Friday Finale & Not-So-Selective-Service
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. When to “lawyer-up” for the sake of your clearance. Contributor and Security Clearance Attorney Sean M. Bigley advises, “Appealing the denial of a security clearance isn’t just about the clearance. It’s about saving your career. Given the gravity of the situation, retaining an attorney to present a polished, professional, and in-person argument on why your clearance should be granted is imperative. Don’t fall victim to misleading statements about the process.
2. Dealing the best SF-86 hand. Also from in-house counsel, Sean Bigley explains, “Where the facts are not necessarily in your favor, much can be done with proactive planning to minimize the impact of bad facts on your clearance. Laying the appropriate groundwork with the help of your attorney ahead of time can save you time, money, and a huge headache (or worse – a clearance denial) down the road.
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. U.S.M.C.—opening more doors for women. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “The U.S. military has continued to open new positions to women since, but it’s the pending infantry decision that polarizes opinion like no other. . . . Marine officials indicated they will open IOC to active-duty female officers who are ‘company-grade’—meaning not only new lieutenants, but seasoned ones and captains, too. Those who volunteer will be required to meet a new requirement, however: Completion of the male version of the service’s annual Physical Fitness Test and the Combat Fitness Test with first-class scores.” Read the Marines’ message.
2. Kerry back in Kabul. AP’s Bradley Klapper reports from Kabul, “Secretary of State John Kerry sought Friday to broker a deal between Afghanistan’s rival presidential candidates as a bitter dispute over last month’s runoff election risked spiraling out of control. Kerry, who arrived predawn in Kabul on a hastily arranged visit, is meeting with former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah as well as the current leader, President Hamid Karzai.”
3. Elite troops’ heavy load. DefenseOne.Com’s Ben Watson reports, “The incoming top commander of the United States military’s elite forces said that Pentagon officials and lawmakers need to ease the burden on special operations troops and their families, who are bending under the compounded stresses of more than a dozen years of war in the world’s most dangerous places. ‘A combination of high operational tempo, exacting standards for operational proficiency and mission sensitivity places unique stressors on [special operations forces] and their families. In accordance with President [Barack] Obama’s Strategic Guidance, this burden will not decrease . . . .’”
4. Restructuring Army Aviation training. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports from Ft. Rucker, “A US Army general defended his service’s decision to buy 100 Airbus UH-72 Lakota helicopters for pilot training, saying the new aircraft will better prepare aviators at a lower overall operating cost. . . . The Army aviation restructure also calls for retiring all Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and moving Boeing AH-64 Apaches from the National Guard to the active duty in exchange for Black Hawks and Lakotas.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Request for Proposal: wearable radiation detectors. NextGov.Com’s Rebecca Carroll reports, “The Department of Homeland Security needs at least 26 wearable radiation detection systems, possibly worth a total of $24 million . . . . Called human portable tripwires, the devices will sound an alarm if they detect significant amounts of nuclear material and communicate the results in real-time.” Read the Solicitation.
2. USAID’s $600 million Dragon. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The United States Agency for International Development is asking industry for input on a proposed five year, $600 million contract, according to a request for information (RFI) . . . . The Democratic, Responsible and Accountable Governance Project (Dragon) would provide the agency with resources and services as it works to build accountable institutions across the world and expand its anti-corruption efforts . . . . Industry would provide assessment, research and technical assistance services as well as analysis and in areas such as budget processes or health service delivery, according to the RFI.”
3. Reducing F-35 costs. GovConWire.Com reports, “Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and its two primary industry partners in the F-35 program have signed an agreement with the Defense Department to develop strategies aimed at reducing F-35′s production costs. The Blueprint for Affordability deal aims to bring the ‘fifth-generation’ fighter aircraft program at a ‘fourth-generation’ price point by the end of the decade, Lockheed said Thursday. BAE Systems, Lockheed and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) agreed to invest as much as $170 million in F-35 cost reduction measures through 2016.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Spying in German. Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier reports, “Germany on Thursday asked the top US spy in Berlin to leave the country. This move, drastic in diplomatic terms, followed reports of two suspected cases of US espionage against its longtime NATO ally. Tensions between the two countries were raised last year by NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s revelations that the US actively eavesdropped in Europe on adversaries and friends alike. . . . In separate cases over the last 10 days, one man has been arrested and an investigation against another has been launched amid suspicions they have been working in Germany for the Central Intelligence Agency.”
