CIA releases numbers significantly expanding the size of ISIS, Agencies failing to comply with clearance requirements, and Gorgon Stare Cameras mounted – all in today’s defense headlines.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Navigating unemployment. Contributor John Holst offers, “It’s easy to get mixed up feelings when unemployed. Sometimes I get up just wondering if it’s even worth looking for work. Other times I get up hoping that ‘Today’s going to be the day,’—that someone will hire me for interesting work. But I get up—and I suppose that’s a key to looking for work. Not only do I get up, but I maintain a fairly rigorous schedule. I try to help myself, just as you might help yourself, given the opportunity. . . .”
2. Hiring OFCCP-friendly. 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.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. More troops to Iraq. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “In the next week, roughly 500 more US troops will be deployed to Iraq, bringing the total number added this summer to more than 1,500. Most of them will be sent to operational command centers in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish north. Another 150 will assess the skills of Iraqi soldiers, and the final 125 will help run the armed drones now bombing IS, also known as ISIL and ISIS. To date, the US military has conducted about 150 airstrikes in Iraq—but this was when the US was on the defensive.” See also, “US Troops to Advise Iraqi Units at Brigade Level” and “Obama’s IS plan and its Middle East champions.”
2. ISIS—breeding like rabbits, or rats. TheHill.Com’s Mario Trujillo reports, “The CIA estimates the Islamic States in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is made up of anywhere between 20,000 to 31,500 fighters, according to reports Thursday night. The CIA previously put the number at 10,000 but revised it upward after stronger recruitment since June, according to CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani, who was quoted in The Associated Press. Among them are hundreds of foreign fighters, including around a dozen known U.S. fighters. The militant group’s success on the battlefield and its leaders assertion that it has established a caliphate led to the surge in recruitment . . . .”
3. The price of Putin’s war—paying the bill. Reuters’ Thomas Grove and Maria Tsvetkova report, “The fact that Russian soldiers have died in a war in which they officially have no involvement is a problem in Russia. Chatter about young soldiers returning home in coffins has begun to spread over the past few weeks. Though still limited, such talk has powerful echoes of earlier Russian wars such as Chechnya and Afghanistan.”
4. Don’t forget the fight in Yemen. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio and Oren Adaki report, “Local officials in Yemen’s southern Shabwa province reported that an American drone strike killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters today. [The 11 September] strike is the first reported in Yemen since Aug. 17. The strike, which was launched by remotely piloted Predators or Reapers, targeted a vehicle traveling between the towns of Bihan and Asilan in northern Shabwa province, according to reports. . . . The military source claimed that the five AQAP members killed in the strike included one Saudi national. Those targeted were identified as Abdallah Ahmad Salem Mubarak, also known as Abu Habbah, Abu Khaled al-Awlaki, Abu Ka’ab, Sa’ud al-Daghari, and the Saudi Seif al-Shihri.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Interior’s $10 billion cloud. FederalTimes.Com’s Steve Watkins reports, “The Interior Department’s $10 billion cloud services contract is generating considerable interest within the department and across government . . . . ‘There have been a lot of inquiries,’ said Interior’s CIO Sylvia Burns in an interview. ‘We’ve had 15 separate agencies who have approached us asking about using our contract. I think in total, we have had 104 specific inquiries from across the board. We have awarded many orders. I don’t have a specific number for you, but we have awarded several of them. . . .’”
2. Vetting cyber contractors. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Vendors operating systems that handle government data are required to take security precautions, but most agencies are not making sure they do so. That is the finding of the latest federal audit of agency cybersecurity. The deficiency is significant because contract employees make up a third of the total federal cyber workforce . . . . But five of the six agencies scrutinized did not supervise the execution of those protections or review whether they were performed appropriately—‘resulting in security lapses’ . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Fear the Reaper (and its Gorgon stare cameras).Medium.Com’s David Cenciotti and David Axe report, “An official U.S. Air Force photo depicts a drone on the ground at Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan with two, ahem, interesting pods under its wings. The Aug. 18 image shows MQ-9 Reapers belonging to the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, one of America’s main drone units in Afghanistan. One of the Reapers—which the 62nd launches, lands and repairs, but which are remotely operated by pilots in the U.S.—sports two sensor pods, one under each wing. These could comprise the latest ‘Increment 2’ version of the rarely-seen Gorgon Stare system, which can monitor nearly 20 square miles at a time—the size of a small city—with its electro-optical and infrared sensors. Look closely at the official photo, and you can seen ‘EO’ markings on one pod and ‘IR’ on the other.” But, don’t need to really fear this.
