FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Warning: spear phishing tactics. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “Be wary of your next unsolicited LinkedIn connection – a study published by Websense lists ‘Invitation to connect on LinkedIn’ as the most commonly used in phishing attacks. While cyber threats have become more sophisticated, phishing – sending emails with malicious links or attachments – will continue to be a dominant strategy in 2014.”
2. Drone invasion: coming to a state near you. Contributor Charles Simmins highlights, “On Dec. 30, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the six sites selected to performed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research as it moves towards integrating drone operations into the air traffic control system of the United States. . . . The future of civilian UAS operations in the United States will be determined in the next several years. Skilled operators, as well as personnel able to maintain UAS, will be more and more in demand.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. U.S. calls Karzai’s bluff: sign the papers. Khaama.Com reports, “The US officials said Monday that the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington should be signed within the coming weeks if a contingent of US troops is to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014. White House spokesman Jay Carney warned that United States might completely withdraw from Afghanistan, unless a deal is reached to keep upwards of 8,000 US troops inside the country.” Also from Afghanistan, more Taliban join peace process and apparent assassination takes Taliban leader Mullah Salim.
2. Fighting in Fallujah continues. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Government forces have shelled and launched multiple air strikes against fighters over the past week, whilst armed Sunni tribesmen from the area are fighting on both sides. Officials say dozens of armed men have been killed, but the number of casualties among civilians, security forces and tribal fighters is not yet clear. Maliki urged the Iraqi army to avoid targeting the city’s residential areas in the fighting.”
3. In Syria, moderate rebels gaining momentum, perhaps. Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “The war-within-a-war that Syria’s rebel groups are fighting among themselves is intensifying and could determine how far Syria’s most extreme, Al Qaeda-affiliated militants are able to rise. Rebels from the Al Qaeda-aligned Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, retreated Monday from some of their strongholds after several days of clashes with both moderate Islamists and the Free Syrian Army fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.” Aljazeera.Com adds, al-Qaeda executing captives in Aleppo: “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has executed media activists, relief workers and other civilians that were held captive by the al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria’s Aleppo . . . . The ISIL, whose leadership is based in Iraq and is made up of mostly foreign fighters from across the world, was initially welcomed by other rebel groups in their fight against Assad. However, tensions mounted as ISIL was accused of imposing a reign of terror in areas where it operated.”
4. DoD budget breakdown. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “The US government is not likely to unveil its 2015 spending plan until late February at the earliest . . . . In typical federal budget cycles, which have been virtually nonexistent over the past four years, OMB sends passback guidance in November around the Thanksgiving holiday. DoD was expecting its 2015 passback guidance from OMB around Christmas, but it was likely delayed due to the late passage of the bipartisan budget deal, according to several sources.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Defense contracting rebound 2014. AviationWeek.Com’s Michael Bruno reports, “U.S. defense contracting opportunities once again make up the vast majority of overall potential federal contracting awards in fiscal 2014, with 73% of more than $160 billion across the government seen coming from the national security realm . . . . The $118 billion in defense opportunities is double the total for the previous year, and the percentage is above the five-year average of 69%. Within the defense sector, the Army dominates, with 57% of the total contract value.”
2. Call for tech solutions: Office of Naval Research. GovConWire.Com reports, “The Office of Naval Research is asking industry to submit ideas for new electronic warfare technologies in areas such as threat warning systems and C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance). ONR is seeking to further development work on the next generation of EW tools through the Electronic Warfare Technology program and bring fundamental change to EW operations for the Navy, Marine Corps and joint service organizations, ONR says . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Augmented Reality: Part II. In this second of three part DefenseNewsMedia.Com coverage, Scott R. Gourley explains, “The application of augmented reality will combine virtual information with a real world view. For [Augmented Immersive Team Trainer], realistic virtual elements, such as fixed and rotary wing aircraft, targets such as insurgents, tanks and buildings, and weapon effects, to include artillery and mortar fire, are combined with a real world scene and displayed in both a head worn display module and in simulated tactical equipment like binoculars.” Read Part I of Gourley’s coverage: “Services Embrace Immersive Training.”
2. Objectives and Key Results (OKR): Google grading as a lesson in leadership. BusinessInsider.Com’s Jay Yarow explains, “It’s a pretty fascinating look at how Google operates. It’s also useful for just about any company, or any person, who wants to create a simple, easy-to-follow system for getting stuff done. . . . It may sound fairly simple, and straightforward, but that’s part of the appeal. You get a short list of items to work against to help you focus on doing your job.”
3. Plug it in: the Joint Global Theater Security Cooperation Management Information System. DoDBuzz.Com reports, “A joint communications system for managing security cooperation among service chiefs, combatant commanders and the Secretary of Defense is ready for prime time as the services are beginning to switch over from their branch- and command-specific systems to the Defense Department program. The Joint Global Theater Security Cooperation Management Information System, or G-TSCMIS, has been years in the planning and development, and a Marine Corps administrative message released on Jan. 2 indicates it’s about to go live.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Yellin’ for Yellen: “Janet Yellen, a key force behind the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented and controversial efforts to boost the U.S. economy, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday to lead the central bank just as it begins to unwind that stimulus. When she succeeds Ben Bernanke, whose second four-year term as Fed chairman expires on January 31, Yellen will become the first woman to run the Fed in its 100-year history and just one of a handful of women heading central banks globally. She is currently the Fed’s vice chair.”
2. Just shave it off, please: “Press Secretary Jay Carney sparked a flurry of tweets — and a new Twitter handle — when he arrived for the first White House press briefing of 2014, sporting some scruff on his generally clean-shaven face. ‘My wife says she likes it,’ Carney offered. ‘TMI,’ one reporter shot back. Carney joked that the growth was ‘actually an homage’ to bearded CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Forget The Nuclear Details and End This Cold War With Iran.” Atlantic’s Peter Beinart argues, “Ending America’s cold war with Iran would deny Iran’s regime a key pretext it uses to repress domestic dissent. And it would increase the chances of ending a war in Syria that should shame the world. That’s what’s really at stake in the nuclear negotiations America and Iran will pursue in 2014.”
2. “Syria’s Assad: Still the wrong choice.” LATimes.Com contributor Nabeel A. Khoury argues, “No matter how many battles he wins, Assad can no longer rule Syria as his family has for more than 40 years. There has been too much blood, destruction and displacement for the Syrians to grant him legitimacy once more.”
3. “Why Snowden Won’t (and Shouldn’t) Get Clemency.” Slate.Com’s Fred Kaplan inventories recent arguments and argues, himself, “Unless Snowden changes his stripes dramatically, he doesn’t seem inclined to cooperate with his former masters, whom he now depicts as threats to world peace. Nor, I suspect, would the U.S. government be inclined to cooperate with the likes of Snowden, especially given this administration’s intolerance of far less ambitious leakers and—more to the point—the deep layers of secrecy surrounding everything about the NSA.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Tall tales.
