FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Some people are never happy. Contributor Diana Rodriguez reports, “Federal employee job satisfaction is down for the third year in a row, according to the results of the Partnership for Public Service’s study, “The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.” In contrast, private sector employment satisfaction is steadily rising. The results are hardly a surprise considering the 2013 government shutdown, furloughs, hiring freezes, and ever-increasing budget constraints.”
2. A New Year’s resolution. Also from Diana Rodriguez, how to walk into 2014 with confidence, apparently: “It may be hard to believe or understand, but highly successful and prosperous people can wrestle with issues of self-doubt and regard for their own achievements. Imposter Syndrome is a term coined by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in the late 1970s. Imposter Syndrome refers to highly capable people who find it impossible to believe in their own competence. And despite external evidence of their successes, those with this syndrome convince themselves that they are frauds, and aren’t truly deserving of it.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Afghanistan in 2014. DefenseOne.Com contributor Zachary Laub reports, “The end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan should not be confused with the end of the Afghan war, writes the International Crisis Group’s Graeme Smith, as Afghan troops cannot yet secure the country on their own. Yet even viable security forces cannot ensure stability if President Hamid Karzai’s successor lacks broad-based support, writes RAND’s Seth Jones, or if state institutions fail to become self-sufficient, says Clare Lockhart of the Institute for State Effectiveness. Nader Nadery, of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, warns that an economic downturn threatens to reverse a decade of social progress, while CFR’s Daniel Markey notes that neighboring Pakistan will continue to influence Afghan affairs.” Also, from Reuters’ Missy Ryan, “A Complete US Withdrawal From Afghanistan Would Be ‘A Complete Catastrophe’ For Civilian Aid.”
2. Taliban’s pedophile penchant. Khaama.Com reports, “The Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) accused Haqqani Network leaders for sexual abuse of children after hiring them for terrorist activities. NDS following a statement said Thursday, ‘Haqqani terrorist network members are sexually abusing children in training camps Haqqani’s commanders are sexually abusing teenage boys who are being trained to carry out terror acts.’ . . . Samiullah quoted in the statement of NDS said, ‘Young boys, including himself, are bring sexually abused by Taliban commanders and senior fighters.’” Also from Khaama.Com, Mullah Noor Mohammad killed in Kandahar and drone takes 4 in Pakistan.
3. Egypt tags Muslim Brotherhood “Terrorist Org.” UPI.Com reports from Cairo, “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood says it’s not cowed by being branded a terrorist group by the military-led interim regime and will press on with opposition protests. Cairo’s declaration outlawing the Sunni Islamist religious, political and social movement, and vowing to treat anyone who supports it as a terrorist, is a ‘worthless decision from an illegal gov’t without any evidence and will not change anything in reality,’ the Brotherhood said on its official English-language Twitter page.” Related, see Aljazeera.Com’s coverage, ‘Egypt declares Brotherhood ‘terrorist group.’”
4. Potential peace talks in South Sudan. AP’s Jason Straziuso and Rodney Muhumuza report from Juba, “African leaders arrived in South Sudan on Thursday to try to mediate between the country’s president and the political rivals he accuses of attempting a coup that the government insists sparked violence threatening to destroy the world’s newest country. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will meet with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir later on Thursday, said Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth. World leaders have urged the country’s leaders to stop the violence in which thousands are feared killed. The United States, Norway and Ethiopia are leading efforts to open peace talks between Kiir and his political rivals. Kiir said in a Christmas address that he is willing to ‘dialogue’ with all his opponents.”
5. Partnership in AFRICOM – U.S. and Burundi. U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs reports, “According to the [U.S. Army Air Force Africa] mission, partner capacity is also centrally focused on military-to-military training. This hands-on instruction enables bonding between the training team and the host nation. An airfield survey was conducted by [U.S. Army Air Force Africa] in September of 2013, but more than a survey, it was actually a fact finding and technical assessment mission to determine the ability of landing and servicing U.S. military aircraft at Bujumbura International Airport. Close cooperation between the U.S. military and the BNDF helped the [Central African Army] be open to the idea of having a dozen [U.S. Army Air Force Africa] airmen working, testing, measuring, and drilling on their airport.”
6. Commander-in-Chief visits Marines in Hawai’i. McClatchy.Com’s David Lightman reports, “President Obama spoke to about 580 troops and their families assembled around the tables and booths of Anderson Hall, a dining facility at Marine Corps Base Hawaii known informally as ‘Chow Hall.’ Most of the troops are Marines, but the event was open to members of the Army, Navy and Air Force as well. Anybody who is active duty service in Hawaii was allowed to attend. . . . He decided to take individual pictures with all of the roughly 580 service members and their families.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. For 2014, a bouncing baby Boeing. AviationWeek.Com’s Amy Butler reports, “With the first set of Pratt & Whitney engines delivered for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46 test aircraft, Boeing is planning to roll out the first green 767-2C next year. . . . The KC-46 program is among the Air Force’s top three procurement priorities alongside the single-engine, stealthy F-35 and a new long-range bomber. The Air Force completed the KC-46 critical design review in August, one month ahead of plan.”
