Thirsty Thursday

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  Taxing problems—debt and clearances. Contributor Chandler Harris explains, “Those who grant security clearances are supposed to weigh that risk, including tax debt, when granting security clearances. Plus, the security clearance questionnaire, which is 120 pages long, asks if an applicant has any financial problems that might cause a security vulnerability, including tax debts. Lying on the application could mean up to five years in prison.”

2.  Transition assistance. Editor Lindy Kyzer offers, “Transitioning from a military career to a civilian one? Here is a round-up of some of our top military transition articles, published within the last year. Read on to learn about top cities, top skills, and other need-to-know news. For more details on transitioning, check out our Veteran Career Guide.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Bergdahl’s back—interviews begin. AP’s Juan Lozano reports from Houston, “The U.S. Army has begun questioning Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl about his disappearance in Afghanistan that led to five years in captivity by the Taliban . . . . Bergdahl was questioned at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he has been staying since returning to the U.S. . . . ‘Sgt. Bergdahl answered all questions put to him. The interview is proceeding. It has been a productive expenditure of time’ . . . . Lt. Col. Alayne Conway, an Army spokeswoman, said Bergdahl was advised of his rights under Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

2.  Kurds confronting ISIS. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Kurdish military forces in Iraq, known as Peshmerga, suffered their first major setback in the fight against the Islamic State on Sunday when they were pushed back from the town of Sinjar, west of Mosul. In the last week, the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, has turned its attention to Kurdish-controlled areas to the west of Mosul, assisted by local Sunni Arab fighters. . . . After hours of fighting, the Peshmerga were forced to withdraw, and residents of the city fled en masse to Sinjar mountain, where they remain without sufficient shelter, food or water . . . .”

3.  Europe starts poking the Bear. DefenseOne.Com contributor Devjyot Ghoshal reports, “As European countries try to balance their economic dependence on Russia with their desire to punish president Vladimir Putin for meddling in Ukraine, Germany has stepped ahead of the pack to poke the bear in the eye, canceling a €123 million ($165 million) defense deal (paywall) with Moscow earlier this week. . . . Europe’s second-largest arms exporter after Germany is under intense pressure (paywall) to cancel its €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) deal with Russia for two Mistral-class warships. But the French have a long-standing relationship with Russia, with military exports worth €159 million ($213 million) between 2001 and 2012 . . . .”

4.  African pivot. DefenseNews.Com’s John Bennett and Marcus Weisgerber report, “US lawmakers continue reacting skeptically to the Obama administration’s quiet US military and intelligence pivot to Africa, this time holding up millions to counter violent extremists there. The Pentagon wants to shift almost $7 million for, as the Senate Armed Services Committee describes in a budget document obtained by Defense News, ‘information operations that shape the information environment in Africa in order to counter violent extremist ideology.’ That funding shift within the fiscal 2014 Defense Department budget is part of a broader shift kicked into gear by the White House earlier this year.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  DoD’s Ebola contract. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “A closely held Kentucky firm developed the experimental drug to combat the deadly Ebola virus with funding from the U.S. Defense Department. Kentucky BioProcessing, based in Owensboro, in recent years received millions of dollars from the Pentagon to develop the drug cocktail that may have saved the lives of two American missionaries who contracted the deadly disease in West Africa. The company in 2010 received a one-year, $18 million contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop ‘a proof-of-concept platform capable of yielding a purified vaccine candidate using a whole plant-based process’ . . . .”

2.  Acquisition flexibility. C4ISRNet.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “The Air Force is calling for closer ties to industry, better relations with Congress, and increased flexibility for both airmen and acquisitions — all part of a 30-year strategy document unveiled Wednesday. . . . The 22-page document is largely broad in its goals. Service officials indicated a 20-year ‘Strategic Master Plan’ document, planned for completion before the end of 2014, will feature more concrete goals and targets.” Read America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future.

