FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Millennial mania. Contributor Erika Wonn explains, “Many millennials have never known a time without social media, most definitely not in their adult life. For a generation who puts their whole life online, they are often still weary of giving their information to outside entities, especially the government. This can definitely pose a problem in the national intelligence field. How can defense employers reach out to millennials while ensuring protection of their information?”
2. Negotiating salaries—6 tips. Contributor Jillian Hamilton advises, “Money isn’t everything, but salary negotiations are a key component of the recruiting process. Play hardball and you may land a desperate-for-a-job, under- qualified candidate who quickly doesn’t pan out. Or you could offend a highly qualified candidate who loses interest and finds work with a competitor instead. Few like to talk money, so here are six tactics to consider in your salary negotiations.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. The Lion of Fallujah. Washington Post’s Thomas Gibbons-Neff tells the story of U.S.M.C. Maj. Douglas Zembiec: “Long thought to be an active-duty Marine when he was killed in Baghdad, Zembiec was actually serving with the CIA’s paramilitary arm. While the CIA would not comment on whether Zembiec worked for the agency, former U.S. intelligence officials said in interviews that he died in an alley in Sadr City on May 11, 2007, as a member of the Special Activities Division’s Ground Branch. It was the final chapter in the life of a Marine known to many as the Lion of Fallujah but whose story, until now, has never been fully told. . . .”
2. ISIS repels Iraqi Army at Tikrit. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio reports, “The Islamic State and its Baathist allies have forced Iraqi forces that were attempting to retake Tikrit to withdraw from the city just one day after launching a much touted offensive. Iraqi forces, which include regular Army units, paramilitary SWAT teams, and hastily raised Shia militias from the south, launched their offensive to regain control of the capital of Salahaddin province with much fanfare yesterday morning. The military claimed to take control of much of the southern part of the city, as well as a hospital and a police academy. But the assault force “retreated from Tikrit before sunset on Tuesday . . . after coming under heavy mortar and sniper fire’ . . . .”
3. War spending dwindling. Defense Media Activity’s Claudette Roulo reports, “The Defense Department’s request for $58.6 billion in fiscal year 2015 overseas contingency operations funds is nearly one-third less than it received the previous year and is part of a continued downward trend in war-related spending, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told Congress . . . . But even as the war in Afghanistan ends, the department will continue to seek [Overseas Contingency Operations] funding for the repair and replacement of worn-out and damaged equipment, a process that will continue well beyond 2015 . . . . ‘The requested funds for 2015 would provide $53.4 billion for Operation Enduring Freedom . . . . This funding will support the responsible drawdown of forces in Afghanistan as announced by the president. It will pay for the retrograde of equipment and personnel and the continued reset of forces’ . . . .” Watch the report. See also from Khaama.Com, “SIGAR recommends to delay delivery of C-130 planes to Afghanistan.”
4. Chopper fight, Round One. WashingtonExaminer.Com reports, “The Army has lost an initial Senate skirmish over a hotly disputed plan to take Apache attack helicopters away from National Guard units in a budget-cutting move that has infuriated governors and state military leaders. . . . war-fighting arguments and billions of dollars in cost savings haven’t been enough to overcome lawmakers’ staunch support for their state units and their view that after 13 years of war, active-duty and Guard battalions must be interchangeable.”
5. Bergdahl lawyers-up. Washington Post’s Stephanie McCrummen reports, “Former Taliban prisoner Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has retained a civilian lawyer to represent him during the ongoing Army investigation into his disappearance in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. Yale law professor Eugene Fidell, an expert in military law, said he met with Bergdahl in Texas last week and would be present when he is interviewed by Gen. Kenneth Dahl, who is leading the Army’s inquiry into the circumstances of the soldier’s disappearance and whether he intended to desert his unit.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Europe challenging Lockheed, Boeing. AviationWeek.Com’s Tony Osborne reports, “Europe’s military transport aircraft manufacturers are making significant export gains and growing their global market share. Airbus Defense and Space says it took the majority of the orders for medium turboprops during the first half of 2014. . . . Lockheed Martin is seeing something of a slowdown for orders for the C-130J. While deliveries have continued apace—most recently to South Korea and Israel—the orderbook for the aircraft has become relatively quiet, although the company is unlikely to be worried. It has a significant chunk of the market and is enjoying a large backlog, thanks to both ongoing orders from the U.S. Air Force as well as Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.” See also from DoDBuzz.Com, “Lockheed, BAE Vie for F-16 Upgrades Abroad.”
