Humph Day Highlights

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  The Cyber-cation bump. Contributor Tranette Ledford reports, “Across the country, more than 80 colleges and universities now take part, offering education options aimed at developing the knowledge necessary for jobs related to securing the nation’s information infrastructure.  Veterans holding security clearances already have an advantage in the defense sector.  But those who add cyber education to their list of assets only boost their appeal among hiring managers, and potentially, their salaries.”

2.  Oh, you IC Millennials. Editor Lindy Kyzer profiles, “As millennials job hop their way across commercial and government sector employers, companies are realizing their management styles also need to adapt. Millennials want more feedback, more engagement, and what is perhaps the best selling point for the IC – a better sense of mission and purpose. It’s that purpose that will keep millennials in government even as security clearance procedures potentially become more stringent, and continuous monitoring becomes the norm.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi—the Caliphate magnate. AP’s Ryan Lucas reports, “The leader of the extremist group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria has called on Muslims around the world to flock to territories under his control to fight and build an Islamic state. . . . Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared he wants to turn the enclave his fighters have carved out in the heart of the Middle East into a magnet for militants. He also presented himself as the leader of Islam worldwide, urging Muslims everywhere to rise up against oppression.” See also from Aljazeera.Com, “Baghdadi’s vision of a new caliphate” and from LongWarJournal.Org, “Islamic State’s rivals in Syria reject announced Caliphate.” Related, see ReutersSunnis, Kurds shun Iraq parliament.”

2.  Anchors away! Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “For the first time in its history, the Navy promoted a woman on Tuesday to become a four-star admiral. Surrounded by friends, family and peers, Adm. Michelle J. Howard was promoted to her new rank at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. She’ll take over as the vice chief of naval operations, the No. 2 officer in the service. She is not only the first woman to hold the job, but the first African-American.”

3.  Soldier on. Washington Post’s Michael E. Ruane reports, “It has been 18 months since Marrocco, 27, of Staten Island, underwent a rare double arm transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He had lost both legs and parts of both arms to a makeshift bomb in Iraq on Easter 2009. At the time of his injury, he was the first service member from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive the loss of four limbs. He then became the first service member to receive a double arm transplant . . . .”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  Raytheon’s smart bombs. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Artillery munitions experts at the Raytheon Co. Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., will build 757 M982 Excalibur satellite-guided heavy artillery shells to the U.S. Army under terms of a $51.8 million contract announced late last week. Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., are asking Raytheon to develop the Excalibur smart munitions under the option 5 Excalibur increment lb production option. Excalibur first was fielded in Iraq in 2007 for urban or complex-terrain engagements in which collateral damage must be kept to a minimum.”

2.  The $11 billion EHR RFP draws nigh. FederalTimes.Com’s Christy O’Farrell reports, “Top managers of the Defense Department’s estimated $11 billion healthcare modernization program seek a single integrated electronic health records system that will be interoperable with external health networks and require no customization for the various armed services. Anticipating the release—expected in the next three months—of the final request for proposals, more than 400 vendor representatives attended an Industry Day on June 25 to learn more about DoD’s requirements for its planned 10-year Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) contract.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Major league hacking. AP’s Kristie Rieken reports, “The Houston Astros said Monday that they have been the victims of hackers who accessed their servers and published months of internal trade talks on the Internet. . . . The team is working with the FBI and Major League Baseball security to try who was responsible for the breach. . . . The Astros rely heavily on sabermetrics in their evaluation of players and have been open about the fact that they use an online database to house their proprietary information. [General Manager Jeff] Luhnow isn’t sure if that’s why they were targeted, but he knows they are far from the only team which stores data about players and trades online.”

2.  Space Tourism—going really, really high! Wired.Com’s Margaret Rhodes reports, “The space tourism industry is set to take off: Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne launches next year, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX program is ramping up funding. World View, a lesser known effort, is another potential ticket to the heavens. It’s an audacious bid to take travelers on five-hour tours to near space, all inside a luxury flight capsule hoisted by a giant balloon. . . . The large balloon that powers the capsule might need about an hour and half to get to 100,000 feet; after that, World View could drift into orbit for a few hours.”

3.  T.V. for free. Washington Post’s Aaron Sankin reports, “Last Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court effectively drove a stake through the heart of Aereo, a company that allowed users to stream network television over the Internet. . . . Cobbling together the parts necessary to legally recreate Aereo on your own isn’t particularity expensive or difficult. In fact, drawn out over a long enough timeline, it’ll probably even save you money over shelling out for Aereo.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Put down the crack pie! “At a reception yesterday, President Obama said goodbye to the White House executive pastry chef, who is leaving after seven years on the job. Bill Yosses’s pies were so good that Obama said his cholesterol shot up, a likely consequence of eating too much pie. The first family even deemed Yosses the ‘crustmaster.’ But some think Obama may have gone a bit too far while heaping on the praise for the baked goods. ‘I don’t know what he does, whether he puts crack in them, or . . .’ Obama said, trailing off. Michelle Obama made a face. ‘No, he doesn’t . . . . There is no crack in our pies.’”

2.  Hobby horse: “The Supreme Court’s ruling that employers with religious objections don’t have to comply with Obamacare requirements to provide contraception coverage sparked swift reaction on Capitol Hill. The Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision deepened partisan division in Congress over the government’s role in health care with Republicans praising the ruling for protecting religious freedom and Democrats panning it for intruding into women’s health care decisions—and promising legislation to try to restore the coverage. Sen. Patty Murray, the upper chamber’s fourth-ranking Democrat, will lead the push, saying in a statement that she’ll ‘work with my colleagues and the administration to protect this access, regardless of who signs your paycheck.’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “How to save Afghanistan’s democratic moment.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Omar Samad argues, “It is now incumbent upon all sides to re-evaluate their strategies, recommit to a transparent democratic process and agree to a resolution that would not endanger hard-earned gains, and Afghanistan’s stability and unity. This can best be achieved if they put political ego and manipulative tactics aside, and aim for a collaborative outcome after election data is sorted out and its legitimacy assured.”

2.  “Can former P&G CEO clean up VA?USAToday.Com’s Editorial Board argues, “Robert ‘Bob’ McDonald, a West Point graduate and the former chief executive of Procter & Gamble, lacks experience in health care, which surely will slow him down. But his experience running a sprawling, private-sector institution should give him an edge over the succession of military commanders and career bureaucrats who have headed the troubled agency.”

3.  “Israel vs. Hamas: Moving in the wrong direction again?Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Board argues, “The latest deaths must not become a justification for an escalation of violence, for the continued death of innocents or for yet another downward spiral in the depressing and destabilizing war that so often seems to be moving in exactly the wrong direction.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Millennial #tag.

2.  Miracle drug.

3.  Expectation of privacy.

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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.