2. $15 million to Raytheon for Excalibur. SpaceDaily.Com’s staff writers report, “The U.S. Army has awarded Raytheon a $15 million contract modification for the procurement of 216 Excalibur Ib rounds. Excalibur is a 155mm precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round effects capability in any environment. By using Excalibur’s level of precision, there is a major reduction in the time, cost and logistical burden associated with using other artillery munitions.”
3. Improving defense acquisition – in 8 easy steps. FederalTimes.Com contributor Dan Chenok reports, “Acquisition reform is at the forefront of multiple conversations across government and industry. In this context, it is imperative that strategies and decisions going forward be based on sound analysis of trends over time. In that context, my organization — the IBM Center for The Business of Government – has just released a new report that provides recommendations to improve acquisition at the Department of Defense. The report, titled ‘Eight Actions to Improve Defense Acquisition,’ is by Jacques Gansler and William Lucyshyn, who currently teach at the University of Maryland . . . .” Read the full report here.
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Reorganizing Defense Intelligence. C4ISRNet.Com’s Zachary Fryer-Biggs reports, “Preparing to trim 20 percent from its headquarters’ operating budget following last month’s directive from the Secretary of Defense, and adjusting to a post-Iraq/Afghanistan war environment, the Defense Department’s intelligence office is reorganizing, officials have announced. . . . One of the most noticeable and superficial changes is the elimination of the deputy assistant secretary of defense (DASD) title, replaced with the new director for defense intelligence (DDI) title. Joining the three former DASDs will be a new DDI for technical collection and special programs.”
2. Google’s Field of [Robot] Dreams. VentureBeat.Com reads Google’s crystal ball: “Like the proverbial field of dreams, if Google builds it, they will come. Google brings assets to the table that enhance humanoid robots in very interesting ways. Your robot needs maps and navigation to get around. Check. It needs to be able to understand and speak multiple languages. Check. It needs to know everything about you, so that it can anticipate and better service your every whim. Check. None of this is ready for prime time, but Google is one of the few companies with deep enough pockets to dream this big.”
3. Get to know your new iPhone. BusinessInsider.Com’s Steve Kovach with 21 tips and tricks.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Words to remember, not necessarily fondly: “The year started with a deal on the fiscal cliff and ended with a deal on a two-year budget accord. In between, there were fights over the Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack, National Security Agency surveillance programs, immigration reform, the war in Syria and the implementation of ObamaCare. Here are the most memorable quotes of the year . . . .”
2. A race to watch: “Republicans need to pick up six seats to win the Senate in a midterm election year that typically hurts the party in the White House. A victory in either Michigan or Colorado — both carried by Obama in 2012 and 2008 — would greatly boost their chances. Democrats already are defending Senate seats in seven states that Obama won, including three where incumbents are retiring.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “In 2014, Keep an Eye on India.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Anti-corruption reform in India will still need private activists and a watchdog media. And the two major parties, Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, must adjust to this new popular sentiment. If India can make this critical course correction, it just might serve as a model for China and similar nations and show that prosperity is best built on a foundation of openness, freedom, and honesty.”
2. “’Revolution by the people, for the people.’” Aljazeera.Com contributor Larbi Sadiki argues, “Even in the midst of uncertainty, violence, trepidation, confusion and delays, the Arab Spring is very much alive – even if its detractors incessantly and arrogantly await a winter metamorphosis. Arabs will never settle to live ‘a big lie’, by any account, secularist or Islamist. Truly, Arabs have for three years entered a new dawn: They are peoples in the midst of unstoppable revolution and transition.”
3. A thought for the New Year: optimism. Reuters’ contributor Zachary Karabell argues, “Optimism, as the theoretical physicist David Deutsch so brilliantly describes in The Beginnings of Infinity, doesn’t mean surety about good future outcomes. Optimism is simply the certainty that any human progress to date has been a product of our collective ability to understand how things work and to craft solutions. The conviction that the present is a prelude to a bad future negates that collective ability. Yes, we may indeed be at the end of the line, but by angrily dismissing optimistic arguments we are likely to fail more rapidly. Why bother striving for constructive change if you firmly reject the possibility? That leaves only one viable alternative: to envision a path forward. That path may not materialize, but striving to find it is a vital component of creating the future we dream about, and not the one that we fear.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Wishy-washy.
3. Stay warm.
