FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. SF-86 disclosures and hiring. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “Employers should think of the processes like collecting voluntary demographic information on job applications: the information is important for Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) reporting, but cannot be used for discriminatory hiring decisions. As such, Human Resources departments have to establish a credible ‘wall’ between incoming resumes and any affiliated demographic information collected.”
2. China—can you hear me now? Contributor Christopher Burgess reports, “Apparently the success of the Star N9500 was such that the organized criminal element in China tooled up and brought to market counterfeit knock-off versions of the phone. In this instance, apparently with a bit of potential for nation state involvement, those counterfeit Star N9500 came pre-loaded with malware (Malicious software) which sent the user’s data to an internet address located in China.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. More dangerous than AQ. BusinessInsider.Com contributor Colonel S. Clinton Hinote reports, “Unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS has established a true sanctuary in the heart of the Arab world, and it seems fully capable of defending this territory absent intervention from the great powers. It has captured a significant amount of weapons and supplies from the Iraqi Army (originally supplied by the United States), and these have tipped the balance of power in Northern Iraq against the Kurds, our truest allies in the region.” See also from Slate.Com, “Think ISIS Is on the Ropes? Don’t Count on it,” from BusinessInsider.Com, “ISIS Is Paying Attention To What Experts Are Saying About Them,” and, finally, from the Department of State, “Terrorist Designation of Abu Mohammed al-Adnani.”
2. Battle for Tikrit. Reuters’ Ahmed Rasheed and Michael Gregory report from Baghdad, “Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Tuesday to drive Islamic State fighters out of Tikrit, hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, while the militants warned they would attack Americans ‘in any place’. . . . Buoyed by an operation to recapture a strategic dam from the jihadists after two months of setbacks, Iraqi army units backed by Shi’ite militias fought their way towards the center of Tikrit, a city 130 km (80 miles) north of Baghdad which is a stronghold of the Sunni Muslim minority.” See also from AP, “Iraq military clashes with militants in Tikrit” and from Aljazeera.Com, “Iraqi and Kurdish forces recapture Mosul dam.”
3. Air offensive escalation. DefenseNews.Com’s Paul McLeary reports, “From Aug. 8 to 17, 35 of the 68 airstrikes conducted in Iraq were launched ‘in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam,’ the US Central Command said in an Aug. 18 statement, with most of those coming in the past three days. The 38 airstrikes over the past three days, including the 35 near Mosul in the fierce fight over the dam, were buttressed early Monday morning by Twitter posts from journalists in the area who reported jets circling overhead during continued fighting between Iraq and Kurdish forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Fill ‘er up—DoD’s $5.6 billion fuel bill. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “Deals to provide fuel for the U.S. military’s fleets of ships and aircraft topped the list of contracts announced by the Pentagon last week. The Defense Department awarded 78 contracts potentially worth $5.6 billion in the week ending Aug. 15 . . . . More than half of that value, or $3.5 billion, came from almost a dozen contracts for ‘aviation turbine fuel and naval fuel’ from such companies as ExxonMobile Corp. and BP plc, according to the Aug. 11 announcements by the Defense Logistics Agency.”
2. Big small businesses. GovExec.Com’s Charles S. Clark reports, “In the sixth of its annual studies, a small business advocacy group has again blasted the government for allegedly awarding contracts to major corporations when policy intends for them to go to legitimate small businesses. The Small Business Administration offered other possible explanations for the apparent discrepancies. The Petaluma, Calif.-based American Small Business League’s new study of fiscal 2013 procurement data concluded that of the top 100 companies receiving the highest-valued small business federal contracts, ‘79 were large companies that exceeded the SBA’s small business size standards, five were anomalous and 16 were legitimate small businesses.’”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. C.I.A. from the inside out. CiceroMagazine.Com’s interview with retired spy Jack Devine: “The element of the CIA that is least understood has to do with who directs and controls covert action. In over thirty years with CIA, I never saw or participated in a ‘rogue operation’—something the CIA executed on its own without explicit approval from the White House. To my knowledge, there has never been a covert action that has not been approved by the president through a presidential finding.”
2. Cybercom—the people, the tools, the mission. Defense Media Activity’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “[Navy Admiral Mike] Rogers said he focuses on five priorities for Cybercom. These are to build a trained and ready cyber force, put tools in place that create true situational awareness in cyberspace, create command-and-control and operational concepts to execute the mission, build a joint defensible network, and ensure Cybercom has the right policies and authorities that allow it to execute full-spectrum operations in cyberspace. Making progress is important to Rogers, who characterized his ultimate goal as bringing Cybercom to a level where it’s every bit as trained and ready as any carrier strike group in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility or any brigade combat team on the ground in Afghanistan.”
3. Electronic Health Record fight. FedScoop.Com’s Dan Verton reports, “The Defense Department is poised to issue a final request for proposals later this month for an $11 billion contract to replace its outdated electronic health record system and provide urgently needed improvements in the data-sharing capabilities between DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The two agencies have spent the better part of the last decade trying to improve interoperability between their distinct electronic health records infrastructures. Between 2011 and 2013 alone, they spent more than half a billion dollars on an effort to develop a new joint-integrated EHR that could serve military personnel from enlistment through retirement and veteran status, only to see extreme bureaucratic infighting and turf battles derail the project.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. What’s the deal? “President Obama weighed in Monday afternoon on the police shooting that has sparked combative protests in Ferguson, Mo. He trumpeted U.S.-backed efforts to curtail the Islamic State’s gains in Iraq. What he didn’t do, however, is clarify why he returned to D.C. at all. The White House scheduled Obama’s unusual break from vacation well in advance of the violence in the St. Louis suburb and before the U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq. Those speculating that Obama halted his vacation to make a bombshell announcement will have to wait a few more hours before the president’s scheduled return to Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday afternoon.”
2. Lawyering up: “Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has hired Benjamin L. Ginsberg as part of his legal team to fend off an indictment for abuse of power. Ginsberg is a longtime Republican lawyer who was an important figure on the Bush-Cheney team during the 2000 election recount. He later provided legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Ginsberg slammed the indictment as ‘beyond the pale’ and said it ‘represents a real tearing of the fabric of democracy.’ He noted that several prominent Democrats have also voiced skepticism about the charges. ‘This is an attempt to criminalize politics, pure and simple,’ Ginsberg told reporters. ‘It should not and it will not succeed.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The Good, Bad, and Ugly about Intervening against ISIS.” CiceroMagazine.Com contributor Lionel Beehner argues, “If ISIS unites the region in the meanwhile, even if it keeps U.S. forces anchored there indefinitely or means limited interventions into Syria, this may signal a welcome turning point for the Middle East. Not all U.S. military interventions in Iraq are bad ideas.”
2. “Smarter police work.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Heavy armament needs to be part of the arsenal of many police departments, especially those in larger cities who may confront terrorists or gun-toting criminal gangs. But as Ferguson is proving, its use against ordinary citizens enraged by what they see as an injustice may only add more flames to the fire of indignation.”
3. “Hollowing out the state in the Middle East.” Aljazeera.Com contributor John Bell argues, “The region will only be on the right path again when states put aside some of their competition and greed, become less hollow, and trim the power of non-state actors. Only so will more stable and rational societies be created, away from the agendas of a dangerous (and abetted) few.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Cyber-breach.
2. Putin horse.
3. Tortured history.
