FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCE JOBS.COM
1. Reaching out to retain talent. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “Instead of holding a hiring interview or waiting for an exit interview, ere.net recommends having a “stay interview” for key employees. This could be a good thing to look into for highly competitive and mobile industries – like cybersecurity.” And, hiring and growing in the industry.
2. Why reach out to retain talent in cybersecurity. Hamilton adds, “Cyber threats are growing. It’s a costly problem that industry and government are working to meet. By 2015, U.S. Cyber Command is projected to grow by 4,000 new personnel, and across the globe businesses are looking to hire cyber talent. It’s a critical time for individuals with the right experience. Right now, the demand is high and the supply is low. Recruiting is difficult, but retention is often even more important, given the complexity of onboarding talent with the right certifications and clearances.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Coordinate attacks in Iraq’s Kirkuk. Reuters from Baghdad reports, “Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked a police intelligence headquarters and a nearby shopping mall in a coordinated attack in the northern city of Kirkuk late on Wednesday, killing 11 people and wounding 70 . . . . Areas around Kirkuk are strongholds of al Qaeda, according to security officials, in a region which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim as theirs, making a coordinated police response difficult. . . . Violence in Iraq has intensified alongside the conflict in neighboring Syria and is expected to escalate further before a parliamentary election in April next year.” See also Aljazeera.Com’s report: “The coordinated attack on the shopping complex came amid a surge in unrest that has claimed more than 6,200 lives this year. Officials have blamed a resurgent al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, but the government has faced criticism for not doing enough to address the concerns of Iraq’s Sunni minority.”
2. Insha’Allah, insha’Allah in Afghanistan. Khaama.Com reports, “The acting Afghan foreign affairs minister Zarar Ahmad Osmani has assured that the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington will be signed ‘in good time.’ . . . Mr. Osmani also added, ‘Afghan government is seeking assurances from the United States regarding efforts to propel our peace and reconciliation efforts forward and to put an end to military operations against Afghan homes in accordance with the text and spirit of the BSA.’”
3. In Syria (and Iraq), al Qaeda influence continues to expand. LongWarJournal.Com’s Bill Roggio reports, “Four battalions from the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade, a large rebel group in Syria that is funded by the Qatari government, defected and vowed to continue to fight the ‘armed jihadist struggle.’ Meanwhile a senior leader of the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade recently defected and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, one of two official al Qaeda branches operating in Syria.”
4. Biden, master of hyperbole tries understatement in China. Reuters’ Michael Martina reports from Beijing, “China’s new air defense identification zone over the East China Sea has caused ‘significant’ unease in the region, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday, adding he had stated Washington’s firm objection to the move during talks in Beijing. . . . The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China.”
5. Restructuring, realignment, reduction, and rebalancing among DoD cost-saving measures. American Forces Press Service’s Tyrone C. Marshall reports, “The Defense Department’s senior leaders announced changes today in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff designed to save money and better align the department’s structures and resources. . . . Hagel said to further improve the management of OSD, he is directing additional longer-term follow-up actions, and directing a bi-annual review to establish a regular assessment of the office’s requirements.” See $1 billion gone, below, or here.
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $1 billion gone – cutting to the contractor quick. DefenseOne.Com’s Stephanie Gaskell reports, “The Office of the Secretary of Defense will get smaller over the next five years as Chuck Hagel plans to cut 200 positions from his office, saving the Pentagon about $1 billion.”
2. V for victory, and survivability. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Scott R. Gourley explains, “Emerging from a combination of dedicated government and industry design efforts, government blast testing and several years of combat experience is the widely held belief that ‘V-shaped’ hull designs play a key role in platform survivability on modern asymmetric battlefields. Speaking during the recent 2013 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting, Brig. Gen. David Bassett, U.S. Army Program Executive Officer for Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS), reinforced this belief in his praise of the Stryker ’Double-V Hull’ (DVH) design now fielded in Afghanistan.”
