FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Secret Squirrels’ 10 mile scamper. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “For the third year ClearanceJobs is proud to be a sponsor of the Army Ten-Miler, an annual run held in Washington, D.C. and hosted by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. More than 35,000 runners participate in the race, making it the second largest 10-mile race in the United States. This is the third year ClearanceJobs has fielded a team, and this year’s group was nearly 75-strong, putting in more than 700 miles through the streets of Washington. ClearanceJobs plans to sponsor the race again next year with a 100-person running team.”
2. Operation United Assistance. Contributor Chandler Harris explains, “As Ebola continues to spread uncontrollably through West Africa like a malignant wildfire, U.S. troops are being sent to the region along with healthcare and aid workers in an effort to stem the virus . . . . The $763 million plan, dubbed Operation United Assistance, is modeled after the U.S. response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, when 20,000 U.S. troops were dispatched to assist with getting aid throughout the country.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. ISIS pushing on Baghdad. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Since August, a US-led military coalition has been bombing ISIL fighters who hold swaths of territory in northern and western Iraq . . . progress has been stymied by a recent influx of new ISIL fighters. Located just outside Baghdad, Anbar is a key strategic province and ISIL would gain a big advantage over Iraqi forces by overtaking the area. ISIL currently controls more than 70 percent of Anbar, with the rest under the control of Iraqi security forces and anti-ISIL Sunni tribes, Sabah Karhout, the head of Anbar’s Provincial Council, told Al Jazeera. ‘The air strikes are not working, as [ISIL’s] numbers are more than you can imagine’ . . . .” See also, “Shiites retaliating against Sunnis.”
2. POTUS ISIS planning conference. Reuters’ Jeff Mason and Phil Stewart report, “President Barack Obama will hash out a strategy to counter Islamic State on Tuesday with military leaders from some 20 countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia amid growing pressure for the U.S.-led coalition to do more to stop the militants’ advance. . . . Obama will attend a meeting led by General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with foreign defense chiefs at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington at 3 p.m. EDT to discuss the coalition’s work.” See also, “Britain’s top diplomat says endgame is regime change in Syria.”
3. China rattling maritime sabres. The Atlantic’s Howard W. French reports, “If China can impose its will in the South China Sea, at least five rival claimants—all much smaller, weaker Asian states—will be limited to a narrow band of the sea along their coastlines. China would gain greater security for its crucial supply lines of oil and other commodities; exclusive access to rich fishing areas and potentially vast undersea oil deposits; a much larger buffer against what it regards as U.S. naval intrusions; and, not least, the prestige and standing it has long sought, becoming in effect the Pacific’s hegemon, and positioning itself to press its decades-old demand that Taiwan come under its control. Arguably, it would achieve the greatest territorial expansion by any power since imperial Japan’s annexation of large swaths of Asia in the first half of the 20th century.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. GSA’s OASIS , a $60 billion, well, oasis. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “OASIS is a governmentwide acquisition contract that offers professional services, such as financial management and engineering, scientific and logistics services that agencies can tap to augment their own staffs. The contract is divided into two portions – one for small businesses and one for companies of any size. There are 123 small business divided into eight different groups depending on their overall size and annual revenue. On the unrestricted portion there are 74 companies spread across six different pools, divided by type of service. The market for all of the services offered through OASIS adds up to about $60 billion per year . . . .” See also, “OASIS small business contract starts strong.”
2. Navy’s $28 million supersonic training drone. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $27.7 million contract to Orbital on Friday to build eight GQM-163A Coyote supersonic sea skimming target base vehicles. . . . The GQM-163A Coyote supersonic sea skimming target is designed to provide a cost-effective target to simulate supersonic sea-skimming and other emerging supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, support research into ship defense systems, and support fleet training exercises.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. More powerful helo engines. DefenseOne.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “Now the Army is looking to field a stronger, more efficient engine for its Sikorsky Blackhawks and Boeing Apache attack helicopters, which could create a massive, multi-billion dollar competition down the road for American engine makers. . . . the top lesson learned from Iraq and Afghanistan is the need for more power from helicopters . . . .”
2. Snowden’s first leaks. Wired.Com’s Andy Greenberg reports, “Six months before the world knew the National Security Agency’s most prolific leaker of secrets as Edward Joseph Snowden, Laura Poitras knew him as Citizenfour. For months, Poitras communicated with an unknown “senior government employee” under that pseudonym via encrypted emails, as he prepared her to receive an unprecedented leak of classified documents that he would ask her to expose to the world.”
3. The perpetual cyber-war. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports, “Cyberwarfare is not something theoretical or reserved for conflict in the distant future, but happening continuously right now, said Atlantic Council Board Director Gen. Wesley Clark Oct. 9 at an event hosted by the think tank in Washington, D.C. ‘We’re doing it all of the time. So is everybody else; because, I hate to say this, you can’t wait ’til the next war to discover what the enemy’s cyber vulnerabilities are and what his nodes are,’ said the former four-star Army general who served as NATO supreme allied commander in Europe. And while the Defense Department has only somewhat recently made cyber reconnaissance a standard tool, it has had the ability to use cyber offensive techniques for some time.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Political Ebola and Mixed Metaphors: “Blame Republicans for Ebola. That’s the message from a key Democratic group that on Monday began a ‘blitzkrieg attack’ on GOP congressional spending cuts on programs that could have been used to fund overseas health efforts that might have helped stop the killer virus. ‘Like rabid dogs in a butcher shop, Republicans have indiscriminately shredded everything in their path, including critical programs that could have dealt with the Ebola crisis before it reached our country. Yesterday, a health worker tested positive for the virus—now, the effects of the GOP’s fanatical hatred for our government may finally be exposed’ . . . .”
2. Talk like a politician: “Complaints about political language are hardly new. In a famous 1946 essay, George Orwell groused that it ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.’ But if anything, doubletalk and weasel words proliferate now more than ever. . . . [W]e came across five general categories of Washington-speak—the devices that today’s politicians use in their never-ending quests to one-up each other while, at the same time, appearing spontaneous—and productive—to voters. Here’s what you need to know to keep up with the best of them—if that’s what you want to do.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Staying on the sidelines: In fight for Kobani, Turkey doesn’t see any good guys.” Reuters contributor Andrew Finkel argues, “No one should pretend that a decision for Turkey to become involved militarily in Syria is easy or even wise.”
2. “Kobane Kurds: Sacrificed for political expediency?” Aljazeera.Com contributor Kani Xulam argues, “Despite little or no help from the outside world, Kobane’s Kurds have no intention of fading away from the scene. Their cause has galvanised Kurds throughout the region and beyond.”
3. “How Secrecy Will Kill The Next Bomber.” AviationWeek.Com contributor Bill Sweetman argues, “[Long Range Strike Bomber] is likely to be technically fascinating. Its core information—materials, processes, electronic tricks and RCS numbers—needs to be protected. But the best way to do that is to protect such information inside a narrow cordon, not to attempt to run a strand of barbed wire around the entire $80 billion effort and tens of thousands of participants.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Doggie diaries.
2. Found him.
3. Mid-terms.
