Islamic State wants to up the ante, Lame duck congressional session slows intel reform, and Building cyber soldier endstrength – all in today’s defense headlines.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Barbaricum—cutting edge careers. Editor Lindy Kyzer asks, “Is it possible to be a player in the defense contracting space and also operate at the cutting edge? It is if you ask the employees and leadership at Barbaricum, a small yet quickly growing government contracting company founded in 2008. Their practice has expanded, but they’ve made remaining nimble and relevant a priority.”
2. Ronald Pelton—the other Snowden. Contributor David Brown reports, “These days it seems like everyone is stealing secrets from the National Security Agency and running to the Russians, but there was a time when the NSA kept a pretty tight lid. Before there was Edward Snowden (literally, before he was even born), there was Ronald Pelton, one of the most notorious spies in NSA history.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. ISIS poking Putin. Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor reports, “Here’s a slightly new geopolitical wrinkle. Earlier this week, the Islamic State issued a video challenging a powerful global leader. But this time, it was not President Obama or one of his counterparts in Europe. It was Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the video, fighters pose atop Russian military equipment, including a fighter jet, captured from the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.” See also from TheGlobeAndMail.Com, “Omar the Chechen.”
2. Keep your eye on the Ebola. Reuters reports from Geneva, “The Ebola virus is spreading fast in Liberia, where many thousands of new cases are expected over the coming three weeks . . . . In Liberia, the disease has killed 1,089 people among 1,871 cases, the highest national toll, according to the WHO’s update of last Friday. Overall in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, 2,097 have died out of 3,944 cases. Another 18 cases and seven deaths have been recorded in Nigeria and one non-fatal case in Senegal.”
3. Veterans Affairs’ job fair. DefenseOne.Com contributor Kellie Lunney reports, “The head of Veterans Affairs on Monday acknowledged that he’s worried about the department’s ability to recruit and retain a talented workforce as it recovers from a major scandal and reinvents itself to better serve the country’s vets. VA Secretary Bob McDonald said the department needs ‘tens of thousands’ of new doctors, nurses and clinicians, and that he plans to sell VA’s ‘inspiring story’ to medical schools and others across the country with the help of the media and members of Congress.”
4. Khamenei and Karma? New York Times’ Thomas Erdbrink reports, “Iran’s highest leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, underwent an operation on his prostate on Monday . . . . Ayatollah Khamenei has the final say over the most important issues in Iran, including its current negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement with the United States and other world powers on its nuclear energy program.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $100 million Special Ops contract, and more. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “A contract worth more than $100 million to extend contractor support for U.S. Special Operations Command and other government agencies topped the list of contracts announced by the Pentagon last week. The Defense Department awarded 52 contracts valued at $1.5 billion in the week ending Sept. 5 . . . . The largest single award came in the form of a $150 million modification to an existing contract from the Army Research Lab to a handful of defense contractors, including Science Application International Corp. and Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., that boosts the overall value of the deal to $630 million . . . .”
2. On fire or flaming out—Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine. AviationWeek.Com’s Guy Sweetman, et. al., report, “The long-delayed operational debut for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is at risk of further slippage due to a safety-critical problem with its Pratt & Whitney F135 engine for which no single root cause has yet been identified. . . . Pratt & Whitney is working on redesigned engine components that are intended to prevent the problem from recurring, with the objective of lifting restrictions on the JSF training and tactics development fleet.” See Pratt & Whitney’s retort, “As we go further into flight test, we expect to learn more about our engine and to incorporate additional improvements as we prepare for initial operational capability.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA reform delays. GovExec.Com contributor Dustin Volz reports, “A bill that would curtail the government’s broad surveillance authority is unlikely to earn a vote in Congress before the November midterms, and it might not even get a vote during the postelection lame-duck session. The inaction amounts to another stinging setback for reform advocates, who have been agitating for legislation that would rein in the National Security Agency ever since Edward Snowden’s leaks surfaced last summer. It also deflates a sudden surge in pressure on Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, which scored a stunning endorsement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last week.”
2. Cyberthreat intel prep—what you need to know. VentureBeat.Com’s Armond Caglar explains, “As the techniques hackers use have become more sophisticated and effective, the cybersecurity preparedness of U.S. organizations hasn’t kept pace with the threats against them. Although companies spend millions on technology solutions to deter, detect, and deflect unauthorized access and network intrusion, these breaches keep happening. Clearly, these efforts aren’t working. With the threat of foreign-sponsored cyberterrorism looming, we need to make a change in how we think about and approach cybersecurity.”
3. Army’s cyber brigade. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Stephanie Kanowitz reports, “As part of its efforts to combat rising cyber threats and attacks, the Army has launched a cyber brigade and could start a new cyber branch as soon as the second week of October . . . . The Network Enterprise Technology Command at Fort Gordon, Ga., last week activated the Cyber Protection Brigade, the first of its kind in the service . . . . [the] command has been adding teams over the last two years, but the Army needs twice as many as it has now. Specifically, the service must double the number of soldiers in the cyber career field in the next two years.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Shutdown games: “The US House soon could vote on a spending measure that would keep the Pentagon and other federal agencies funded while lawmakers hit the campaign trail. Federal funding will run out on Sept. 30. The House could recess for midterm-election campaigning as soon as Sept. 19, and the Senate could leave Washington just four days later. That means both chambers will have to pass a continuing resolution (CR) and send a final version to President Barack Obama before they scatter out across the country.”
2. Torture on torture: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she and the White House are still haggling over redactions to the Senate’s torture report with the goal of releasing it as soon as possible. ‘We’re trying to make progress on the redactions, we’re not there yet,’ the California Democrat [said] . . . . ‘Staffs are working. Matter of fact, they’re working today on it. We’re not going to put out the report until it is understandable and comprehensive.’ Pressed on whether a mid-September release is the target, Feinstein said, ‘Yes. The soonest we can is the target.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The only way to defeat the Islamic State.” Washington Post contributor Robert H. Scales argues, “The Islamic State cannot be defeated by diplomacy, sanctions, coalitions or political maneuverings. Its fighters must eventually be killed in large numbers, and Americans will never allow large conventional military forces to take them on. The butcher’s bill would simply be too large. The only sure means for defeating the group is with a renewed, expanded and overwhelming legion of capable special fighters who have learned through painful trial and error how to do the job.”
2. “Another way to defeat IS.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues [unconvincingly], “Despite the Arab Spring’s disappointments in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere, Tunisia remains a guiding star for Arabs, one that should eclipse any appeal among young Muslims to join IS.”
3. “Coalition building can be tricky.” AP’s Matthew Lee explains, “The diplomacy of coalition building is time-consuming, and questions about who can or should join are often messy. And in this situation it is complicated by the fact that the U.S. and its allies share an interest in defeating the extremists with some governments they otherwise oppose. Yet, if politics makes for strange bedfellows, coalitions do as well.”
THE FUNNIES
1. I wonder.
2. Fixation.
