Tuesday’s Top Ten & Fifty Years in a Row

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Lonely courage: the Violette Szabo story. Contributor David Brown tells the tale: “On February 5, 1945, Violette and the agents were brought to the crematorium where they were read death sentences. They were forced to their knees. They held hands. They were each shot in the backs of their necks. For her actions and sacrifice, Violette Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross . . . .”

2. Hat trick: the George Koval story. Also from contributor David Brown, “When we talk about spies and leakers generally, motivations tend to revolve around money or love—the man who runs up too much gambling debt and needs a way out, or the woman who says too much to the person she brought home from a bar. But there is another, much simpler reason that people violate their security clearance: they really want to.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Egypt’s military order restored. Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy reports, “The economy may remain in tatters and resentment against predatory police and officials may remain in many Egyptian hearts. But President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the military class he belongs to appear to have done what seemed impossible three years ago: They put Humpty Dumpty together again. Mubarak, who’s already served a three-year corruption sentence, could be released at any moment, and the country is not in an uproar.”

2. Women warriors: Kobane’s front lines. AP reports, “On the front lines of the battle for Kobani, Kurdish female fighters have been playing a major role in helping defend the Syrian town from an onslaught by the Islamic State extremist group. . . . The Kurdish men and women fighting in Kobani are determined not to lose the town to the extremists.” See also, “New Peshmerga reinforcements headed to Kobane” and “Canadian-Israeli woman reportedly captured by IS.”

3. Talking with the Talibs. Khaama.Com reports, “President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has tacitly resumed backdoor diplomacy with the Taliban group in a bid to revive peace process amid growing instability and violence across the country. The efforts by President Ghani to revive peace talks with the Taliban group comes almost one and half year after negotiations were suspended by the former President Hamid Karzai’s administration.” See also from Khaama.Com, “Suspected insider attack leaves 6 Afghan soldiers dead in Badghis.”

4. Bagging al-Baghdadi’s better half. Reuters’ Laila Bassam and Sylvia Westall report, “The Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine days ago . . . . The arrest is a blow to Baghdadi and could be used as a bargaining chip against his group, which has captured many foreign, Iraqi and Syrian prisoners and declared a caliphate across territory it has seized in Syria and Iraq. A senior Lebanese security official said Baghdadi’s wife had been traveling with one of their daughters, contradicting earlier reports that it was his son. DNA tests were conducted to verify it was Baghdadi’s child . . . .”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Out-of-control Contracting: POGO. GovExec.Com’s Charles S. Clark reports, “The Project on Government Oversight on Nov. 25 sent Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel a harsh letter warning of ‘actions within your office that are greatly hindering efforts to bring service contract spending under control.’ Arguing that Defense spends more on service contractors than on civilian and military personnel with ‘only a fraction of the scrutiny,’ POGO accused the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness of ‘concerted efforts’ to ‘willfully breach laws and congressional mandates to implement an improved service contracting tracking system.’”

2. Lockheed’s $128 million sonar upgrades. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Submarine computer experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. are adding to this year’s sonar signal processing work with a $127.7 million contract announced last week for the U.S. Navy’s Acoustics-Rapid COTS Insertion (A-RCI) program. . . . A-RCI is a sonar system that integrates and improves towed array, hull array, sphere array, and other ship sensor processing, through rapid insertion of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software, such as commercial blade servers. The Navy is asking Lockheed Martin to develop and build the A-RCI and common acoustics processing for technology insertion 12 (TI-12) through technology insertion 14 (TI-14) for the U.S. submarine fleet and for foreign military sales.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. DoD using the force, Luke. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe explains, “’Star Wars’ has captivated millions of viewers over the last few decades with its good-versus-evil themes, colorful alien characters . . . and futuristic technology. But it isn’t just science fiction fans who gravitate to the franchise. There’s a long history of scholars, media outlets, defense contractors and active-duty troops connecting the U.S. military with the franchise. Consider the following . . . .”

2. Geopolitics and cyberattacks. Reuters’ Jim Finkle reports, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned U.S. businesses that hackers have used malicious software to launch a destructive cyberattack in the United States, following a devastating breach last week at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Cybersecurity experts said the malicious software . . . would mark first major destructive cyber attack waged against a company on U.S. soil. . . . ‘I believe the coordinated cyberattack with destructive payloads against a corporation in the U.S. represents a watershed event’. . . .”

3. Load-lightening exosuits. DefenseNews.Com’s Kevin Lilley reports, “The futuristic exosuits being tested by US Army researchers won’t help soldiers outrun locomotives, and it’ll still take more than a single bound to clear a tall building. But a final prototype of the device, which could cut a wearer’s exertion level by 25 percent when carrying a 100-pound load and might let an unburdened soldier run a four-minute mile, could be tested in a realistic setting in less than two years . . . .”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Is this seat taken? “The mini-uproar GOP staffer Elizabeth Lauten created when she took to Facebook to criticize President Barack Obama’s daughters has led to Lauten’s resignation from her position as communications director for U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.). Lauten lambasted the girls for their short skirts and bored facial expressions during the president’s annual ‘turkey pardoning” ceremony at the White House last week. Malia, 16, and Sasha, 13, needed to ‘dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar,’ Lauten wrote in her Facebook screed.”

2. I do believe in spooks. I do I do I do I do I do. “Sen. Rand Paul maintains that Benghazi was an intelligence failure. On the heels of the House Intelligence Committee report on Benghazi that ‘there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks,’ the Kentucky Republican expressed his disagreement . . . . ‘Benghazi was the definition of an intelligence failure. It was, in fact, one of the worst intelligence failures in our history, a strategic blunder that resulted in the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans . . . . This administration has changed the talking points and ignored important questions about Benghazi throughout—when the administration knew what was happening.’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. GOOD READ: “Afghans are ready but is Pakistan willing?Aljazeera.Com contributor and former Chief of Afghanistan’s National Intelligence Service Amrullah Saleh argues, “The Afghan psyche is set. It is time to say goodbye to the Cold War mentality, a policy of domination and big brother posturing. Any unequal treaty or imbalanced relationship forced upon this country through exploitation of our landlocked status and poverty will backfire. Afghanistan cannot be subdued.”

2. “Russia Is Returning to Soviet Military Strategy.” TheMoscowTimes.Com contributor Alexander Golts argues, “Russia’s plans to project its force to distant locations with the help of the Mistral warship turn out to be unnecessary now that Moscow is rapidly spiraling downward into a confrontation with the West.”

3. “Spotting the inviolate in oil price volatility.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “As oil prices change once again, the Great Sorting is really between those who use uncertainty to create a better world and those who succumb to it like a game of chance. The former operate out of a conviction of inevitable good. The latter are prisoners of false assumptions about progress. The best among us must find the inviolate amid the volatility.”

THE FUNNIES

1. Thin ice of life.

2. Egypt’s military order.

3. Who’s been naughty . . . .

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.