2. DARPA picks Boeing for space. GovConWire.Com reports, “Boeing (NYSE: BA), Masten Space Systems and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) have been awarded prime contracts to develop a reusable unmanned launch vehicle for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA intends to use the vehicle to send small satellites into low-Earth orbit by using expendable upper stages . . . . The companies will work to build a demonstration vehicle, assess core technologies and processes for risk reduction and develop a fabrication and flight test blueprint for the system under first phase of the Experimental Spaceplane program.”
3. F-35: Pick another engine. DefenseNews.Com’s John T. Bennett reports, “In the wake of an engine fire that grounded the F-35 fleet, a US Senate subcommittee wants senior Pentagon officials to consider reviving an effort to develop a second power plant.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Do robotic cows dream of electronic sheep? Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “Meet the Legged Squad Support System, or LS3. Developed by Boston Dynamics—which was bought out by Google late last year—it can carry as much as 400 pounds of equipment and enough fuel to walk 20 miles over 24 hours, the company says. It began a two-year testing phase in 2012 and is getting some serious work at RIMPAC under the supervision of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. . . . In typically funny and blunt fashion, the Marines using it in Hawaii have taken to calling it ‘the cow’ . . . .” Not strange enough, read, and watch, this one: Jibos.
2. More than zero. Wired.Com’s Andy Greenberg tells the story of Google’s team of super hackers: “When Hotz dismantled the defenses of Google’s Chrome operating system earlier this year, by contrast, the company paid him a $150,000 reward for helping fix the flaws he’d uncovered. Two months later Chris Evans, a Google security engineer, followed up by email with an offer: How would Hotz like to join an elite team of full-time hackers paid to hunt security vulnerabilities in every popular piece of software that touches the internet?”
3. Google Brain, learning brain. Also from Wired.Com, Robert McMillan explains, “Since its birth in the company’s secretive X Labs three years ago, the Google Brain has flourished inside the company, giving its army of software engineers a way to apply cutting-edge machine-learning algorithms to a growing array of problems. And in many ways, it seems likely to give Google an edge as it expands into new territory over the next decade, much in the way that its search algorithms and data center expertise helped build its massively successful advertising business during the last ten years.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Complex world: “President Obama made an unscheduled visit to the White House press briefing room Wednesday to address the nation on a host of foreign policy crises testing his administration. Obama’s visit was timed to coincide with the nightly newscasts and allowed the president to project the image that he is on top of a myriad of issues, including violence in the West Bank, nuclear talks with Iran and Russia’s interventions in Ukraine. ‘We live in a complex world and at a challenging time,’ Obama said. ‘And none of these challenges lend themselves to quick or easy solutions, but all of them require American leadership. And as commander in chief, I’m confident that, if we stay patient and determined, that we will, in fact, meet these challenges.’ . . . Republicans have hammered Obama’s handling of Russia and Ukraine, and have also criticized the nuclear talks with Iran, where Obama hopes to win a significant foreign policy victory.”
2. Billions and billions: “After vigorously defending the progress in cutting medial service wait times for veterans since taking over the troubled federal agency, acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said the troubled department needs $17.6 billion in additional funds and 10,000 additional staffers in order to truly address its systemic problems. Appearing for several hours before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Gibson said the department needs a new influx of funding in order to increase the department’s internal capacity to the point that will allow it truly eradicate long veteran wait times—a scandal that led to the oust of his predecessor, Eric Shinseki. Without increasing the number of doctors, staffers and beds in VA facilities, Gibson warned, ‘the wait times just get longer.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The great lesson from Israel-Hamas wars.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Many wars of the past were started after the killing of civilians. These days, more wars end after too many civilians are killed. Modern wars are being contained by moral concerns. This may be the greatest lesson from this string of Israel-Hamas wars.”
2. “You Can’t Fight Terrorists By Partnering With Guys Like Maliki.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Michael J. Quigley argues, “The United States cannot and should not treat every terrorist group in the world equally, and it must move away from a military-centric response. After 2001 our country waged war against al-Qaeda, and after 2011 in Iraq, it sought to stem terrorism by relying on military aid without a viable partner. Instead of falling into the same trap against a new generation of Bin Laden wannabes, let’s get in front of the threat with smart power, not an endless game of whack-a-mole.”
3. “The truth is, you’ve never had the ‘right to be forgotten.’” Reuters’ Jack Shafer argues, “Instead of looking at the right to be forgotten as information obliteration, think of it as an exercise in digital information regulation. It’s mostly a feel-good exercise for those who feel victimized by their revealing or sordid pasts, and a make-work project for the curious.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Missile defense.
3. Jeter.
