FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Part III: Project Scope and Management. Contributor Jillian Hamilton completes her hat trick: “Projects rarely fail due to big problems that occur overnight. Rather, projects wind up in the failure category due to all the little changes made over the project lifecycle. In the project management world, we call that scope creep…and it can be deadly. Defining your project scope (goals, objectives, and requirements) at the project onset is critical to delivering on time and within budget.”
2. Resume risks. Contributor Christopher Burgess explains the several risks associated with posting your life story for all to see: “There are two sides of the coin surrounding the security aspects of the job hunt. On one side of the coin we have the individual and the risks which the individual jobseeker is exposed during their job hunt and on the other we have the employer, who is sifting and sorting for the best candidate while also managing the risks of making decisions based on resume content.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. VPOTUS to Japan-China: Chilax! AP’s Josh Lederman reports from Tokyo, “Vice President Joe Biden sought Tuesday to reassure anxious Japanese leaders that the U.S. stands firmly behind Japan’s security, as a messy regional spat with China loomed over the first day of his weeklong trip to Asia. . . . Joking that he was merely accompanying America’s illustrious new ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, Biden said he and President Barack Obama wanted to convey that there is bipartisan support behind the U.S. military alliance with Japan.” Reuters’ Elaine Isle, also reporting from Tokyo: “U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Japan and China to lower tensions that have spiked since Beijing announced an air defense zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea, while repeating that Washington was ‘deeply concerned’ by the move.”
2. Farewell Ash Carter. American Forces Press Service’s Claudette Roulo reports, “Senior Defense Department, White House and congressional leaders bade farewell to Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter today in a Pentagon ceremony marked by both laughter and tears. Carter’s final working day is Wednesday, but today’s ceremony marked his official goodbye to the department. . . . Long after Carter departs, the nation will continue to benefit from his unfailing focus on mission, on facts and what works, said White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. McDonough also delivered remarks from President Barack Obama, who called Carter’s work ‘extraordinary.’”
3. In AFRICOM, “they yelled ‘Allahu akbar’ as they attacked.” LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio and Zachary Elkaim report, “Boko Haram, a Nigerian terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, launched a major attack on a Nigerian Air Force base in the insurgency-wracked city of Maiduguri. A number of security personnel were killed and several aircraft were destroyed during the nighttime attack that is said to have been executed by hundreds of Boko Haram fighters. . . . Boko Haram has conducted numerous terror attacks in Nigeria since the group began waging a low-level insurgency against the Nigerian government four years ago. Major clashes between the two broke out in northern Nigeria during the summer of 2009. Police killed hundreds of Boko Haram fighters, and Mohammad Yusuf, the leader, was captured and then executed. Abubakar Shekau, the group’s current emir, continued to attack the state and demand that sharia, or Islamic law, be imposed in the country.”
4. Taliban stroke Karzai’s sweet spot – his ego. Khaama.Com reports, “The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan offered a rare support for his decision to delay the bilateral security agreement with United States. Taliban in its statement urged president Hamid Karzai to abandon all the conditions and reject the bilateral security agreement between the two nations. . . . Taliban also added that the main reason behind growing violence in Afghanistan was due to the presence of occupation forces, and urged president Karzai to prevent from signing the agreement, in a bid to put an end to nearly 3 decades of war and violence in the country.”
5. al-Assad implicated in war crimes by U.N. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Evidence collected by UN inspectors investigating Syrian war crimes implicates senior government officials and, most crucially, President Bashar al-Assad . . . . Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva on Monday that Syrian government officials, including Assad, were also responsible for crimes against humanity. . . . ‘The scale and viciousness of the abuses almost defies belief,’ Pillay said.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Navy to spend $33.6 billion on P-8’s. NextGov.Com’s Bob Brewin reports, “The Navy plans to buy 122 P-8s at a total cost of $33.6 billion to replace its aging fleet of turbo-prop powered Lockheed Martin P-3s, the first of which entered service in 1961. The P-8s have a crew of nine, including five systems operators and observers who manage and use onboard systems such as the AN/PY-10 multimission radar from Raytheon, which can eyeball targets at long range with high fidelity. These crew members also operate a hydro-carbon sensor to detect ships and diesel-powered submarines. The P-8 features a secure, wideband satellite communications system and carries a mix of weapons, including torpedoes, anti-ship missiles and depth charges.”
