Monday Mourning

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  Spy jobs in paradise. Contributor David Brown explains, “Among the defense contractors hiring in or near Honolulu are ManTech International Corporation, which is looking for an analyst with a top-secret clearance for a network operations center. Apex Systems wants a network engineer. Northrup Grumman’s Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Support Office is hiring senior level intelligence analyst manager. . . . And in what is probably the coolest job in the Pacific Ocean, Northrup Grumman is looking for an exercise scenario designer for Special Operations Command Pacific . . . .”

2.  Continuous monitoring and confidentiality. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Senators prominent for advocating for government whistleblowers are now asking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for more details about what continuous monitoring of cleared professionals will entail. Senators Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley sent a letter to ODNI director James Clapper June 18, highlighting that any monitoring must also preserve the rights and confidentiality of government whistleblowers.

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Iraq unfolding. Reuters’ Lesley Wroughton reports, “U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Baghdad on Monday to press Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government in response to a Sunni insurgency that has swept much of northern and western Iraq. Kerry’s visit came after Sunni militants took strongholds along Iraq’s western border at the weekend, strengthening supply routes from Syria where they have exploited a three-year-old rebellion to capture swathes of territory.” See also from AP, “Kerry confronts threat,” DefenseNews.Com’s “Iraq Policy Comes Full Circle” and from Christian Science Monitor, “Neocons, critics fight over who’s responsible for Iraq mess” and “Four towns in two days.”

2.  ISIS and Turkey. LongWarJournal.Org’s Merve Tahiroglu reports, “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul, Iraq last week, abducting 49 people, including several diplomats, guards, and others. . . . The Turkish government is clearly alarmed by the crisis in Iraq. ISIS has threatened Turkish national security since it emerged as a key player in Syria, particularly after it took control over the strategic town of Jarablus in January. Now, the militant group seems to have increased its control over Turkey’s bordering towns in Iraq as well.

3.  ISIS (ISIL) in Syria. Aljazeera.Com reports, “The Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL) has battled with rival opposition fighters in northern Syria, using US-made military vehicles captured from neighbouring Iraq for the first time . . . . ISIL combatants have been using US-made Humvees – four-wheel drive military vehicles – in fighting in northern areas of Syria’s Aleppo province . . . .”

4.  Pakistan—undercover in Afghanistan. Khaama.Com reports, “The Pakistani soldiers have increased to their presence and attacks in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan . . . . Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said the Pakistani soldiers are operating in civilian clothes in parts of eastern Kunar province. Mohammadi further added that heavy and modern weapons have been used in attacks on Afghan national security forces during the recent days. He said the Taliban militants do not have access to weapons which have been used against the Afghan forces.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  DHS’ Vehicle Eye-Safe Trace (VEST) project. MilitaryAerospace.Com’s John Keller reports, “U.S. homeland security experts will brief industry late next month on an upcoming project to give early warning of explosives in vehicles approaching security checkpoints. Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington will brief industry on the upcoming Vehicle Eye-Safe Trace (VEST) project from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on 31 July 2014 at the Wilbur J. Cohen Building (AKA Voice of America Building) at 330 Independence Ave. SW in Washington DC.”

2.  Pentagon’s picks for $3 billion tech services. FederalTimes.Com’s Michael Peck reports, “Twelve contractors have been selected for a Department of Defense technical services contract valued at up to $3 billion. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Defense Systems Technical Area Tasks (DS TATs) contract covers research, test and advisory services for focus areas . . . . The contract is for one base year with four one-year options. It was issued by the Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, according to a Department of Defense announcement. The winning contractors are . . . .”

3.  Navy to pay $4 billion for Grumman’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. GovConWire.Com reports, “Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) is set to receive a five-year, $3.86 billion contract by the end of June to provide the U.S. Navy with 25 new carrier-based surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft . . . . Northrop’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft would help boost Navy carriers’ ability to detect incoming hostile aircraft and missiles . . . . The contract is expected to indicate yearly order batches: five aircraft in fiscal 2014, 2016 and 2018, four in 2015 and six in 2017.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Snowden and the French connection. DefenseNews.Com’s Tom Kington reports, “As European defense firms jump into the cybersecurity business to compensate for dipping military spending, they’re benefiting from the work of one man: Edward Snowden. . . . ‘Only Europe can help create the conditions for the emergence of world champions to strengthen the protection of privacy, the security of data-hosting companies and citizens.’”

2.  Social networking for terrorists. VentureBeat.Com’s Richard Byrne Reilly reports, “A company called Modus Operandi is developing a ‘social network’ interface with profiles of the bad guys who want to do you harm. Terrorists, mainly. Terrorists won’t actually be posting status updates, of course. But they will have profiles that show their pertinent information, updated by American intelligence analysts working in the field, sometimes in hostile environments, said Eric Little, Modus Operandi’s chief scientist. The Facebook-like site will help those analysts keep tabs on the bad guys.”

3.  Domestic drone wars. Christian Science Monitor’s Jacob Axelrad reports, “Imagine you’re at home. Out of the corner of your eye, you spy a drone. It’s hovering just outside your window. What’s it doing? Taking pictures? Spying on you? But, more important, what would you do? That’s the type of invasion-of-privacy concern posed by Domestic Drone Countermeasures (DDC), a company is Portland, Ore., that sells anti-drone technology it says will protect people from domestic drones, which have become increasingly available for prices as low as $500 online.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Boxing with Boxer: “Sen. Barbara Boxer on Sunday blasted former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration over Iraq as ‘sick.’ . . . ‘When you really look back at the record, it was Vice President Cheney and [former Secretary of State] Condi Rice working for George W. Bush and [former Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, and all those folks it’s just like, you know, a nightmare come back to haunt me. . . . ‘The American people don’t want it, the president doesn’t want it, the saner voices in the Senate and the House don’t want it,’ she said. ‘We do have a national security interest in preventing another 9/11. The Iraqis had their chance. They blew it. And I think right now they have got to figure out if they can form an inclusive government.’”

2.  Terrorists in Wonderland: “Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asserted on Sunday that the U.S. did not help the Middle East by getting involved in the region’s affairs and wars. ‘Look at Libya. We went into Libya and we got rid of that terrible Gadhafi. Now it is a jihadist wonderland over there. There’s jihadists everywhere . . . . If we were to get rid of Assad, it would be a jihadist wonderland in Syria. It’s now a jihadist wonderland in Iraq, precisely because we got overinvolved, not because we had too little involvement, but too much involvement.’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “Maliki Isn’t The Problem. Oil Is.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Nora Bensahel argues, “The United States can do little to encourage genuine political reconciliation given the winner-take-all nature of political power in oil states.”

2.  “When Iraq was the bastion of a thriving cosmopolitan culture.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Hamid Dabashi argues, “We are a people, we Iranians, Arabs, Muslims, Kurds, Turks, and we deserve a far better future than to be degenerated into a self-degenerative denominator of hatred and fear. Iraq is a country and Iraq must remain a unified cosmopolitan country, as must all its neighbours.”

3.  “Droning on.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “The US has yet to have a serious national discussion on the use of drone warfare. The pursuit of terrorists has taken precedence over questions about proliferation and rules of conduct. But as the use of drones spreads to other nations, setting a clear US standard for the world to follow becomes ever more important.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Buzz kill.

2.  Paradise.

3.  Botching up Iraq.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.