Monday Mourning

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  The future of Defense contractors. Contributor David Brown reports, “Last year, an infographic comparing Elon Musk to Tony Stark went viral. Musk is the billionaire entrepreneur whose companies include SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and Hyperloop. Tony Stark is the billionaire scientist and defense contractor who owns Stark Industries in Marvel comics. The most striking similarity between the two is a boundless confidence to take on big, technical near-impossibilities, and through sheer competence and inexhaustible resources, see their visions through.”

2.  Taxing problems. Contributor Christopher Burgess explains, “An individual who is in financial crisis is perceived to be more vulnerable to breaking trust than an individual not in crisis. This vulnerability, coupled with a plethora of active hostile foreign intelligence organizations targeting the United States DOD and intelligence communities, one immediately recognizes the value of being able to identify individuals at risk and providing to them the resources to ameliorate those risks.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  World War III—another view. The Atlantic’s Graham Allison explains, “In this centennial of what participants named the ‘Great War,’ many have recalled Mark Twain’s observation that while history never repeats itself, it does sometimes rhyme. As a rising China claims islands administered by Japan in the East China Sea, or controlled by neighbors in the South China Sea, many hear echoes of events in the Balkans a century earlier.”

2.  DoD fighting Ebola Defense Media Activity’s Terri Moon Cronk and Cheryl Pellerin report, “Defense Department personnel are on the ground in West Africa and in U.S. laboratories fighting to control the worst outbreak in the African history of the Ebola virus, which a senior Army infectious disease doctor called a ‘scourge of mankind.’ . . . DoD personnel provide a wide array of support to the Ebola-stricken African nations, from logistical help to guides for clinical management of the virus . . . .”

3.  ISIS advances. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio reports, “The Islamic State is reported to have taken control of the city of Sinjar as well as the Mosul Dam, at least one oil field, and a handful of towns in northern Ninewa province after Kurdish forces withdrew from the area this weekend. Islamic State fighters first took control of Zumar, a town east of the Tigris River and about 50 miles south of Mosul, after attacking today ‘from three directions in pick-up trucks mounted with weapons’ . . . .”

4.  Russia, on the verge. Reuters reports, “Russia announced new military exercises involving bombers and fighter jets on Monday in a show of strength near the border with Ukraine. An air force spokesman was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying more than 100 planes and helicopters would take part in the manoeuvres from Monday until Friday in its central and western districts. The spokesman, Igor Klimov, said the exercises were the first in a series to improve coordination in the military and made no mention of Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are fighting Ukrainian government forces.”

5.  All the Way, Airborne. DoDBuzz.Com’s Richard Sisk reports, “Troops from the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions will likely be part of the 9,800-strong force staying in Afghanistan in 2015 as part of President Obama’s overall war plan, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Friday. In naming elements of the 2015 force for the first time, Gen. John F. Campbell, the outgoing Army vice chief of Staff, said that he ‘absolutely’ expected units of the 101st and the 82nd to be part of the force that he will command in 2015.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  $9 million Army dollars for stand-off sensors. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Natick, Mass., announced a $9 million contract to BDS on Wednesday to build, test, and assess multi-sensor stand-off person-borne improvised explosive device (IED) detection systems. BDS specializes in three areas of advanced sensor technologies for IED detection: Strategic Intelligence Forward-looking Technology (SIFT); the RONIN sensor system; and RONIN biometrics.”

2.  Meeting Small Business contract goals. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The government met its 23 percent small business contracting for fiscal 2013. Its $83 billion worth of small-business contracts equalled about 23.4 percent of the $335 billion in eligible contracting dollars. The government also exceeded 5 percent goal for disadvantaged small businesses, which accounted for 8.6 percent of contracting dollars. And it exceeded its 3 percent service-disabled veteran-owned contracting goals, with 3.4 percent of contracting dollars. But the government fell short on its 5 percent goal for women-owned small businesses, reaching only 4.3 percent of contract spending.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  OWL ammo. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “If engineers at the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey have their way, soldiers firing tracer rounds from their weapons will soon be a lot more difficult to find while in a war zone. . . . The One-Way Luminescence, or OWL, tracer round will make it more difficult to effectively return fire on U.S. troops in that regard.”

2.  Pocket drones. Washington Times’ Douglas Ernst reports, “Future U.S. Army soldiers sent into combat may have a brand new tool at their disposal: the pocket drone. The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts is developing a ‘pocket-sized aerial surveillance device’ for soldiers assigned to small units in dangerous environments.” Watch the pocket drone in action. And more.

3.  Delivery drone. Washington Post’s Abby Phillip reports, “Police are seeking one man and have arrested another who they believe tried to smuggle contraband into a South Carolina prison by way of drone. On the morning of April 21, officers discovered a small drone that had crashed in the bushes outside the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C. . . . The drone was carrying marijuana, cellphones and tobacco . . . .”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Dirty money: “Since the Republican State Leadership Committee burst into national politics, it’s become one of the most influential outside players on the right: It spent tens of millions of dollars to flip state legislative chambers and redraw the congressional map in Republicans’ favor — and is poised to pump millions more this fall into locking down state capitals for the GOP. But the group’s swift ascent has not come without controversy — or lingering legal hazard. At the height of its political emergence, the RSLC was implicated in a risky campaign finance scheme that an internal report warned could trigger ‘possible criminal penalties’ and ‘ultimately threaten the organization’s continued existence’ . . . .”

2.  Mean Congress: “The White House’s emerging strategy for the midterm elections is to run against a ‘mean’ Congress. President Obama has made that tack known more than ever in recent days. In the last week, he’s accused Republicans of getting into disagreements with themselves over the border supplemental and for not being able to pass ‘plain vanilla’ legislation. He asked them to ‘stop hating’ and ‘being mad all the time.’ And he mocked House Republicans for suing him and added, ‘And I said to Speaker Boehner, tell your caucus the best way to avoid me acting on my own is work with me to actually do something.  Then you don’t have to worry about it.’ . . . Those in Obama’s circle say it’s no coincidence that with the fall elections just months away, Obama is ramping up his attacks on a ‘do-nothing Congress.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “No more Mr. Tough Guy.” The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik argues, “We don’t need tough guys. We need wise guys. We’ve tried tough guys, and it always ends in tears. Tough guys you know right away because they’re never scared of a fight. Wise guys you only know in retrospect, when you remember that they quietly walked away from the fight that now has the tough guy in a hospital. Wise women do that, too.”

2.  “12 Signs It’s Time to Get Out of Gaza.” Slate.Com contributor William Saletan explains, “More than three weeks ago, responding to rocket fire from Gaza, Israel launched a campaign of airstrikes against Hamas. Two weeks ago, Israeli ground forces went in. The balance of military power is so lopsided that Israel can do whatever it wants. But that freedom makes it difficult for the winning side to recognize when it’s time to stop. Here are some clues that suggest that time is now . . . .”

3.  “The United State of America.” The Atlantic contributors Richard Epstein and Mario Loyola argue, “The mounting federal takeover of the states started slowly during the New Deal and has intensified substantially, especially in recent years. That inexorable trend is leading to unsustainable levels of government spending and a regulatory regime that grows more intrusive and oppressive by the day. One solution is paramount: Strengthen the vital but oft-neglected separation of federal and state governments.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Beagle drone.

2.  Human shields.

3.  Peace by any other name . . . .

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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.