2. C.I.A.’s close call with Congress. USNews.Com’s Steven Nelson reports, “The Justice Department won’t launch a criminal investigation into claims from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein that the CIA improperly spied on committee staff. ‘The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal investigation,’ Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement. . . . Senate staffers accused by the CIA of mishandling classified documents are also off the hook . . . .”
3. Eyes on Mars. Wired.Com’s Laura Poppick reports, “Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum are planning a trip to Mars. . . . The couple’s drive to explore space was born in a giant glass dome on Earth called Biosphere 2 in the early 90s. Eight people, including Poynter and MacCallum, lived for two solid years from 1991 to 1993 inside the dome near Tucson, Arizona as part of a prototype space colony. The eccentric, privately funded science experiment. contained miniature biomes that mimicked Earth’s environments, including jungle, desert, marshland, savannah and an ocean all crammed into an area no larger than two and a half football fields. The crew subsisted on a quarter-acre agricultural plot and went about their lives while medical doctors and ecologists observed from outside.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Nice suit: “House Speaker John Boehner Thursday released a draft resolution of his threatened lawsuit against President Barack Obama, alleging that Obama exceeded his executive authority in delaying a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. . . . In the draft, Boehner maintains that Obama exceeded his authority by delaying the employer mandate, a key provision of the 2010 health care law that congressional Republicans have aggressively sought to kill. The House Rules Committee will hold a hearing next week on the resolution authorizing the Republican-led lawsuit. Last July, after months of consulting with concerned employers, the administration announced it was delaying implementing the mandate until 2015. Under the law, companies with 50 or more employees would face fines as high as $3,000 per-employee if they didn’t offer affordable insurance.”
2. Book fight: “The sales drop of Hillary Clinton’s latest memoir has turned into an avalanche and is set to cost publisher Simon & Schuster millions if Hard Choices doesn’t recover quickly enough to cover the estimated $14 million advance they paid the former first lady. . . . her book will be pushed further down on the July 20 best-seller list by the anti-Clinton book Blood Feud, by former Timesman Edward Klein. . . . Publishing sources said that Clinton has sold 177,236 hardcovers. E-book sales aren’t available, but her numbers are very low, said the sources. Even at 200,000 total sales, simple math finds that for Simon & Schuster to cover the $14 million advance, each book would have had to sell for about $70. Amazon offers it for $20.94, about $14 off the $35 list price. It has dropped to 103rd in Amazon sales . . . .”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The myth of the caliphate and the Islamic State.” MUST READ. Aljazeera.Com contributor Afzal Ashraf argues, “The most powerful weapon against extremist ideology is the knowledge that Islamic empires were not exclusively sustained by powerful armies – as was the case of Rome – nor supported by a strong naval fleet, as was the case in the British Empire. The sun set on Islamic power when it handed leadership over to the West in building societies dedicated to pluralism and knowledge – values that Islamic theology champions more highly than a martial jihad.”
2. “Netanyahu hopes to avoid Gaza ground operation. Why he might order one anyway.” Reuters contributor Dan Ephron argues, “In his long political career, Netanyahu has shown little appetite for ground campaigns and for the right reasons. Gaza is a messy place to wage war, with two million people crammed cheek-by-jowl into a tiny space. But for all his reluctance, the Israeli leader could well find himself ordering an incursion anyway—mainly because there seems to be no effective mediator available to broker a ceasefire.”
3. “Obama’s real border issue: a heroin surge.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “As most states allow marijuana to be grown legally for either recreational or medicinal use, Mexican drug growers are switching to heroin production. If Washington wants to solve one of the biggest issues along the border, it has a ready-made problem to solve in this heroin trade.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Fleeing violence.
2. Pet friendly.
