending rap artist. The name is bizarre, yes. But it’s not unexpected. Previous NSA code names have been curious-er. Our favorite so far is ‘Egotisticalgiraffe,’ the moniker given to a technique that allowed the NSA to uncover the identities of those using a communications system designed to keep users anonymous.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. Who is the real threat: Iran or Israel? Aljazeera.Com contributor Akbar Ganji argues, “The fact is that Netanyahu and his government have tried to bring the Iran “nuclear threat” to the foreground in order to sideline other major issues, including the continued occupation of Palestinian lands and denying citizenship rights to its inhabitants. The fact that has been neglected is that Israel has been building hundreds of nuclear warheads and it threatens Iran with military attacks.”
2. “Mourning for America.” UPI.Com contributor Harlan Ullman argues, “On its current course, the United States is foreswearing its leadership role politically, economically, strategically and morally. That won’t come out well for anyone.”
3. “Just secede already.” Salon.Com contributor Chuck Thompson argues, “There’s a notion out there that the Tea Party jihadists leading the crusade against a functional federal government represent some new school of grassroots activism and that their dissonance echoes from Wal-Marted plain and Cracker Barrelled valley. In fact, it’s the same old obstructionist strategy that’s been pursued by traitorous Southerners in government since long before Robert E. Lee’s doomed charge at Gettysburg.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Thump day.
3. Nobel prize.
