Friday, Baby!

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  A C.I.A. story. Contributor John Holst explains, “Some readers might remember there was a time when the Central Intelligence Agency accomplished amazing feats against other countries, instead of against American senators.  Probably one of the more interesting CIA success stories is embodied in a declassified CIA journal entry.  Believe it or not, the CIA ‘borrowed’ a Soviet space capsule for study, then returned it, before the Soviets even knew what was happening.”

2.  Recruiting rewards—W.I.N. Contributor Luke Mann explains, “Recruiting is one of those professions that can be extremely rewarding.   If you’re good at recruiting, you know how much opportunity there is to be rewarded.  You have the opportunity to meet interesting people and build lasting relationships.  You have the opportunity to make an excellent salary.  You have the opportunity to work in an exciting career field and you have the opportunity to challenge yourself every single day.  Most importantly, you have the opportunity to positively impact people’s lives on a daily basis.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Maliki concedes control. Voice of America reports, “Embattled two-term Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he is stepping aside and will support his nominated replacement. Maliki—under enormous international pressure to step down–announced his decision late Thursday in a nationally televised address. He pledged his full support for nominee Haider al-Abadi.” DefenseOne.Com’s Stephanie Gaskell explains that Haider al-Abadi “Abadi was nominated earlier this week by Iraqi President Fouad Massoum to succeed Maliki, who in recent days had been fortifying positions in and around Baghdad with Iraqi Army tanks and troops in what many feared would result in a military coup. Abadi is the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament and a member of the Islamic Dawa Party.”

2.  Sinjar siege. Reuters reports, “U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the Islamist militant siege of Iraq’s Mount Sinjar had been broken and most U.S. military personnel sent to assess the situation would be pulled out of Iraq in coming days. He told reporters he did not expect the United States to have to stage an evacuation of the mountain, where thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority had been trapped by militants, or to continue humanitarian airdrops. ‘We broke the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) siege of Mount Sinjar,’ Obama said.” Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “Iraq humanitarian crisis eases, and US doves line up against ‘new Iraq war.’Aljazeera.Com’s Noah Blaser reports, “Iraq refugees ‘terrified to be sent back.’” And Aljazeera.Com reports, “Iraq’s Kurds demand expanded US operation.”

3.  Asian pivot. Defense Media Activity’s Claudette Roulo reports, “Despite recent events in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Defense Department remain dedicated to the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters today. ‘Given the fact that there’s a lot going on in the world, that we’re still making these visits and still having these discussions, speaks volumes about how important we believe the Asia-Pacific theater is,’ he said at a Pentagon news conference. With more than 350,000 American troops based in the Pacific—including the majority of Navy assets—and with five of the seven U.S. treaty alliances there, DoD is very committed to the region . . . .”

4.  Army’s amputee racer. Wired.Com’s Brendan Koerner reports, “When he first began adjusting to life as an amputee, Marine Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer wanted nothing more than to get back to driving a stick shift. Dwyer’s most cherished possession was a souped-up Nissan 350Z, which he often drove in rally races and autocross events before his 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. But after an IED severed most of his left leg in May 2011, military doctors informed him that he would never again use a clutch, since he now lacked the ability to feel the pedal beneath a foot. The stubborn Dwyer vowed to prove that he could once again shift gears with ease.”

 CONTRACT WATCH

1.  RFI—Distributed Common Ground System Increment 2. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “The U.S. Army plans to hold a competition in fiscal 2016 to develop the next phase of its controversial battlefield intelligence system. The service on Wednesday released the first of what is expected to be several requests for information, or RfIs, from companies for assessments on how to build the so-called Distributed Common Ground System Increment 2, according to a press release. ‘This RFI—in conjunction with a series of planned industry days—will solicit vendor feedback on ways to improve and replace the software-based tools soldiers use to analyze and integrate data and visualize intelligence information . . . . [the] announcement builds upon ongoing efforts to address well-publicized soldiers concerns regarding the existing DCGS-A system’s ‘ease of use’ in the field.’”

