Google’s secret project to beat Amazon to the skies, Navy’s reshaping strategies in the face of missile threats, and Fareed Zakaria’s answer to ISIS – all in today’s defense headlines.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Beating blackmail. Contributor and attorney Sean Bigley explains, “The word ‘blackmail’ conjures up cloak and dagger images better suited for Hollywood than the unexciting reality of most classified work. For security clearance holders, however, the threat of blackmail by foreign intelligence agencies or criminal organizations is real – and can arise in ways you might not expect. Here are some of the most common problem areas and what, if anything, you can do about them.”
2. Don’t say too much. Also from Sean Bigley, “Listen very carefully to the actual questions asked by your background investigator and respond succinctly and only to those questions. (This same rule applies in completing your SF-86—don’t write a novel in the comments portion—and in any subsequent appeal hearing). If the question warrants only a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,’ don’t try to hedge and give an ambiguous answer that will create more questions.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. ISIS—Now what? Defense Media Agency’s Jim Garamone reports, “President Barack Obama has directed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to present a range of options aimed at the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. During a White House news conference . . . Obama called ISIL a ‘cancer’ that ‘poses an immediate threat to the people of Iraq and to people throughout the region.’. . . Any effort taken against the group in its sanctuary in Syria must be part of a broader regional and international effort, the president said.” See also from Reuters, “Obama says does not yet have military strategy for Islamic State” and from AP, “Obama cautions against using force to solve crisis.”
2. Ukraine—Now what? Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “The toughened economic sanctions the United States and the European Union imposed on Russia a month ago over its actions in Ukraine appear to have had little of the desired impact. Instead of pulling back from the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia appears to be escalating its involvement. On Thursday, Western officials asserted that more than 1,000 Russian soldiers have crossed the border into southeastern Ukraine to bolster beleaguered pro-Russia separatists. That action quickly raised questions concerning what more and what kind of action the West is likely to take in response. And the quick answer appears to be: not much.” See also, “Russia’s Putin urges release of Ukrainian soldiers.”
3. Rethinking amphibious assault. DoDBuzz.Com’s Kris Osborn reports, “The Navy is contemplating changes to its strategic and tactical use of connectors such as the Landing Craft Air Cushion and Landing Craft Utility vessel in response to the fast-growing number of countries and non-state actors that are developing high-tech, surface and land-launched missiles. As a key part of the Navy and Marine Corps expeditionary warfare and amphibious assault strategy, connectors are engineered to move equipment, weapons and personnel from ship to shore over the ocean. The rapid international development and proliferation of long—range missiles with increasingly sophisticated and accurate precision-guidance systems is leading the Navy and Marine Corps to closely examine its concept of operations . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $20 million for Leidos for maps. FederalTimes.Com’s Michael Peck reports, “Leidos has been awarded a $20 million prime contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide mapping production services. Under the contract, which includes a one-year base period and two one-year options, Leidos will use NGA data to produce digital and plate-ready navigation planning charts and other products. Leidos will also convert data into a format-driven rather than specification-driven system, as well as enable more efficient production flow. The work will be performed in St. Louis, Chantilly, Virginia and Melbourne, Florida.”
2. $22 million to Textron Inc. for Navy LCACs. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Navy shipbuilding experts are authorizing construction of one of the first vessels that will replace the Navy’s fleet of fast air-cushioned hovercraft designed to transport Marines, soldiers, combat vehicles, and other equipment ashore during land invasions. Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced a $21.9 million contract modification Wednesday, to the Textron Inc. Marine & Land Systems segment in New Orleans to build Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) 101 of the ship-to-shore connector (SSC) program.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Project Wing—Google drones cometh. AP’s Michael Liedtke reports, “Google’s secretive research laboratory is trying to build a fleet of drones designed to bypass earthbound traffic so packages can be delivered to people more quickly. The ambitious program announced Thursday escalates Google’s technological arms race with rival Amazon.com Inc., which also is experimenting with self-flying vehicles to carry merchandise bought by customers of its online store. . . . Google Inc. calls its foray into drones ‘Project Wing.’”
2. Obama’s new tech dude in the west. Wired.Com’s Steven Levy reports, “The White House confirmed today the rumors that Todd Park, the nation’s Chief Technology Officer and the spiritual leader of its effort to reform the way the government uses technology, is leaving his post. Largely for family reasons—a long delayed promise to his wife to raise their family in California—he’s moving back to the Bay Area he left when he began working for President Barack Obama in 2009. But Park is not departing the government . . . . he’s assuming a new post, so new that the White House had to figure out what to call him. It finally settled on technology adviser to the White House based in Silicon Valley. But Park knows how he will describe himself: the dude in the Valley who’s working for the president.”
3. Sentencing for HHS cybersecurity head. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Dibya Sarkar reports, “The former acting cybersecurity head of the Health and Human Services Department is facing sentencing after being convicted Aug. 26 by a federal jury on child pornography charges, the Justice Department said. Timothy DeFoggi, 56, formerly of Germantown, Md., was found guilty of ‘engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography, and accessing a computer with intent to view child pornography in connection with his membership in a child pornography website,’ according to a DOJ press release.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Strategy(less): “’We don’t have a strategy yet,’ Obama said as he took questions from reporters in the White House briefing room. The president’s aim was clearly to defuse building expectations that U.S. military strikes in Syria were imminent as part of a broadening drive to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. But his awkward choice of words to describe a policymaking process still in midstream seems likely to haunt him for some time. The inartful phrase quickly went viral among right-leaning media outlets and Republican figures, pushing the White House into damage control mode.”
2. Shut it down: “Another government shutdown isn’t going to happen next month—at least if you ask Republican leaders. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who’s facing a tough reelection challenge this fall, said turning the lights out in Washington is a ‘failed policy.’ . . . And Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team are ruling out a repeat of last October when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz led a conservative rebellion and forced the government to close for two weeks in a bid to defund Obamacare. That proved to be a political disaster for congressional Republicans, who this fall want to avoid a massive midterm distraction as they try to take back control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “A second Sunni Awakening?” Washington Post contributor Fareed Zakaria argues, “The strategy that could work against the Islamic State is nothing less than a second Sunni Awakening. It’s a huge challenge but appears to be the only option with a plausible chance of success.”
2. “The best weapon to fight the Islamic State is already in Iraq.” Reuters contributor Robert Caruso argues, “The only way to defeat the Islamic State is through military force, but Americans will not be doing the fighting on the ground. General John Allen, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan, has observed that, ‘the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Free Syrian resistance elements of the region are the ‘boots on the ground’ necessary to the success of this campaign.’”
3. “NATO on Russia’s border: a check, not a threat.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “NATO’s plan for long-term rotation of troops in its eastern states is well tailored as a deterrence and not a provocation to Russia. The alliance’s strategic patience with Putin reflects not a desire for victory but hopes for a nonaggressive Russia.”
4. “Put an End to Putin’s Aggression.” USNews.Com contributor Jorge Benitez argues, “The military option to save Ukraine from further Russian occupation should not be dismissed perfunctorily by Obama and European leaders. The military defense of Ukraine deserves at least a serious debate and top level consideration.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Compromise.
2. Russian aid.
3. Diplomacy.
