The President presents his strategy, What $10 billion bought in UAV, and OPM canceling contracts with top clearance clearing house – all in today’s defense headlines.
Headlines Today & Thirteen Years Ago
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Compliant contracting. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “The Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs works to ensure federal contractors don’t participate in discriminatory hiring practices. Failure to comply with federal regulations can mean big money penalties or even being barred from government contracting, in extreme cases. For recruiters and hiring managers, creating an OFCCP-friendly hiring program isn’t just good policy, it’s good business. Here are five tips for making sure your hiring strategy reaches out to a diverse audience.”
2. Cleared jobs sans experience. Contributor Tranette Ledford reports, “If you have an active clearance and just earned a college degree, you don’t necessarily need a long work history on your resume to land second cleared careers. A new study by the University of California recently compiled a list of hot careers for new graduates. Among the top 10 career fields, four are stand-outs for security clearance requirements.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Destroying ISIS. President Obama offers, “My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL. As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people. Over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. We took out Osama bin Laden and much of al Qaeda’s leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve targeted al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia. . . . Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.” See also, “Obama orders U.S. airstrikes in Syria against Islamic State” and “Obama takes big risk in wider airstrikes.”
2. Building momentum against ISIS. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Bridging the gap between Iraq’s various political factions is the biggest challenge that will face the new Iraqi government in its battle against the Islamic State group, Iraqi lawmakers told Al Jazeera. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad at the start of a Middle East tour to rally support for the campaign against IS. Iraqi Prime minister Haidar al-Abbadi asked for international support to defeat ‘the cancer of IS’ Abbadi, who has received unprecedented international and regional support, including from rival regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, has faced pressure to form a government of national unity that includes all Iraqi political factions in order to join the war against the Islamic State (IS) group.”
3. Striking ISIS. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe explains, “The strikes in Syria under consideration could be launched from a number of bases in the Persian Gulf from which the United States is operating to hit Islamic State targets in Iraq. U.S. military officials have not identified those bases, citing diplomatic sensitivities with the countries involved. But they likely include al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Ali al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates . . . .”
4. Enduring ISIS. The Independent’s Rose Troup Buchanan reports, “A Yazidi girl captured by Isis has revealed the extreme abuse she suffers as a sex slave at the hands of Islamic State (IS) extremists. Only 17 years old, Mayat, (not her real name) was kidnapped by members of Isis on 3rd August during an offensive against Sinjar. She remains with her captors. These men allowed Mayat, who speaks some English as she wanted to study in Europe, to talk because, ‘to hurt us even more, they told us to describe in detail to our parents what they are doing.’” See also, “Here’s how I escaped.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. JLTV production—let’s get it on! NationalDefenseMagazine.Org’s Valerie Insinna reports, “As the joint light tactical vehicle program heads toward the end of its engineering, manufacturing and development phase, the military is testing each competitors’ manufacturing prowess. . . . The joint light tactical vehicle is slated to replace the Army and Marine Corps’ Humvee fleets. The services plan on buying 48,000 and 5,500 vehicles, respectively.”
2. The end of USIS—contracts to be canceled. AP’s Stephen Braun reports, “The federal Office of Personnel Management plans to terminate its massive contracts with USIS, the major security clearance contractor targeted last month by a cyberattack, agency, congressional and company officials say. The computer network intrusion compromised the personal files of as many as 25,000 government workers. . . . The OPM move to sever its relationship with USIS was a stunning development for a company that itself started out as a branch of OPM and then went private as the federal government relied increasingly on contractors to assess the backgrounds of its growing ranks of national security officials.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Anatomy of the commercial space race. AviationWeek.Com’s Amy Svitak reports, “In March 2012, when Boeing announced the sale of the world’s first all-electric satellites, the company sparked a trend in the commercial telecom industry, lighting a fire under competitors in Europe and Asia as they scrambled to catch up.”
2. A study of Global Hawk. Foxtrot Alpha’s Tyler Rogoway reports, “The Global Hawk has been flying for close to 15 years, and its development has been a twisting road filled with dead ends and wandering requirements. After over $10B spent and almost 50 airframes produced I ventured to Edwards AFB to get a rare close up look at what we actually paid for.”
3. Rogue cell towers. Popular Science’s Andrew Rosenblum explains, “Interceptors vary widely in expense and sophistication—but in a nutshell, they are radio-equipped computers with software that can use arcane cellular network protocols and defeat the onboard encryption. Whether your phone uses Android or iOS, it also has a second operating system that runs on a part of the phone called a baseband processor. The baseband processor functions as a communications middleman between the phone’s main O.S. and the cell towers. And because chip manufacturers jealously guard details about the baseband O.S., it has been too challenging a target for garden-variety hackers.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. War powers politics: “While President Obama said in his speech that he believes he has the power to broaden his military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, he said he lacks the so-called Title 10 authority to arm and train carefully vetted Syrian rebels and pressed Congress to quickly vote to provide it. . . . Despite a chorus of Congressional critics clamoring for tougher and swifter action against ISIS, there are plenty of reasons for lawmakers to shy away from any type of legal buy-in to extending the fight into Syria and let Obama own his military decisions alone.”
2. From the armchair: “Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that President Obama has slashed the military so deeply that troop levels will be below where they were on the 9/11 attacks, a gutting that begs foes to exploit the Pentagon’s vulnerabilities. ‘We’re investing in defense as if the dangers of the world were all in quiet retreat,’ warned Cheney, a former defense secretary, in a morning speech at the American Enterprise Institute. With typically blunt words, Cheney said that Obama has whittled away the strong military he was left with by former President George W. Bush.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Obama is picking his targets while missing the point.” Reuters contributor Andrew J. Bacevich argues, “Destroying what Obama calls the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant won’t create an effective and legitimate Iraqi state. It won’t restore the possibility of a democratic Egypt. It won’t dissuade Saudi Arabia from funding jihadists. It won’t pull Libya back from the brink of anarchy. It won’t end the Syrian civil war. It won’t bring peace and harmony to Somalia and Yemen. It won’t persuade the Taliban to lay down their arms in Afghanistan. It won’t end the perpetual crisis of Pakistan. It certainly won’t resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All the military power in the world won’t solve those problems. Obama knows that.”
2. “Obama takes on Islamic State.” Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Board argues, “In a democracy, the use of military might requires ratification by the people’s representatives. Some have argued that taking action against the Islamic State would be legal under congressional authorizations for the use of force against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the 9/11 conspirators. That isn’t enough. Congress — this Congress — should vote on any and all military action Obama takes against this new enemy.”
3. “Obama: Can his plan save the Levant?” Aljazeera.Com contributor James Denselow argues, “To stand a chance of success, the strategy will need regional buy-in to attempt to shut down financial support and fighter recruitment that provide the Islamic State group will its strategic depth.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Yes, you can.
3. Leg room.
