FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Weak links in the workplace. Contributor Chandler Harris explains, “As more government workers use their personal phones, tablets, laptops and other devices at work, third-party mobile apps are increasingly a weak link in security. To address this growing security problem, the National Institute of Standards and Technology drafted guidelines for apps at work . . . .” Read the guidelines, “Technical Considerations for Vetting 3rd Party Mobile Applications.”
2. Employees—the insider threat. Also from contributor Chandler Harris, “According to an annual White House review, last year about 21 percent of all federal breaches were due to government workers who violated policies; 16 percent were from employees who lost devices or had them stolen; 12 percent were those who improperly handled sensitive information printed from computers; more than eight percent ran or installed malicious software; and 6 percent shared private information.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. SecDef Hagel heading home. Reuters’ Phil Stewart and Steve Holland report, “U.S. officials with knowledge of Hagel’s relationship with the Obama administration described increasingly uneasy ties between Hagel’s Pentagon and the White House—although not between the two men themselves. While the White House portrayed Hagel’s abrupt departure as a mutually agreed decision with Obama, the officials described a succession of worsening problems, including most recently Hagel’s arguing for a more defined strategy to combat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in a leaked memo.” See also from AP, “Hagel resignation comes at a messy moment for us,” from Defense Media Network, “Hagel: ‘I Did Not Make This Decision Lightly,’” Washington Post, “Chuck Hagel’s heartfelt message to the troops about leaving the Pentagon” and Politico’s “Chuck Hagel’s resignation underscores defense rifts.”
2. Fighting the war without end. Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe reports, “To get to a place where the Afghanistan war is something not yet forgotten, drive from civilian America onto this 164-square-mile military base. Pass the armed guards who check for military identification and the four-story Warrior Transition building that houses wounded soldiers, and keep going into one of the base’s residential neighborhoods of identical two-story houses. Inside one of those homes, Lt. Col. Chris Hossfeld is in the family room reviewing a video from his first combat tour 10 years ago.” See also from The Christian Science Monitor, “Obama gearing up to be a war president” and “Haqqani Network launched suicide attack at soccer game.”
3. Re-arming Iraq. Washington Post’s Greg Lamothe reports, “Top U.S. officials said earlier this month that they would ask Congress to spend $1.6 billion in fiscal 2015 to help equip security forces across Iraq, as the country continues to grapple with how to expel Islamic State militants from cities and towns in controls. A new Defense Department document outlines what that money will go toward—and underscores just how much firepower Washington wants to send Baghdad in its bid to help.”
4. Peshmerga and Shiites whip ISIS in Diyala province. Rudaw.Net reports, “Kurdish forces fighting alongside Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen have liberated the two largest areas of Diyala province from the Islamic State (ISIS ), regaining important water and oil supplies and a strategic highway running from Baghdad to the Iranian border, the Peshmerga spokesman said. Lieutenant General Jabar Yawar said in an interview with Rudaw that the areas of Jalawla and Sadiya, which were recaptured in battles Sunday, had been under ISIS control for three months. He added that Jalawla was captured by the Peshmerga alone, but pushing the militants out of Sadiya had been a joint effort.” See also, “The Search for the Plan To Destroy ISIS.”
5. Russia’s recession. The Economist reports, “Russia’s economy is teetering on the verge of recession. The central bank says it expects the next two years to bring no growth. Inflation is on the rise. The rouble has lost 30% of its value since the start of the year, and with it the faith of the country’s businessmen. Banks have been cut off from Western capital markets, and the price of oil—Russia’s most important export commodity—has fallen hard. Consumption, the main driver of growth in the previous decade, is slumping. Money and people are leaving the country.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. VA taking bids. NextGov.Com’s Jack Moore reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs is now taking bids for commercial software to replace a clunky 1980s-era system for scheduling veterans’ medical appointments. For its new Medical Appointment Scheduling System, VA is seeking commercially available off-the-shelf software that can be linked up with its existing health IT system, the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.” See also from FederalTimes.Com, “VA issues RFI for commercial scheduling system.”
2. Israeli backing out of F-35 deal. AviationWeek.Com’s Alon Ben David and Amy Butler report, “An Israeli cabinet panel has rejected a decision of the defense minister to procure an additional 31 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and limited the procurement of Israel’s second batch of JSFs to only 13. It is unprecedented that the ministerial committee on defense procurement would reverse an air force requirement that was already approved by the defense minister, the former government and the National Security Council.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. End-to-end encryption. Wired.Com’s Andy Greenberg reports, “Growing up in Soviet Ukraine in the 1980s, Whatsapp founder Jan Koum learned to distrust the government and detest its surveillance. After he emigrated to the U.S. and created his ultra-popular messaging system decades later, he vowed that Whatsapp would never make eavesdropping easy for anyone. Now, Whatsapp is following through on that anti-snooping promise at an unprecedented scale.”
2. Regin—the highest tech hacking. Wired.Com’s Kim Zetter reports, “The researchers have no doubt that Regin is a nation-state tool and are calling it the most sophisticated espionage machine uncovered to date—more complex even than the massive Flame platform, uncovered by Kaspersky and Symantec in 2012 and crafted by the same team who created Stuxnet. Though no one is willing to speculate on the record about Regin’s source, news reports about the Belgacom and Quisquater hacks pointed a finger at GCHQ and the NSA.”
3. Robot cops. NextGov.Com contributor Allen McDuffee reports, “Designed by the Mountain View startup Knightscope, the five-feet, 300-pound K5 robot features what the company describes as an autonomous technology platform that combines robotics, predictive analytics, and collaborative social engagement to predict and prevent crime.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Hate-Love Relationship: “The White House’s deputy press secretary took to Twitter on Monday, seemingly defending the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by highlighting a number of old tweets in which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others questioned whether Hagel was capable of doing the job. Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the White House, did so shortly after McCain released a statement saying that Hagel was frustrated with how the Obama administration made national security decisions. . . . Schultz retweeted numerous messages from 2013, most published around the time of Hagel’s bruising confirmation process.”
2. You’re exemplary . . . now get the hell out: “Obama thanked Hagel for his nearly two years of dedicated service and called him an ‘exemplary defense secretary’ who has provided a ‘steady hand’ during a time of transition for the military. ‘We come from different parties, but in excepting this position, you sent a very powerful message,’ Obama said. ‘When it’s mattered most—behind closed doors—you have always given it to me straight, and for that I’ll always be grateful.’ ‘Thanks to Chuck, our military is on firmer footing,’ he added. Initial media reports about Hagel’s decision to step down Monday morning said he was doing so under pressure.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Chuck Out.” Slate.Com contributor Fred Kaplan argues, “The departure of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense has been greeted as a surprise, but it really shouldn’t have.”
2. “Hunting for scapegoats, Obama bagged the wrong guy in Hagel.” Reuters contributor Lawrence Korb argues, “Hagel’s departure may bring about some short-term political gains, but in the long run it will not be good for the administration, the Pentagon or the country.”
3. “Chuck Hagel: A good man who never quite got on top of his job.” Los Angeles Times contributor Doyle McManus argues, “There’s a policy debate roiling the Obama administration on how best to fight Islamic State, but Hagel wasn’t the biggest player in it. The problem was, if anything, the opposite: according to some officials, Hagel wasn’t an effective player at all.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Contradiction.
3. Exemplary.