2. At $47 million, Army contracts out emergency management. GovConWire.Com reports, “Leidos (NYSE: LDOS) has received $47 million in task order from the U.S. Army to develop and support an emergency management system for Army installations inside and outside of the country. The contract was awarded under the Emergency Management Modernization Program covering enhanced 911 and mass warning notifications with network alerting systems and telephone alerting systems . . . .”
3. GSA’s Office Supplies plan coming. FederalTimes.Com reports, “The General Services Administration expects agencies to save $155 million annually under the third generation of its Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative for office supplies . . . . The agency plans to release a full draft request for proposals next week, and an official solicitation early next year.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Amazon.Com’s drone dreams. Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier explains, “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Sunday said his firm is working on ways to deliver small packages via drones. That’s right: Amazon ‘Prime Air’ may eventually have thousands of robot flying machines buzzing through neighborhoods across America, dropping off everything from shoes to consumer electronics. . . . Currently, the FAA is supposed to finalize drone regulations by 2015. It has already missed some deadlines, however, and the agency may not meet that goal. Furthermore, look at the fine print in the FAA road map, and it’s apparent that Amazon’s plan probably falls into the FAA’s long-term outlook – meaning it couldn’t gain approval until 2022 or 2026.”
2. FAA’s Drone roadmap. FederalTimes.Com contributor Bart Jansen reports, “The Federal Aviation Administration has released a road map for allowing drones to fly everywhere in the country, but research and regulations are months behind the schedule Congress set to have drones fly safely with commercial airliners by September 2015. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta released the five-year road map a month ago, which projected 7,500 unmanned aircraft in the skies within that period if regulations are in place. Technical complexities facing the FAA, however, include how much training to require of ground-based pilots, how to ensure that drones fly safely if they lose contact with their pilot, and how drones and commercial aircraft should warn each other when they’re in the same area.”
3. 20 megapixels . . . on your smart phone. VentureBeat.Com contributor Eric Blattberg reports, “Samsung may soon include an impressive new camera in its flagship mobile devices. The Korean electronics giant is currently developing a 20-megapixel mobile camera . . . . Device makers from Apple and HTC to LG and Nokia tout their smartphone camera technology as a major market differentiator. Nokia is the current front runner in crazily advanced mobile camera tech: Its Lumia 1020 smartphone boasts an impressive 41-megapixel camera sensor.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. At least they’re being productive . . . well, not really: “House Republicans this week will continue their aggressive dissection of Obamacare, with four planned committee oversight hearings that will probe far beyond the troubled healthcare.gov website that the Obama administration says is on the mend.”
2. Big boys don’t cry: “John Boehner wept. Or nearly did as the ‘Weeper’ of the House appeared on “60 Minutes” Sunday. The Republican Speaker of the House got a little tender, loving care from journalist Scott Pelley when Boehner started choking up Sunday during a CBS News segment, honoring the 150th anniversary of the completion of the U.S. Capitol dome.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Towards an Operational Methodology to Analyze Future Security Threats and Political Risk.” Red Team contributor Helene Lavoix explains, “The aim here is not to argue upon the universality of a model, but to give practical advice, grounded as much as possible in social science findings and understanding, to analysts who must deliver strategic foresight and warning or risk analysis for their decision and policy-makers.”
2. “Methodology to Analyze Future Security Threats: a Game of Chess.” Part II of Helene Lavoix’s examination security threat prediction: “We are not only concerned here with political parties but with all groups that are relevant for the political dynamics of the country or for the foresight and warning issue and that were not identified previously.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Nice grill.
3. Drone delivery.
