FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. First impressions. Editor Lindy Kyzer advises, “The first two weeks on the job are critical for all employees. What you do with them will determine your success with that company and in your overall career. Here are a few common mistakes made in the first two weeks, and a few tips to make sure they don’t apply to you. . . .”
2. Interview insights. Also from Editor Lindy Kyzer, “You can negotiate with insurgents and counsel young soldiers, but if you’re a service member there may be no more intimidating conversation than one with a recruiter or interviewer. We asked recruiters, and these are their tips for things you should NEVER say. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Odierno on apples and oranges. DoDBuzz.Com’s Brendan McGarry reports, “The Army’s top officer was initially curt in his response to a retired general’s provocative new book that argues the U.S. lost the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . . ‘Is Desert Storm the same as OIF? Was it the same operation?’ Odierno asked. ‘So why would you compare it? I mean, what we did is we expelled Iraq from Kuwait—very different from overthrowing a government and replacing its leader. It’s apples and oranges. It’s not the same operation’ . . . . [W]hen asked whether he worked with political leaders to establish the end state in Iraq, Odierno said, ‘I keep those conversations private. . . . I don’t write a book and talk about it.’” See also, “Odierno: Changing World Requires New Look at Army’s Size” and “Odierno: I Need More Money and Troops for Today’s Threats.”
2. US Advisers in Iraq. Aljazeera.Com reports, “The US security personnel sent to help Iraqi forces combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will be on the front lines alongside Iraqi troops and Kurdish forces, but will not engage in fighting unless for self-defence . . . . A total of 1,500 US military personal have arrived in Iraq since June, deployed in two operations centres in Baghdad and Erbil to coordinate with local troops and identify ISIL air targets for the US-led campaign of air strikes. Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced it would widen its advisory mission and initiate training of Iraqi forces.” See also, “Dempsey ‘Encouraged, but Pragmatic’ About Iraq.”
3. Supporting Kurds. Rudaw.Net’s Namo Abdulla reports, “The United States government announced on Wednesday that it is planning to provide more support to the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga who are widely regarded as the most effective fighting force against the Islamic State (ISIS). ‘The president has pledged to expand our support to the Iraqi forces including the Iraqi Kurdish forces,’ said Jeffery Rathke, a spokesperson with for the US State Department . . . . ‘We are continuing to coordinate with the international community to provide the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces with what is needed and our policy in that respect has not changed. As I say, we have provided a large amount of support, weapons material to Kurdish forces.’”
4. Supporting Kiev. Reuters reports, “U.S. President Barack Obama’s choice to fill the number two spot at the State Department, Anthony Blinken, spoke favorably on Wednesday about the possibility of providing weapons to Ukraine, which is grappling with pro-Russian separatists. Testifying at a congressional hearing on his nomination to be Obama’s deputy secretary of state, Blinken said the administration should consider rethinking its policy of not providing lethal aid to Kiev.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $1.2 billion contract for AESA (active electronically scanned array radar). DefenseNews.Com’s Andrew Chuter reports, “Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain have signed up for a €1 billion (US $1.2 billion) development and integration program to equip the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The contract was confirmed following a meeting of the four nations’ defense procurement ministers and senior officials in Edinburgh, Scotland, the home of the Selex ES radar team leading the Euroradar consortium’s development of the system known as Captor E-Scan.”
2. Boeing buckling under KC-46A contract. Aaron Mehta reports from DefenseNews.Com, “The US Air Force’s top military acquisition official says Boeing is being challenged by integration of its KC-46A Pegasus tanker, and warned that further slips may imperil key target dates. ‘Boeing has struggled . . . on probably the most challenging part of any program, which is the integration and test piece’ . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA backlash—Snowden’s like-minded colleagues. AP’s Ken Dilanian reports, “Dissenters within the National Security Agency, led by a senior agency executive, warned in 2009 that the program to secretly collect American phone records wasn’t providing enough intelligence to justify the backlash it would cause if revealed, current and former intelligence officials say. . . . NSA leaders, White House officials and key lawmakers opted to continue the collection and storage of American calling records, a domestic surveillance program without parallel in the agency’s recent history.”
2. Taller fences. Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier reports, “Would a taller White House fence deter potential jumpers from trying to illegally enter executive mansion grounds? The Secret Service thinks so—and it’s working with the Park Service on plans to raise the existing wrought-iron barrier. That’s what Acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. . . . ‘A higher fence would certainly help us and we’re looking for ways and options [to build one] . . . . ‘In fact, we hope within the next few months to have some renderings, some drawings of some options for people to look at.’” Poet Robert Frost argues, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall . . . .”
3. China, nuclear weapons, global warming. DefenseNews.Com’s Wendell Minnick reports, “A new congressional-funded report paints a dark picture of China’s nuclear weapons and missile modernization efforts. The report, issued Nov. 19, by the US China Economic and Security Review Commission, states China will pose a threat to all US military forces, bases and assets in the Western Pacific within the next 10 years. China will also be able to attack US national security satellites in a variety of ways—kinetic, laser, electronic jamming and seizing. According to the report, China’s capabilities will hold at risk all US national security satellites in every orbital regime in the next five- to 10 years.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Immigration conflagration: “On immigration, President Obama has decided to take on Republicans poised to control the House and Senate in the next Congress. In a prime-time address on Thursday, Obama will announce executive actions that could give legal status to millions of immigrants that are in the country illegally. The White House could have decided to punt on the issue, given the losses suffered by Democrats in the midterm elections. Indeed, even some Democrats had suggested that would be wise, given battles this month over funding the government, and it might have been taken as an olive branch by Republicans. Instead, Obama is taking a confrontational approach with the GOP, which has taken to referring to the president as an ‘emperor’ and is vowing to stop him.”
2. Steady, steady . . . .: “’Here are just a few examples of previous executive actions taken by Democratic and Republican Presidents on immigration: In 2002 President George W. Bush signed an executive order to expedite the naturalization for legal permanent residents who enlisted in the military. President George W. Bush extended the stay for up to 150,000 Salvadorans as a result of earthquakes in El Salvador. In 1993 President Bill Clinton granted an 18-month extension to a deferred action program for Salvadoran immigrants who fled the country during the civil war. In 1990, George H.W. Bush used it to protect Chinese students who feared persecution. In 1987, President Reagan used it to ease immigration standards for 200,000 Nicaraguan exiles in the U.S. . . .’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Why Palestinians are back fighting on Jerusalem’s streets.” Reuters contributor Rashid I. Khalidi argues, “Many feel provoked by increasing attempts by Jewish religious zealots to take over the third holiest site in Islam, the Haram al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.”
2. “Jerusalem: The ignored conflict.” Aljzazeera.Com contributor John Bell argues, “The recent violence has been triggered by two factors. The first is the threat of changes to the status quo on the Haram Al Sharif or Temple Mount, the holiest site in the city for both Muslims and Jews. . . . The second factor has to do with the status of Palestinian East Jerusalemites. . . . [T]hey are not Israeli citizens, and they view the Israeli presence as an occupation, mostly rejecting any role in municipal politics.”
3. “Don’t Buy the Defense Hawks’ Budget Bellyaching.” USNews.Com contributor Lawrence J. Korb argues, “The U.S. still dominates global defense spending, far outpacing every other country. While China and Russia have increased their defense spending and capabilities, the U.S. still accounts for 40 percent of the world’s military expenditures. Including our allies, that figure rises to 80 percent of defense spending worldwide. If the nations that collectively spend eight out of every 10 global defense dollars cannot deal with the remaining two, then the U.S. and its allies have a bigger problem.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Gee. Twenty?
3. Under pressure.
