FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. View of the recruiter. Millennium recruiter Natasha Wormley offers, “’Around 80 percent of our hires come directly from ClearanceJobs.com . . . . Nearly all the rest are through employee referrals and the smallest portion come from general job sites.’” Contributor Ashley LaGanga adds, “While Millennium receives the majority of its applications from other job sites, it describes the caliber of those applicants as lower.”
2. KeyPoint—they’re hiring! Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “In the rush to ensure background investigations proceed with minimal delays, the existing companies are on a push to ensure new openings get filled—fast. KeyPoint Government Solutions is now the largest provider of security clearance investigations to the U.S. Government. . . . A lot remains to be seen, but for those pursuing career options, background investigation companies are hiring.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Ebola takes Texas. AP’s Lauran Neergaard reports, “U.S. health officials have warned for months that someone infected with Ebola could unknowingly carry the virus to this country, and there is word now that it has happened: A traveler in a Dallas hospital became the first patient diagnosed in the U.S.” See also from Reuters, “Traveler from Liberia is first Ebola patient diagnosed in U.S.”
2. Dempsey under fire. DefenseNews.Com’s John T. Bennett reports, “US President Barack Obama is standing by his top military adviser amid sharp criticism from a prominent Republican senator. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill earlier this month when he suggested, if circumstances warranted, he would advise Obama to send US ground troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic State (IS) group. He also agitated some lawmakers by endorsing the White House’s plan to train and arm some Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia to take on the violent Islamic group back home.”
3. Bombing blind. AP’s Ken Dilanian reports, “The intelligence gaps raise questions about the effectiveness of the strikes and about whether the current strategy will achieve the administration’s goal of defeating the Islamic State group. The group has begun adapting to U.S. airstrikes by seeking to conceal itself, move at night and blend in with civilians . . . . ‘They’re a smart adversary,’ said Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, briefing reporters at the Pentagon this week.” See also from McClatchyDC.Com, “Kurds at Turkish border see little hope Islamic State won’t take Kobane.”
4. Afghanistan—Taliban fighting on. Khaama.Com reports, “The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan condemned the conclusion of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Kabul and Washington. Taliban group following a statement said the group rejects the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Kabul and Washington and vowed to continue fighting until the foreign forces leave the country and an Islamic government is restored.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Global Haw soars. McClatchyDC.Com’s Greg Gordon reports, “The squabbling between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill over whether to kill the biggest of the military’s drones—the Global Hawk—is finished for the moment, with the remotely piloted surveillance aircraft and its builder emerging as the victors. Now there’s every indication that the rise of the Islamic State has offered the pilotless wonder a chance to show its stuff.”
2. DHS HQ contract award. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The General Services Administration awarded a $139 million contract Sept. 30 to begin the next phase of its Department of Homeland Security consolidation in southeast Washington. Construction firms Grunley Construction Company and Shalom Baranes Associates will be renovating the 270,000-square-foot historic center building on the campus of the former St. Elizabeth’s hospital for use as the new DHS headquarters. The completion date for the facility – that will house the DHS secretary and about 700 employees—will be fall 2017. Eventually DHS plans to house 14,000 employees from across the Washington area on to the campus.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Secret Dis-Service. TheGuardian.Com’s Dan Roberts reports, “The US secret service allowed an armed man with a criminal record for assault to enter an elevator with president Barack Obama, it was disclosed on Tuesday, hours after officials admitted they missed three chances to deter an intruder who broke into the White House earlier this month. . . .” See also, “Armed contractor with criminal record was on elevator with Obama in Atlanta.”
2. Starbucks at Spook Central. Washington Post’s Emily Wax-Thibodeaux reports, “This coffee shop looks pretty much like any other Starbucks, with blond wooden chairs and tables, blueberry and raspberry scones lining the bakery cases, and progressive folk rock floating from the speakers. (There are plans to redecorate, possibly including spy paraphernalia from over the decades.) But the manager said this shop ‘has a special mission,’ to help humanize the environment for employees, who work under high pressure often in windowless offices and can’t fiddle with their smartphones during downtime.”
3. Shots at the Nobel. Wired.Com’s Jeffrey Marlow’s predictions: “The coming season of scientific awards will be recognizing some of the most transformative work from the last several decades, and the team at Thomson Reuters has your cheat sheet. By combing through their Web of Science database, analysts are able to spotlight work and researchers that have been cited with high frequency by other studies over the years.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Funny man: “Leave it to the congressman who brought a marijuana joint to a congressional hearing to provide a bit of levity to a tense hearing on Secret Service security lapses. The always-quotable Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) provided free advertising for ADT Security Systems when he held up a print-out of the company logo and asked Secret Service Director Julia Pierson if she’d ever heard of it. . . . Of note, ADT’s headquarters are in Boca Raton, Fla., which is not in Mica’s congressional district but in the same state.”
2. Starbucks Secrets: “A former CIA counterterrorism analyst running for Congress in Pennsylvania read . . . about the covert Starbucks at Langley with fond remembrance. And so, responding to a Twitter inquiry about his personal drink preferences, Kevin Strouse tweeted about his coffee shop experience. Then 54 seconds later he deleted it. Then he replaced it with a more spy-appropriate message. Strouse’s first tweet read: ‘Article is right, line usually too long…but I remember some long double espresso nights!’ His second: ‘I can neither confirm nor deny my consumption of coffee at purported location.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “How scandals play out in the press: White House security edition.” Reuters’ Jack Shafer explains, “No bungling bureaucracy will last very long once insiders start anonymously dishing dirt to the press, a lesson currently being taught to Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. Anonymous sources from the Secret Service, its alumni, and insiders who have been read-in on current investigations are taking the agency apart brick-by-brick this month . . . .”
2. “U.S. doesn’t face much threat from Syria’s air power—rebels aren’t so lucky.” Reuters contributor Robert Beckhusen offers, “For the White House, clashing with the Syrian Air Force risks sucking the United States deeper into a horrendous civil war. Still, the presence of the Syrian Air Force is a factor. The question is how much of a factor.”
3. “Kissinger’s lessons for today’s policymakers.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Vartan Oskanian argues, “Obama’s equivalent move to Kissinger’s Vietnam balance of power play could be the triangulation between Shia Iran, the Sunni-dominant Gulf region and, Syria and Iraq. This requires a transcending of previously drawn lines and an ability to artfully skew the line between ideology and values.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Oliver on drones.
2. Keystone Cops.
3. Illegal alien.
