FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. The dangerous dating game. Contributor Sean Bigley advises, “Absent the rare cases of serial killers and stalkers, the general wisdom is that online dating is no more dangerous than chatting someone up at the local bar. That may be true for the general population, but security clearance holders should exercise additional caution. . . .”
2. Hiring: Booz Allen Hamilton. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “The firm is hiring in San Diego, CA; Annapolis Junction, MD; Hawaii; the Washington, DC Metro area―and other locations nationwide—for these opportunities and others: Cloud Software and Cybersecurity Engineers; Mobile Engineers; Systems Architects; Embedded and Web Application Developers. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Women arrive at Ranger School, experiment. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “Army officials have selected 31 women as advisers and observers at its elite, all-male Ranger School, the latest indication that some women might be allowed to take the course next year. . . . The women selected for the potential Ranger School experiment includes 11 officers and 20 enlisted noncommissioned officers . . . . They took part in a week of training there to get a better sense of the mental and physical demands placed on Ranger students. More than three dozen women had applied for the positions.”
2. Peshmerga assault ISIS in Diyala. Rudaw.Net’s frontline correspondent reports, “Kurdish Peshmerga forces have launched a major assault against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the town of Saadiya in northern Diyala, said Rudaw correspondent on the frontline. Halo Muhammad said that the multipronged attack began at 4:00am on Wednesday and that the Peshmerga have advanced several kilometers towards Saadiya. The Rudaw correspondent said that Shiite militia groups are part of the large force that aim to take back the majority-Kurdish town from the ISIS group.”
3. Afghanistan corruption rising up. NationalJournal.Com’s Jordain Carney reports, “The United States is drawing down its presence in Afghanistan, but a top watchdog said Tuesday that corruption there is on the rise. ‘It’s getting worse.… Significantly worse . . . . Corruption is not only feeding insurgency, it’s feeding a number of corrupt officials.’ . . . . the United States spent $3.6 million on TV trucks that aren’t used. Another released earlier this year found that the U.S. spent roughly $3 million on boats for an Afghan navy in 2010 to help patrol a river it shares with Uzbekistan. The ships, according to the report, are sitting in storage in Virginia after the order was canceled.”
4. Navy on the offense. DoDBuzz.Com’s Kris Osborn reports, “The U.S. Navy needs to embrace a more offensive surface warfare strategy which finds additional uses for long-range weapons and missiles, adds lasers and electromagnetic rail guns when available . . . . In order to keep pace with a fast-changing global threat environment and counter current and emerging threats, the Navy needs to use weapons differently and embrace new tactics to gain control of vital parts of the ocean . . . .”
5. Something big coming to Bethlehem? Aljazeera.Com reports, “For months, the world has been fixated on Jerusalem. . . . However, Jerusalem is not the only holy city experiencing daily unrest. Bethlehem and the surrounding area, home to both ancient biblical villages and refugee camps set up after the creation of Israel in in 1948, have been host to intensifying clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. ‘What happens in Jerusalem, happens here’ . . . . Palestinians in the occupied West Bank believe that something big is coming.” Poet William Butler Yeats asks, “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Defense acquisition reform. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The upcoming Republican takeover of the Senate opens the door to reforming the Defense Department acquisition process, according to experts. Part of the reason for increased optimism is that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is widely considered to be the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has also written reports on the need for DoD acquisition reform and called for Congress to pass legislation streamlining the process.”
2. Speech recognition: Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency looking. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. intelligence experts are asking industry, colleges, and the public to design speech-recognition software that can decipher conversations and other speech that happens over microphones in noisy, echo-ridden environments. Officials of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) in Washington are launching the Automatic Speech recognition in Reverberant Environments (ASpIRE) speech-recognition contest.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA wins in Senate. Reuters’ Patricia Zengerle reports, “A bill to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone records failed on a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday after senior Republicans said it would benefit enemies of the United States, including Islamic State militants. The ‘USA Freedom Act’ was supported by an unusual coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans concerned about Americans’ privacy, but failed 58 to 42, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move ahead. The measure is unlikely to become law anytime soon, as Republicans will hold a majority of seats in the Senate after Jan. 1.”
2. Unmanned helos—versatile vertical lift. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “The robotic K-MAX medium lift helicopter proved very effective in Afghanistan where, in 33 months of war, the Marines successfully completed some 2,000 cargo and supply sorties with just two of the unmanned birds. ‘From our standpoint, we were able to take convoys off the road and our soldiers out of harm’s way,’ said Greg Steiner, president of Kaman Aerospace Group, which makes the rotary aircraft. Lockheed Martin makes the vehicle’s unmanned system. The K-MAX has now found a new mission – fighting fires.”
3. Airliner in the round. BusinessInsider.Com’s Joshua Barrie reports, “The shape tackles a problem in the airline industry. Cylindrical shapes are better at dealing with pressurised cabins, but at the front and back of these structures there needs to be strong reinforcements to counter stresses . . . The circle alleviates this issue.” See also from RT.Com, “‘Bagel plane’: Airbus seeks to patent bizarre UFO-like aircraft.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Punt on first down: “The Obama administration has been ‘vacillating’ on its request that lawmakers grant the president additional war powers to combat the Islamic State, leaving congressional Democrats frustrated and both the House and Senate poised to adjourn this year without passing any legislation, even as the conflict in the Middle East escalates. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had to abruptly cancel a hearing on the Islamic State scheduled for Tuesday after its star witness, believed to be Secretary of State John Kerry, said he could not attend. . . . ‘How do you go forward with an AUMF when you are not being briefed by the administration?’”
2. HASC Chair Thornberry: “Top House Republicans want Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry to take over in January as House Armed Services Committee chairman, a move that would put a defense-sector ally atop the military oversight panel. The House GOP Steering Committee late Tuesday selected the longtime HASC member to succeed Rep. Buck McKeon, when the California Republican retires next month. The full Republican caucus is expected to sign off Wednesday. Thornberry is the committee’s current vice chairman, and his ascension to the top spot has been considered a done deal since McKeon announced his retirement in January. One defense lobbyist with ties to House Republicans says Thornberry will look to put his own stamp on the committee’s agenda.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “A New Era for the Defense Department.” DefenseOne.Com contributor and Secretary of Defense argues, “America’s military superiority has never been guaranteed, and it confronts significant challenges on the horizon.”
2. “Iran nuclear talks: The final stretch.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Shashank Joshi argues, “ . . . if diplomacy collapses, the negotiating window slides shut, and Iran’s nuclear programme starts re-expanding, the prospect of an Israeli or US war comes back into the picture, except this time both Tehran and Washington are already committed to open-ended campaigns, on multiple fronts, and, in Iraq, against the same adversary.”
3. “Merkel challenges Putin’s worldview.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “The Ukraine issue has indeed moved to a new level, and not only for Europe. Merkel has intensified her mix of diplomacy and sanctions. But now she also speaks to the world about the global issues at stake. Europe, the center of three world confrontations during the 20th century, had to learn the hard way that there are principles for keeping the peace. Now it must apply them again.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Lone wolf?
2. Bird flu.
3. Touchdown!
