FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Space jobs. Contributor John Holst reports, “It may be time to take a job with an ‘innovation chaser.’ That’s right–try looking for a job with some of the more innovative space companies and get that conference Kool-Aid taste out of your mouth. There are space companies out there working on some really interesting, and in some cases, historic projects.”
2. Salary—Exec Orders. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Two executive orders released by the White House this week address federal contractor pay, with specific steps to eliminate the gender pay gap in the federal contractor workforce.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Drone kills 16 AQ in Yemen. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio reports, “The US killed 16 al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and five civilians in the first drone strike in Yemen in more than two weeks, according to reports from the country. . . . Predators or Reapers[] targeted a pickup truck packed with AQAP fighters who were traveling on a highway in the Hazmiah area of Baydah province . . . . The five civilians who were killed were traveling in a separate car that was also hit in the strike. Six more civilians in a different car are also reported to have been wounded.”
2. Afghanistan—NATO base transfer. Khaama.Com reports, “At least 335 various types of NATO military bases and facilities in Afghanistan have been transferred to Afghan forces. . . . The transfer of the military bases and facilities are part of the NATO forces withdrawal from Afghanistan as coalition forces are winding down over a decade old combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of this year.”
3. Syria’s foreign fighters. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Steven Hoarn reports, “As the conflict in Syria has progressed, it has broken down from being a two-sided war into one that is increasingly difficult for the intelligence community to follow, [U.S. Central Command’s (CENTCOM’s) Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III] said. ‘We’ve gone from tracking large formations of opposing forces to networks of enemy, which is much more challenging, to almost individuals, which is enormously challenging for our intel community. Unless you have participated in that kind of challenging endeavor, you don’t understand it,’ said Austin.”
4. Putin in Ukraine—a review. Reuters’s Christian Lowe explains, “Russia’s decision last week to sign a peace accord on Ukraine does not mean that the Kremlin is backing down, rather that President Vladimir Putin is prepared to be patient in pursuit of his ultimate objective. That aim, his own reflections and those of people close to his way of thinking seem to indicate, is one day to re-unite Russian speaking peoples, including those living within the borders of Ukraine, within one common home.”
5. Japan on China. DefenseNews.Com reports, Japan’s “armed forces, called the Self-Defence Forces, launched a squadron of four E-2C early warning planes at its air base in Naha on the main Okinawan island Sunday . . . . This is the first time such planes have been based on the island. At the inauguration ceremony in Naha, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said Japan faced a ‘dangerous situation’ as China’s continual attempts to ‘change the status quo by force and threaten the rule of law could trigger emergencies’ . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Acquisition hurdles. GovExec.Com’s Kymm McCabe explains, “Congress, the media and most Americans seem to unquestioningly accept the myth that when our government plans and budgets for projects – no matter how large, daunting or new – they should achieve them exactly as planned, with no errors and no adjustments, 100 percent of the time. . . . In fact, what government takes on is just really hard—Moon and Mars shots, fighting terrorists, eradicating poverty, responding to disasters, providing access to health care for all Americans.”
2. GSA contract RFIs. FederalTimes.Com’s Nicole Blake Johnson reports, “The General Services Administration is gearing up for the next iteration of its Networx contracts, aimed at meeting the government’s growing telecommunications needs through 2028. In a request for information to industry, GSA asked for input on its Networx Services 2020 (NS2020) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program. The overall goal: ‘become the federal government’s strategic sourcing center for network-based and network-enabled services’ . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. DoD’s Heartbleed tips. American Forces Press Service’s Jim Garamone reports, “Officials recommend that people refrain from logging into a website and changing their password until they’ve confirmed that a patch is in place on the site to protect users from the Heartbleed vulnerability. If the Heartbleed patch is not yet in place, they explained, changing the password would be useless and could give an attacker the new password. In addition, officials recommend starting with the sites that contain the most sensitive personal information, such as banking and credit card sites and email and social media accounts. It’s a good idea, they added, not to re-use passwords.”
2. Battlefield revolution. DefenseOne.Com contributor Aliya Sternstein reports, “The virtual reality tool Oculus, a wow-producing technology recently acquired by Facebook, has the potential to transform entertainment, social networking — and warfighting, some defense contractors say.”
3. Space terrorism. NextGov.Com contributor Laura Ryan explains, “Space terrorism is a growing threat to U.S. national security, according to a new report. And an attack on a U.S. satellite—or damage to one from another country’s debris—could have astronomical effects on national security, says the report from the Council on Foreign Relations.” Read the report.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Domestic terrorists: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called supporters of Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, who has been fighting with the federal government over grazing, ‘domestic terrorists. . . . . Cliven Bundy does not recognize the United States, he says the United States is a foreign government,’ he said. ‘He doesn’t pay his taxes, he doesn’t pay his fees—unlike the rest of the Nevada ranchers—and he doesn’t follow the law.’ Reid also accused Bundy supporters of using women and children as human shields, saying they said, ‘If anyone got hurt, we want to make sure they got hurt first, because we want the federal government hurting women and children.’”
2. Criminal: “The Supreme Court is set to address whether the age-old act of political mudslinging and false accusations are a crime, with the fate—or at least the toner—of campaign attack ads at stake. The case brings into conflict two deeply held constitutional values: the right of wide open and unlimited speech, particularly in a political realm, and the notion of protecting the truth — especially when a person’s charter character is maligned.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “An Internet army of truth-tellers.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Digital freedom is a threat only to leaders who claim a monopoly on power and seek to control the flow of ideas. Yet to be strong and prosperous in the Internet Age, digital freedom is essential. And during a crisis like the one in Ukraine, it can be a powerful tool for truth. As the late Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, ‘One word of truth outweighs the whole world.’”
2. “Ukraine crisis: What’s the UN doing about it?” Aljazeera.Com contributor Alexander Nekrassov argues, “The new world order needs a new world organisation, with less bureaucracy, less corruption – yes, you read correctly – and fewer staff. And with an effective rapid response humanitarian structure that can help victims of both military conflicts and natural disasters quickly and professionally.”
3. “Journalism in Pakistan, a threatened existence.” Also from Aljazeera.Com, contributor Rabia Mehmood argues, “Journalists who have reported on stories against narratives built and sustained by the right wing majority in establishment, government, clergy and academia have only been able to report and write commentary in English-language outlets. In a way the war between journalists and the right wing elements in society reflects the warring narratives between the secular and the religious-right.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Sanctions.
3. Muscle flexing.
