Turn rover into the neighborhood global hawk, DoD’s push to encourage productive contract competition, and China’s push for a 750 mph submarine – all in today’s defense headlines.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Recruiting make-over. Contributor Jillian Hamilton’s latest high five: “Finding niche skills or upper management positions may require recruiters to tap into the creative side of things. Usually, top talent is employed elsewhere. Here are five unique ways to grab a candidate’s attention . . . .”
2. Precision recruiting. Also from Jillian Hamilton, “Recruiting and hiring is technically about filling open positions. But it makes no sense to ignore the candidate experience. Bad candidate experiences can make it harder to attract top talent, can give the organization bad publicity, can cause a new hire to start off on the wrong foot, and can make a candidate turn down the job. Don’t leave your candidate experience to chance. Instead, take the initiative to check your candidate experience and find ways to improve it.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Identity crisis across the pond. Center For International Maritime Security (CIMSEC.Org) reports that “if Britain continues to fail to appreciate its historic relationship with the sea and how it has been utilised, in war and peace, in the defence of her interests, it will remain ignorant to the potentialities of the maritime realm in the modern day. It is my contention, that if exploitation of the sea for influence, prosperity, security, and military effectiveness, continues to be sidelined as a core strategic function, by continued under-investment in maritime forces, then Britain’s credibility as a global power will atrophy.”
2. Ebola raging on. AP’s John Heilprin and Krista Larson report, “The Ebola outbreak in West Africa eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than six times as many as doctors know about now, the World Health Organization said Thursday. A new plan to stop Ebola by the U.N. health agency also assumes that in many hard-hit areas, the actual number of cases may be two to four times higher than is currently reported. . . .
CONTRACT WATCH
1. DoD pushing contract competition. NationalDefenseMagazine.Org’s Stew Magnuson reports, “The Defense Department has not only failed to boost competition for programs, it is backsliding, a memo from a senior official said. In a memorandum dated Aug. 21, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall issued a call to action after the department failed to meet its goals to increase competition among vendors. ‘In fact, we have experienced a declining competition rate, and we must take action to reverse this trend’ . . . .” Read the memo, Actions to Improve Department of Defense Contracting.
2. Three global hawks, to go, please. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designers at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment in San Diego will build three advanced versions of the RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under terms of a $240.7 million contract announced earlier this month. . . . The contract also calls for Northrop Grumman to provide two additional ASIP sensors as retrofit kits. The contract modification brings the value of the original Global Hawk contract to $354.9 million . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Pacemaker for your brain—DARPA’s at it again. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “The project is headed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Pentagon agency that develops a variety of high-tech equipment for the U.S. military. It’s known as the Electrical Prescriptions program, or ElectRx (pronounced ‘electrics’). Program officials say the goal is to develop a technology that could help people heal more quickly through the use of biosensors and electromagnetic devices that control human organs.”
2. Doggie drones. Wired.Com’s Christina Bonnington reports (from the perspective of her K9 companion), “The Fetch dog harness securely mounts a GoPro camera onto either my back, or chest. For those silly short-legged dogs, like corgis, the chest mount is even removable. The adjustment points of the harness are all padded, so there’s no fur-pinching, and the material the harness is made of is washable and water friendly, which means it’s perfect for flying chew toy catches in a pool, tennis ball fetching at the lake, or best of all, running in the mud day.”