2.  Exec shuffle at Lockheed. Also from DoDBuzz.Com’s McGarry, “The Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. joint venture that has come under fire for relying on Russian-made rocket engines to launch U.S. military and spy satellites has reshuffled its executive suite. United Launch Alliance LLC, based in Centennial, Colorado, on Tuesday announced that Michael Gass, president and chief executive officer since the venture’s formation in 2006, was stepping down, effective immediately, and succeeded by Tory Bruno, vice president and general manager of strategic and missile defense systems at Lockheed.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Major in Cyber @ USAFA. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Dibya Sarkar reports, “At a time when the Air Force Academy has cut a number of majors, it has developed a new computer network security major designed to help cadets better understand and gain proficiency in cyberspace, the institution said recently. ‘The Air Force Academy is committed to producing highly qualified officers to serve in cyber career fields,’ Dr. Martin Carlisle, who currently heads the academy’s computer science department, said in a statement. ‘This is a time when the academy is reducing majors, which shows how important we think this mission field is.’”

2.  Password problems. VentureBeat.Com’s Richard Byrne Reilly reports, “The password you use to log into your company network likely sucks. That’s the maybe-not-so-astonishing revelation from a group white-hat hackers who probe for vulnerabilities in corporate networks for a living. Over the course of a year, the hackers at Trustwave attacked more than 626,000 accounts throughout corporate America and were able to successfully crack more than 560,000 of them in less than 31 days.”

3.  Snowden’s worry—NSA fatigue. DefenseOne.Com contributor Dustin Volz reports, “The fugitive leaker, who more than a year ago aired the National Security Agency’s dirty surveillance laundry to a couple of hand-picked journalists, is worried that public agitation about the sweeping scope of bulk data collection is waning with time—and with it, the desire to reform the government’s spy agencies.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Dancing in the dark: “Israel secured supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon last month without the approval of the White House or the State Department . . . President Barack Obama’s administration, caught off guard as it tried to restrain Israel’s campaign in Gaza, has since tightened controls on arms shipments to Israel . . . . Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a particularly tense phone call on Wednesday and that the Israeli leader wanted US security assurances in return for a long-term deal with Hamas. . . . Netanyahu had essentially ‘pushed the administration aside,’ reducing US officials to bystanders instead of their usual role as mediators.”

2.  Spinning the spin: “The White House blew off a demand for openness and transparency from 40 prominent media groups, offering instead a ‘bunch of spin’ that has reporters calling for a public debate on the administration’s anti-press policies, according to a prominent journalism organization. ‘We need to have a discussion,’ said David Cuillier, president of the 10,000-strong Society for Professional Journalists. . . . the nation’s top journalism groups will soon propose a public showdown with White House communicators, possibly at the National Press Club. Noting that Earnest proposed “to continue working with you,” Cuillier said a public debate should be the next move.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “In Search of America’s ‘Organizing Principle.’DefenseOne.Com contributor Noah Gordon argues, “Obama has been a relatively effective manager of the world’s most dangerous region—without an organizing principle beyond “Don’t do stupid stuff.” He is often careful to consider whether more muscular American intervention would actually make things better, and he tends to work toward his ends with prudent means. Obama’s Middle East strategy may be incoherent, but it makes pretty good sense.”

2.  “Stop the Pentagon program that militarizes U.S. police forces.” Reuters’ Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers argue, “Taxpayer money should not have to support the costs of maintaining the weapons of war that local police forces have acquired. Citizens deserve to know that their congressional leaders and law enforcement officers are working together to protect them—not recklessly engaging in a gluttonous arms race or irresponsibly losing dangerous weapons.”

3.  “American Police State(s).” HuffingtonPost.Com contributor Jonathan Weiler argues that “away from the occasional glare of a media firestorm, we are witnessing an expanding zone of permissible abuse by government authorities. Especially for the less well-off and the improperly skin-toned among us, a looming menace hangs over Americans’ interactions with law enforcement – that the consequence of an adversarial interaction with the ‘law’ is increasingly likely to result in the denial of individuals’ most fundamental rights.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Can you find it?

2.  Infrastructure problems.

3.  Boots on the ground.

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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.