Can you believe it’s Friday? I can’t believe it’s Friday.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Words have meaning . . . sometimes. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “In general, every word on your resume should be specific, actionable and necessary. Avoid superfluous verbs and descriptions and include details only as they relate to a specific accomplishment. Wondering what, specifically, to leave off? Here are the top ten buzzwords that are over-used on defense industry resumes. . . .”
2. Writing your way into a job. Contributor Tranette Ledford offers, “. . . try more than reading. Sharing your own perspectives and experiences in a published article can serve as a powerful tool to boost your online presence from cleared job candidate to thought leader. You don’t have to be a novelist or even a great writer. The goal is to use the forum to interact with others, demonstrate your knowledge and engage more readers than those in your own network.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Turkey fiddles, Kobani burns. AP’s Lefteris Pitarakis and Bassem Mroue report from Mursitpinar, “The Islamic State group shelled a Syrian border crossing with Turkey on Friday to try and capture it and cut off the embattled town of Kobani . . . . Islamic State fighters aim to seize the crossing in order to close the noose around the town’s Kurdish defenders and prevent anyone from entering or leaving Kobani.”
2. Scrap the fleet! Khaama.Com reports, “Over a dozen C-27 transport planes, also known as G-222 that the US donated to the Afghan military were destroyed and were sold for scrap metal for $32,000. The fleet of 16 G-222 planes were part of the 20 Italian-made aircraft purchased by NATO for $486 million in hopes that they could meet the cargo and transit needs of the Afghan Air Force. They had sat idle for years on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport following chronic maintenance issues.” GovExec.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Pentagon Scraps Afghan Air Fleet for Pennies on the Dollar.”
3. Kim is still the man, or so they say. Reuters’ Benjamin Kang Lim and James Pearson report, “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in firm control of his government but hurt his leg taking part in a military drill, a source with access to the secretive North’s leadership said, playing down speculation over the 31-year-old’s health and grip on power in the nuclear-capable nation. . . . ‘He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon . . . . He injured his ankle and knee around late August or early September while drilling because he is overweight. He limped around in the beginning but the injury worsened’ . . . .”
4. The good force and the good fighters. Reuters reports, “Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls’ right to education, and Indian children’s right activist Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. With the prize, Yousafzai, 17, becomes the youngest Nobel Prize winner, eclipsing Australian-born British scientist Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 when he shared the Physics Prize with his father in 1915. Satyarthi and Yousafzai were picked for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to education . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. The AFSOC acquisition model. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “The head of Air Force Global Strike Command wants to modernize his fleets at a rapid pace, and he believes Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) may be the model to follow. ‘Continuous modernization, and smart modernization, will be absolutely essential for the future,’ Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson said . . . . ‘Twelve years to acquire a weapon system is way too long.’ AFSOC has managed to quickly come up with the idea for a new system and get it up and flying quickly . . . .”
2. Navy awards $24 million for Ship Self-Defense System. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Electronics contract manufacturer Sechan Electronics Inc. in Lititz, Pa., will build hardware for the U.S. Navy’s Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) Mk2 under terms of a $24.3 million contract. . . . The SSDS helps crews of Navy surface warships detect, track, assess, and shoot down incoming subsonic and supersonic anti-ship missiles. It is designed to expedite the detect-to-engage sequence to defend against anti-ship cruise missiles.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Sikorsky does it again (and a really cool video). Warrior.Scout.Com’s Steffani Jacobs reports, “The chopper can carry six soldiers and external weapons including Hellfire missile, 2.75″ rockets, a .50-cal gun, and a 7.62mm gun. It features a new design in counter-rotating rotors and pusher propeller that will allow the RAIDER to reach speeds of up to 253 mph–double the speed of other helicopters on the market today.”
2. Selfie security. NationalJournal.Com’s Brendan Sasso reports, “The Obama administration’s top cybersecurity official wants to get rid of passwords. ‘Frankly, I would love to kill the password dead as a primary security method, because it’s terrible,’ said Michael Daniel, the White House cybersecurity coordinator . . . . So what would replace the password? Daniel suggested that ‘selfies’ would be one possibility. A device could scan a photo of a person’s face and grant access only to the right one. ‘You could use the cameras on cell phones, which are now ubiquitous, so the selfies are used for something besides posting on Facebook’ . . . .”
3. NSA’s authorized leak puzzle. Wired.Com’s Kim Zetter reports, “There have been numerous authorized leaks over the years, including the controversial White House leaks about the killing of Osama bin Laden. . . . Lawmakers on the intelligence committees look silly when they tell reporters they can’t talk about something, while government officials are freely yapping about the same topic behind their backs. They also look silly when they publicly call for a criminal investigation into a leak that turns out to have been authorized. . . . But once those leaks are made to the media and published, why shouldn’t the public also be able to know when the information came from an authorized source or an unauthorized one?”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Holder replacement on hold: “The White House is seriously considering waiting until after Election Day to announce a replacement for Attorney General Eric Holder in order to avoid creating a new political problem for vulnerable Senate Democrats. . . . Any nominee named before the midterms would immediately become a topic of conversation on the trail, forcing endangered incumbents to get caught either agreeing with the president’s choice or distancing themselves in a way that could essentially vote down the choice before it ever makes it to the floor.”
2. Political suicide: “Republicans will commit political suicide if they fail to pass immigration reform, President Obama said Thursday during a town hall meeting in Los Angeles. ‘It’s anybody’s guess how Republicans are thinking about this,’ Obama said. ‘If they were thinking long-term politically, it is suicide for them not to do this.’ . . . . If Republicans fail to pass immigration reform, Obama said, a generation could conclude that the party didn’t care about them.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “A Kurdish voice from Kobane’s battlefield.” Aljazeera.Com contributor and Kurdish fighter offers, “During the fighting, we heard many times that Turkey would eventually step in and help. We heard the US would intervene. Some said that Europe would probably join too. But days passed, and nothing. We’re still waiting. And this was even before ISIL advanced towards Kobane. We had hope then that we would fight hard now, and then help would come. We didn’t have enough weapons. But the Kurds are brave.”
2. GOOD READ: “US Strategic Leaders Need to Think Bigger—Much Bigger.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Hanna Samir Kassab argues, “Simply put, the U.S. cannot afford to be the world’s policeman. Smarter foreign policy given specific, current threats to the national security and economic performance must be adopted now. Given emerging powers and continuing economic instability, the U.S. must be able to coherently understand itself, its interests and the threats which may potentially harm those interests.”
3. “Disappearance of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un could ease path to peace, coup or no.” Reuters contributor Paul French suggests about Kim, “His domestic position will remain dominant, a figurehead to the North Korean people, but internationally, and particularly in relations with South Korea he may be purposely taking a back seat to allow a breakthrough.”
THE FUNNIES
3. Fence jumper.
