FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Quality of job, and life. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains that “when it comes to making a career transition, it’s company culture that really makes the difference. And while it’s easy to think of the defense contracting and government space as pretty germane—a SCIF is no Google, after all—you can still find a variety of government contracting positions that offer quality of life as well as a quality job.”
2. Space-Tex. Contributor John Holst explains, “If you’re in space and you want to make money, then move to Texas. Space jobs increasing in Texas are the result of the state’s job-building efforts. Quite a few private space companies are moving into Texas to build rockets and launch facilities.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Apaches attack ISIS. DefenseNews.Com’s Paul McLeary reports, “US Army pilots for the first time used an Apache attack helicopter to strike Islamist militant targets in Iraq over the weekend, according to a statement by CENTCOM. On Oct. 4, ‘US military forces used attack bomber, fighter and helicopter aircraft to conduct six airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq’ . . . . Apaches can fire Hellfire missiles from a significant standoff distance, and are capable of ‘teaming’ with manned and unmanned aircraft to share information, and designate targets.”
2. Waiting for Khorasan. Press TV reports, “The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says the United States is preparing for an imminent terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda’s alleged affiliate in Syria, the Khorasan Group. James Comey made the remarks in an interview broadcast on Sunday night, following reports which said that US airstrikes targeting the Khorasan Group in Syria were unsuccessful . . . . Many of the suspected leaders and members of the group managed to escape the September 22 air raids, said three US officials. The FBI director said the group was working on a plan to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States. ‘Khorasan was working and may still be working on an effort to attack the United States or our allies, and looking to do it very, very soon’ . . . .” See from AP, “FBI Director Assumes Khorasan Plots Not Disrupted.”
3. Ebola and AFRICOM. Defense Media Activity’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “Soldiers deployed to Liberia to help with the Ebola outbreak there will receive the best equipment and training beforehand, be monitored on the ground and be screened before they go home, the commander of U.S. Africa Command said at the White House yesterday. . . . ‘As we deploy America’s sons and daughters to support the comprehensive U.S. government effort led by the U.S. Agency for International Development, we’ll do everything in our power to address and mitigate any potential risk to our service members and civilian employees and their families,’ Rodriguez said . . . .” See also, “5th American with Ebola returning from Liberia.”
4. NATO tango with Russia. Reuters’ reports from Warsaw, “NATO wants constructive relations with Russia even as it increases its presence in its member states in eastern Europe, the alliance’s new secretary-general told a Polish newspaper on Monday. Jens Stoltenberg, who is visiting Poland, said NATO would still respect its international commitments, which include a post-Cold War deal with Moscow about Western military deployments in former members of the old Soviet bloc. ‘There is no contradiction between a strong NATO and building constructive relations with Russia’ . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $45 million to upgrade Afghan helos. Khaama.Com reports, “Pentagon has awarded MD Helicopters Inc. a maximum $44.2 million firm-fixed-price contract to develop and provide an armament package for the MD-530F helicopters that were already supplied to the Afghan Air Force. Around 17 of the Afghan Air Force’s MD-530F helicopter will be upgraded under the contract which is expected to be completed by the end of September next year.”
2. $41 million to Raytheon for Navy airborne radars. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Radar experts at the Raytheon Co. will provide the U.S. Navy with 15 AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) airborne radar systems under terms of a recent contract. Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $41 million contract to the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems segment in El Segundo, Calif., for AESA radar systems and related RF and microwave equipment for the Navy’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet carrier-based fighter-bomber.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Robot swarms. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “NASA originally designed the system for the Mars Rover. ONR adapted it for the Navy’s needs but the philosophical history of swarm robotics can be traced to [a] 1995 paper in which artificial intelligence researchers James Kennedy and Russell Eberhardt argue that the collective behaviors that birds, fish, insects and humans display in response to rewards or threats could be captured mathematically and brought to bear on improving artificially intelligent entities in a simulation.” Read the Kennedy Eberhardt paper. See also, “US Navy To Deploy Armed, Robotic Patrol Boats.”
2. Unmanned tech in homeland security. FederalTimes.Com’s Adam Stone reports, “These days drones get all the media attention, but in fact these unpiloted aircraft are just the tip of the unmanned iceberg. In homeland security, unmanned technologies are sniffing out bombs, analyzing chemical spills, scouting undersea mines and serving as the advance eyes of first-responder teams. They’re getting smaller, too, more lightweight and more maneuverable. That’s making it easier to bring unmanned technology onto the scene of an incident and to assess situations that might be too hazardous for a first responder to explore.”
3. Why hackers always win. VentureBeat.Com contributor Shlomi Boutnaru explains, “By reusing code and methods, hackers gain the upper hand. New malware is cheaper and easier to develop, while the tools needed to locate and disable it are only becoming more expensive. All the while, defenders need to cover a growing array of potential targets, each with their own set of weaknesses. For every dollar spent by cyber attackers, hundreds of dollars are being spent by the IT security industry. This economic imbalance is the springboard from which cyber-crime, cyber-terrorism and cyber-warfare are launched.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Biden blooper: “The United Arab Emirates says US Vice President Joe Biden has apologised to the Abu Dhabi crown prince for ‘any implications’ in remarks he made last week that the UAE had supported fighters in Syria. Sunday’s phone call, confirmed by US officials, came after a day after Biden offered a similar apology to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Biden, who is known for his occasional verbal gaffes, angered US allies when he suggested in a speech at Harvard University on Thursday that Turkey, Qatar and the UAE had extended ‘billions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons’ to Sunni fighters trying to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president.”
2. No consolation prizes: “Former House majority leader Eric Cantor, who lost his primary election in June, had nearly $738,208 in his campaign account designated for his general election. On Wednesday, the Federal Election Commission sent Cantor a gentle reminder that he’s not running in a general election, so he needs to give that money back. In a letter to Cantor’s campaign treasurer, the FEC writes, ‘Since the candidate will not participate in the general election, any contribution received for the general election must be returned to the donors or redesignated to the primary if your committee has net debts outstanding for the primary.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Is the Islamic State a Terrorist Group or an Insurgency?” DefenseOne.Com contributor Jerry Meyerle argues, “If the Islamic State is to be degraded and destroyed, the Obama administration will have to recognize that the group represents an insurgency of considerable magnitude and expand the current strategy to involve population-centric counterinsurgency, as well as targeted counterterrorism operations, and to address the political factors behind the Islamic State’s rise.”
2. “US Secret Service is broken: How can we fix it?” Aljazeera.Com contributor Martin Reardon argues, “The Secret Service motto is ‘Worthy of Trust and Confidence’. Right now, those are little more than words on paper. It’s time to make the changes that give it real meaning again. That transformation starts with leadership. Not just at the top, but all the way down. The hardworking agents, uniformed patrolmen and other professionals of the Secret Service deserve as much. The president’s safety depends on it.”
3. “Is ‘civil society’ imperialistic? Putin says yes, and he’s not alone.” Reuters’ John Lloyd argues, “Civil society organizations can be big pains for the most open of governments: They can be unfair, shrill and mindlessly militant. But they are as fundamental to a real democracy as regular elections: to detach civility from elections is to court the loss of both.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Brotherly advice.