3. Coattails to Ride. GovConWire.Com reports, “Mark Gerencser, a former executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) and current chairman of PC services firm CyberSpa, has joined the board of directors at Sotera Defense Solutions. The 30-year Booz Allen veteran retired from the firm this year and helped found CyberSpa in 2010. Matt Cwiertnia, Sotera chairman, said Gerencser brings experience in national security and cyberspace initiatives to the company as it aims to grow its market presence.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Snowden – did he work alone? BusinessInsider.Com’s Michael Kelley reports, “Mike Rogers (Rep.-Mich.), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, thinks that Edward Snowden had help when he downloaded as many as 200,000 classified NSA documents and fled to Hong Kong. . . . A previous report by Reuters said Snowden convinced more than 20 NSA employees to give up their passwords so that he could access classified information in Hawaii, but the comments by Rogers seem to go further.”
2. Malware by air. PCWorld.Com contributor Brad Chacos explains, “When security researcher Dragos Ruiu claimed malware dubbed ‘badBIOS’ allowed infected machines to communicate using sound waves alone—no network connection needed—people said he was crazy. New research from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing, and Ergonomics suggests he’s all too sane.”
3. Deeper, deeper, deeper! AP’s energy writer John Fahey explains, “BP is leading an industry-wide push to develop technology that can retrieve oil from formations that are so deep under the sea floor, and under such high pressure and temperature, that conventional equipment would melt or be crushed by the conditions. One BP field in the Gulf of Mexico, called Tiber, makes the Macondo field that the Deepwater Horizon rig was probing look like simple puddle of oil. . . . New equipment, including blowout preventers far stronger than the one that failed on the Deepwater Horizon, must be developed. Then BP must convince regulators it can tap this oil safely.”
4. Hey! It’s a metaphor! Figure it out. DoDBuzz.Com reports, “The U.S. Army is under scrutiny for authorizing the construction of a $36 million complex in Afghanistan that sits empty. The 64,000-square-foot building in Camp Leatherneck in the southwestern part of the country ‘contains spacious offices, a briefing theater and an operations center with tiered seating’ and can accommodate 1,500 people . . . .”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Anatomy of an Administration. Politico.Com contributor Glenn Thrush’s analysis of Obama’s Cabinet: “At the top is a stripped-down command cluster modeled on his campaign, ruled by ferocious gatekeepers such as first-term chief of staff Emanuel and the more disciplined man who currently holds the position, Denis McDonough. But Obama also created in the White House an intellectual cloister where he could spitball ideas with academics like Larry Summers or take a few hours, as he did in the middle of the 2012 campaign, to discuss issues like civility in social media with a group of tech titans. The Cabinet, in many cases, fell between the cracks. And Obama, who has a pronounced disdain for traditional Washington institutions, didn’t much care.”
2. Chances of shutdown fun in January may be dwindling as common sense sets in: “With Washington facing the possibility of a second government shutdown, Republican and Democratic negotiators are racing to reach a budget agreement before Congress adjourns for Christmas. The parties have been here before. But this time, members on both sides appear motivated to avoid what would be the second shuttering of the federal government since October, say House and Senate negotiators. Congress has until Jan. 15 to strike a deal, although lawmakers could pass a stopgap measure to extend the bargaining period, a plan that is under consideration.
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. Why China’s Air Zone Matters. Time contributor argues, “Beijing’s move is a ploy to assert creeping sovereignty over the small group of islands known as the Senkaku in Japan, which currently administers the islands, and the Diaoyu in China. Totaling a scant 688 hectares, they’re wedged among those two nations and Taiwan.”
2. “Pakistan’s most powerful man?” Aljazeera.Com contributor Malik Ayub Sumbal argues, “Conspiracy theories aside, Sharif is probably the best option as the army chief for Pakistan. As the pioneer of counterinsurgency training in Pakistan, the veteran general has played a vital role in training the army to tackle new threats by militants. The counterinsurgency programme has brought the army out of its conventional role, focusing less on counter-terrorism training. This strategic mind-set is expected to help during the pull out of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014.”
3. “Building trade to build growth.” Reuters contributor Edward Alden argues, “A new set of rules that brings gains for the most competitive U.S. industries, and helps to make the United States a more attractive investment location, could be the Obama administration’s most lasting economic legacy.”
4. Our education system – the neglected priority. Time contributor Michelle Rhee argues that “what should be appalling to every American is the reality that tomorrow, when the PISA rankings fade from headlines, many advocates will go back to defending the current state of this nation’s public schools. They will argue, as they always do, that our education system is not broken — despite the fact that it performs at the same level as the Slovak Republic where the government spends half as much per pupil, and the GDP is 171 times smaller.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Part-timers.
2. Blogging.
3. Peer Ratings.
