FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Cybersecurity recruiting. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “It’s time to get real with the cybersecurity recruits in the defense industry. Acknowledge the pay gap. Work to close the gap, but don’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. Help potential candidates understand their value to the mission of the organization and let them know they are appreciated.”
2. Fed Gov recruiting. Also from Jillian Hamilton, “Filling open positions with critical thinkers starts in the interview process. Hiring managers should assess both a candidate’s skills, and their critical thinking abilities. If hiring managers want to compete for top talent such as cybersecurity professionals, they’ll need their hiring practices to be as dynamic as the career field itself.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Medal of Honor in the Hindu Kush. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “[Sgt. Kyle] White – who retired from the Army in 2011 and is now working as an investment analyst in Charlotte, N.C. – will receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony on May 13th. He will be the seventh living Medal of Honor recipient, and 14th overall, for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Related, see “Grant all Marines who cover grenades the Medal of Honor.”
2. Ukraine—attacks and talks. Reuters’ Aleksandr Vasovic reports from Mariupol, Ukraine, “Pro-Russian separatists attacked a base of the Ukrainian national guard in an eastern city overnight and Kiev said three of the militants were killed, bloodshed likely to overshadow crisis talks in Geneva. Ukrainian, Russian and Western diplomats arrived for the emergency talks in Switzerland, but there was little hope of any progress in resolving a crisis that has seen armed pro-Russian fighters seize whole swathes of Ukraine.” DefenseOne.Com reports, “Many Western observers now take as fact that groups raiding buildings in places like Donetsk and Kharkiv are, in fact, Russian and not simply Russian-speaking Ukrainians.”
3. Poland—bring the Yanks. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “Poland’s defense minister is calling for a larger US and NATO military presence in his country to deter the type of Russian aggression occurring in eastern Ukraine. Tomasz Siemoniak is scheduled to meet with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday to discuss ways the US military could partner more with Poland at a time when Russia flexes its military muscles on the Crimean Peninsula and near Ukraine.”
4. Cost of Afghanistan. Khaama.Com reports, “At least 2,177 US troops have been killed and nearly 19,698 others have been injured since the beginning of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count. In the meantime, the US military’s numbers shows at least 1,802 US troops have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. The defense department reports at least 132 more service members who have died outside Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Commercial satellite rule change means competition. FederalTimes.Com’s Amber Corrin reports, “U.S.-based commercial satellite imagery providers could get a break from the government soon if a bid to pull back federal controls on image resolution comes to fruition. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said April 15 that laws limiting the pixel resolution of satellite images have been reviewed, and that officials at intelligence agencies are endorsing reduced restrictions. Lifting the ban would allow U.S. companies to sell higher-resolution imagery than they currently are allowed—which would improve competition with overseas companies, according to some.”
2. Building on contracting successes. GovExec.Com’s Charles S. Clark reports, “[Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget Beth Cobert] stressed the search for efficiencies in expanding strategic sourcing and shared services in human resources, financial management and information technology. And she praised the General Services Administration’s pilot portal for small businesses called FBOpen as ‘more than just a search engine, but a tool that allows users to custom-search to match the right companies to the right government needs.’”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Post-Apocalypse reboot. Time’s Lewis Dartnell’s 7-step guide: “The world as we know it has ended. A particularly virulent strain of avian flu finally breached the species barrier and hopped successfully to human hosts. Or tensions between India and Pakistan reached the breaking point, culminating in the use of nuclear weapons. Or a rocky asteroid, only around a mile across, slammed into the Earth and fatally changed atmospheric conditions. Now what?”
2. The modular cell phone—never buy another. Wired.Com’s Mat Honan reports, “Project Ara is Google’s attempt to reinvent the cellphone as we know it. Instead of a slab of glass and metal that you have no ability to upgrade, save for buying a new device, it’s an attempt to launch a phone where all of the main components are interchangeable via modules that click in and out, attaching via electro-permanent magnets. Despite being highly customizable, it will only come in three main sizes, helping to eliminate the kind of device fragmentation that currently plagues Android.”
3. Intelligence immersion. FederalTimes.Com’s Amber Corrin reports, “The intelligence community is pushing toward a new, more comprehensive way of collecting, processing and using the data that underpins all of its operations: an experience built around immersion that fluidly helps connect the dots between entities that once functioned in silos. At the center of the movement is the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, whose director, Letitia Long, says is at the center of transforming the way the government handles intelligence.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Speaking the truth, and they don’t even know it: “Lawmakers are rallying around the 150-year-old U.S. Capitol Dome, weather-whipped and torn open by acid rain, worried that if an 11th-hour restoration isn’t fully funded, its most important traits could be lost forever. ‘If this work isn’t done,’ warned Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., ‘. . . we’re going to lose it as it truly, historically is.’ A big fix, added Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is needed, ‘so that we don’t lose these treasures forever.’” [Exactly!]
2. Needed: an 11 foot pole: “GOP presidential hopefuls are largely steering clear [get it, steering, steer . . . steer are cattle] of Nevada rancher Clive Bundy’s fight with the federal government. The showdown, which left armed militia members and feds staring each other down last week, has captivated talk radio and cable news shows, turning Bundy into a conservative cause célèbre. . . . GOP strategists suggested that Bundy’s case is far too risky for most candidates eyeing the presidency, particularly given the possibility of armed conflict with federal police.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “East Ukraine crisis and the ‘fascist’ matrix.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Halya Coynash argues, “The world has been here before, and the price for collaborating with fascists and for failure to react to clear danger proved tragically high.”
2. “Odessa: Ukrainian port that inspired big dreams.” Reuters’ contributor Blair A. Ruble argues by way of a lesson in history, “Throughout its history, Odessa has encouraged a melding, reconciliation, and mutual borrowing of diverse cultural expressions and traditions to produce new amalgams. There can be no greater threat to Putin’s hollow juggernaut than this special place. A tattered Ukrainian military, even when backed by Western sanctions, may never bring Putinism to an inglorious end. Odessan mockery, however, most certainly will.”
3. “How to defang Russia, China.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “In the wake of the Chinese and Russian aggression, more nations are firming up their alliances, not just as a defensive move but to assert common values in a broad front. Ukraine deserves to be on track to join the EU someday. And Japan can firm up its trade and security ties with the US. When nations rise above themselves for the sake of something grander, it is a force to be reckoned with.”
