Friday’s Finale (enjoy the rain)
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Love and clearances. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “As part of your background investigation, the government will interview any ex-spouse divorced within the coverage period of your investigation and also review the records of the court case. . . . This often translates into baseless allegations that would be considered defamatory in other contexts.”
2. Lawsuits and clearances. Also from barrister Sean Bigley, “In theory, it’s not impossible to win a defamation lawsuit against someone who provides derogatory information to security clearance investigators, but it certainly wouldn’t be easy – and probably for good reason. Even though no one likes hurtful things being said about them, the government needs to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about who it is entrusting with the nation’s secrets.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Cold War—let the embargo begin. DefenseNews.Com’s Julian Hale reports, “The European Union’s embargo on the import and export of arms and related material with Russia, which covers all items on the EU’s common military list, will come into force Friday. ‘Exports of dual use goods and technology for military use in Russia or to Russian military end users will also be prohibited, with all items on the EU list of dual use goods included . . . . The measures will apply to new contracts’ . . . .”
2. Cease fire ceases. Time’s Ibrahim Barzak and Daniel Estrin report from Gaza City, “A three-day Gaza cease-fire that began Friday quickly unraveled, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the truce as four Palestinians were killed in a heavy exchange of fire in the southern town of Rafah. . . . Nearly two hours after the cease-fire went into effect, Israeli tanks shelled the eastern part of Rafah, which lies close to Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt, killing at least four people and wounding 15 . . . .” See from Reuters, “Fighting erupts” and from AP, “Truce unravels.”
3. Fight for oil. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Syrian government troops reportedly retook the Shaar gas fields in Homs province on July 26, a week after the facility was captured by Islamic State fighters, in what many view as an alarming increase in hostility between the group and the Syrian regime. . . . Since the beginning of June, Islamic State has emerged from its base in eastern Syria, seizing Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, and advancing down the Euphrates to the gates of Baghdad. The group’s total assets are purported to total $2bn. The seizure of American military equipment including trucks, Humvees, rockets, artillery pieces, and Stinger missiles from the Iraqi army has provided a fortuitous windfall. The ranks of the group have also been bolstered by converts to the cause . . . ”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Contractor crack down. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “President Obama signed an executive order July 31 requiring federal contractors to disclose any labor law violations and for agencies to take that into account when awarding contracts. The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order affects contracts valued at more than $500,000 and will be implemented in stages during 2016, according to the administration. The executive order also provides a range of rules and guidance for agencies and contractors . . . .”
2. Don’t worry—it was just a fire. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “The U.S. Air Force’s top officer cautioned against an ‘alarmist’ reaction to last month’s F-35 engine fire that resulted in a temporary fleet-wide grounding of the fighter jet and delay of its international debut. The Pentagon’s entire fleet of about 100 fifth-generation fighters made by Lockheed Martin Corp. was grounded for weeks following a June 23 engine fire aboard an Air Force F-35A model at Eglin Air Force Base . . . . ‘It would be a little alarmist to assume we have a problem with the F-35 engine,’ Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh said during a news conference on Wednesday at the Pentagon. ‘Pratt and Whitney’s been making pretty darn good engines for single-engine airplanes for a long time.’
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Spy central. The Telegraph’s Damien McElroy reports, “As neutral country, Vienna was a Cold War spying hub where both sides were able to ply their trade and openly dealt with each other. Its allure was explained in the opening sequence in the Third Man when the narrator observed that Vienna allows agents a free run: “We’d run anything if people wanted it enough, and had the money to pay.”
2. Snowden effect. NPR.Org’s Dina Temple-Raston reports, “For nearly a year, U.S. government officials have said revelations from former NSA contract worker Edward Snowden harmed national security and allowed terrorists to develop their own counter-measures. . . . According to a new report to be released [today] by Big Data firm Recorded Future, a direct connection can be drawn: just months after the Snowden documents were released, al-Qaeda dramatically changed the way its operatives interacted online.”
3. Alexander under fire. DefenseOne.Com contributor Conor Friedersdorf reports, “Keith Alexander is trying to explain himself. The former director of the NSA stoked astonishment when reports surfaced that he would ask from $600,000 to as much as $1 million per month as a cybersecurity consultant. What could make him so valuable, save the highly classified secrets in his head? A congressman went so far as to speculate that he’d be selling state secrets. But it isn’t so, Alexander says.” See also from Foreign Policy Magazine, “Cyber-King goes corporate” and Conor Friedersdorf reports in The Atlantic, “Senator Mark Udall, a member of the committee that conducts oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency, declared Thursday that the agency should be investigated by an independent counsel for violations of the Constitution, federal criminal statutes, and an executive order pertaining to surveillance.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Stand by your man: “President Obama remains confident in CIA Director John Brennan’s leadership despite an independent investigation that concluded that the agency had overreached its authority by spying on Senate staffers. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the findings had not diminished Brennan’s standing in the administration. When asked whether it damaged his authority or credibility in any way, Earnest said: ‘Absolutely not.’ Brennan first appointed an outside watchdog to conduct an investigation into the allegations, has ‘been candid’ about the ‘inconsistencies’ that the inspector found, apologized and took the step of appointing a panel to review the need for disciplinary action . . . .”
2. Chamber chaos status quo: “The Steve Scalise era is off to an embarrassing start. The Louisiana Republican, who boasted of his deep ties to red-state GOP lawmakers in his recent bid to become majority whip, received a very public drubbing on his first day in the No. 3 slot when his colleagues abandoned leadership’s plans to pass a border security bill. With their eyes fixed on August recess, GOP leaders were forced to pull the bill Thursday afternoon after rank-and-file lawmakers flipped from ‘yes’ votes to ‘no’ votes, as the chamber descended into chaos just hours before a month long recess was supposed to kick off.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Disarm Gaza? Why Israel’s idea deserves a look.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “A demilitarized Gaza might help bring about a final Israeli-Palestinian peace pact. And it might even help break the deadlock in talks to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Preventing war can be done in many ways. Curbing the means of war may not be the best. But at least there is a track record for it.”
2. “The Upside of Putin’s Warmongering.” Time’s Joe Mathews argues, “Putin’s madness has created a new Sputnik moment that should also spur us into investing in science and math education; California needs hundreds of thousands more technically and scientifically skilled workers, for good times and bad.”
3. “Don’t Worry, the Next World War Is Not Upon Us . . . Yet.” DefenseOne.Com’s Graham Allison concludes, “. . . the probability of war between the U.S. and China in the decade ahead is higher than I imagined . . . but still unlikely. If statesmen in both the U.S. and China reflect on what happened a century ago, perspective and insights from this past can be applied now to make risks of war even lower.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Tact(less).
2. Gaza City.