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Virtual conferencing success. NextGov.Com’s Rocky Mitarai reports, “To date, a key challenge in spurring greater use of mobile devices for conferencing and collaboration has been a mobile experience that pales in comparison to what users can do on a desktop. Many mobile Web conferencing solutions offer a ‘view-only’ experience that limits the mobile user’s ability to interact, participate in polls, take training, share content, etc. The value of Web conferencing and collaboration is greatly enhanced when each participant can contribute, present content and share insights.”

2.  SEALs’ death from below. Wired.Com’s Alexander George takes you down: “Here’s the scenario: After suiting up with diving knives and silenced assault rifles, a team of three Navy SEALs on a submarine prepare to head to shore for a sneak attack. They put on their scuba gear and climb into a vessel that shaped like a torpedo and not much bigger than a shower. Powered by a single rear propeller, it deploys from the host submarine. After hours of slow, calculated movement through water too shallow for any submarine, radar indicates the SEALs have reached shore. Still underwater, they slide back the top canopy of their vessel and swim the last stretch to the beach under cover of night.”

3.  Dirty deeds—done dirt cheap. VentureBeat.Com’s Richard Byrne Reilly reports from Las Vegas (?), “Stuxnet brutally attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities’ Programmable Logic Controllers, which in turn commanded the facilities’ centrifuges to literally spin themselves to death. Iran’s nuclear program was set back years, good news to the U.S. and Israel, who suspect Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb and have vowed to never let that happen. The email was concerned, not about the destroyed centrifuges, but about Australian hard rock group AC/DC, whose music is banned in the ultra conservative Muslim country, a nation where accessing Facebook is now a serious crime and Twitter is outlawed.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Bewildering Biden: “Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday ripped into congressional Republicans for not passing a gas tax increase to shore up the Highway Trust Fund. The only problem? The White House doesn’t support a gas tax increase, either. ‘Hell, Congress can’t even decide on a gas tax to keep the highway system going,’ Biden said . . . . But here’s what White House press secretary Josh Earnest said when asked about a gas tax hike in June: ‘I believe that’s something that we’ve said a couple of times that we wouldn’t support.’ Not surprisingly, an increase in the gas tax would be a difficult position for vulnerable Democrats to take ahead of the November midterms.”

2.  Tortured politics: “Senate Democrats engaged in a tug-of-war with the White House over heavy redactions to its long-delayed torture report remain furious that President Obama allowed the CIA the lead role in censoring the document. Months ago Democratic lawmakers asked the White House to lead the process of declassifying the report and are now blaming Obama for ceding that ground to the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. . . . When Feinstein received the declassified version of the report from the White House Friday, she immediately raised red flags and complained that they were heavy-handed.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system is an ironclad success.” Reuters contributor Uzi Rubin argues, “The truth is that Iron Dome works, repeatedly and reliably. It is saving lives and property all over Israel. The public in Israel — and, no doubt, U.S. peace mediators — are fully aware of and immensely grateful for the fact Iron Dome works so well.”

2.  “The U.S. Needs a New Approach to Security in Africa.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Scott Bates argues, “Security operations in Africa should not be an afterthought relegated to the bottom of the newsfeed but rather a pressing example of areas in which the United States can work to build up institutional capacity and provide for long-term, comprehensive solutions rather than simple Band-Aids.”

3.  “Many small cuts wounding US global clout.” Stars & Stripes features Jackson Diehl’s WaPo argument that “the most gratuitous administration failing has been its reluctance to respond to the slights inflicted on it even by minor powers. Bahrain’s extraordinary expulsion of State’s human rights envoy prompted only a routine statement of ‘concern’; so did the criminal charges against Saakashvili. The administration could easily punish and deter such governments; ambassadors could be recalled, military aid withheld, exercises and official visits canceled. Instead, the message goes out that the Obama administration can be defied with impunity — and the bank run continues.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Intel alone . . . .

2.  Green on blue.

3.  Reverse psychology.

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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.