2. Navy puts the air brakes on UCLASS. NationalDefenseMagazine.Org’s Joshua Pavluk reports, “Less than a month after passing a high-profile test of joint manned and unmanned carrier operations, the U.S. Navy and the defense community must suddenly face up to a hard truth: the biggest challenges for the future of America’s unmanned airpower are not only technical, but also bureaucratic. On the eve of what was supposed to be the kickoff of one of the most important contracts in more than a century of naval aviation, the Navy’s new carrier-launched unmanned aircraft has been put on hold once again. The government’s request for proposal for the UCLASS (unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike) program is now indefinitely delayed . . . .”
3. Cyber Protection Brigade. DefenseNews.Com’s Michelle Tan reports, “The US Army on Sept. 5 activated a new Cyber Protection Brigade — the first of its kind in the Army — at Fort Gordon, Georgia. . . . The Cyber Protection Brigade is made up of Cyber Protection Teams, manned by a mix of soldiers and civilians. The brigade will have 20 of these teams, each with about 39 personnel. The teams will conduct defensive cyberspace operations in support of joint and Army missions . . . .”
4. Let’s get it on! Navy’s exoskeleton. Wired.Com’s Liz Stinson reports, “Called the FORTIS, the exoskeleton is able to support tools of up to 36 pounds and transfer that load from a worker’s hands and arms to the ground. The goal is to lighten workers’ loads, ultimately making them more productive and skilled at their jobs. The U.S. Navy recently bought two of the exoskeletons and plans to test them over the next six months to see how they might be used in an industrial situation.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Hot on Hillary’s trail: “Joe Biden is following Hillary Clinton to Iowa. Three days after the former secretary of state attends Sen. Tom Harkin’s final steak fry in the first-caucus state, the vice president will be in Des Moines, appearing Wednesday at the Iowa state capitol to kick off a ‘We the People, We the Voters’ bus tour with a group called ‘Nuns on the Bus.’ It will be Biden’s second trip to a key presidential primary state in two weeks; last Wednesday, he was in New Hampshire for a trip also billed as an official one. At this point, Clinton hasn’t officially declared her candidacy, though the steak fry appearance Sunday is widely seen as the unofficial kickoff. Biden has pointedly not ruled out a run, though many expect he will ultimately defer to Clinton.”
2. No pleasing these people: “Congressional Republicans appear willing to OK President Obama’s request to support rebels fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria but say they’re frustrated he’s not seeking Capitol Hill approval for a broader plan. After briefings with Pentagon and administration officials regarding the president strategy to combat ISIS terrorists in Syria, many Republicans said they fear the White House plan is too limited. ‘We need to have a declaration of war, and if we’re going to defeat this enemy it needs to be all in,’ said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. ‘This strategy isn’t enough—it’s too thin.’ Salmon said that while he recognizes Americans are ‘war weary,’ ISIS must be stopped immediately because it poses a greater threat than ‘anything that we’ve seen in a long long time.'”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Obama and the fall of Saigon.” NewYorker.Com’s George Packer argues that “the Iraq War never ended, except in the minds of most Americans. Unlike Vietnam, ISIS is an irreconcilable enemy and a metastasizing threat. We Americans want to wake up as fast as possible from our historical nightmares, whatever the cost to other people. It’s human nature. Unfortunately, this one still requires our attention.”
2. “Not Fighting the Islamic State Could Be Worse Than Fighting It.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Jeffrey Goldberg argues, “David [Frum] is right to argue that the U.S. is functionally aligning itself with Assad, Iran, and Hezbollah, and this is a terrible thing. Other critics of the president’s plan are right to point out its flaws and limitations, and to ask whether our anger at the beheadings of two American journalists is blurring our vision. (It’s not the worst thing, at times like these, to have a president who leans in the direction of reluctance.) But the question for David is, what are the consequences for American national security of continued ISIS success?” Read David Frum’s opinion piece.
3. “To beat Islamic State, Obama needs Iran.” Reuters’ William B. Quandt argues, “If Obama wants to have a winning strategy in the Middle East, he will need more than drones and airstrikes. He will also need smart diplomacy, beginning with a determined effort to work out understandings with Iran. His next speech, perhaps after the liberation of Mosul from Islamic State terror, should begin to explain to the American public the real complexities of unscrambling the messy legacy of the flawed U.S. intervention in Iraq in 2003.”
4. Take note: “The complete guide to taking notes effectively at work.” Quartz contributor Anna Codrea-Rado advises, “The takeaway: if you have a bunch of pads or notebooks filled with meeting notes that you never consult, your note-taking isn’t providing the most value over time.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Defining ISIS.
2. No boots.
3. Fightin’ words.
