FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Clearance denial perspectives. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “A security clearance denial or revocation occurs only upon completion of a security clearance investigation and final determination by an adjudicating authority that granting the applicant a security clearance is not ‘clearly within the national interest.’”
2. National Industry Security System. Contributor Chandler Harris reports, “The Defense Security Service (DSS) is looking to create a new enterprise system to help all DSS stakeholders, dubbed the National Industrial Security System (NISS). The NISS will help to reduce reliance on cumbersome data entry processes, provide analytics and improve the speed and quality of decision making . . . . It will also provide an easier way to coordinate clearance monitoring, process facility clearances and subsequent inspections, detect possible insider threats and help with incident response.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Combat ends in Afghanistan (ceremonially and ceremoniously). AP’s Lynne O’Donnell reports from Kabul, “The U.S. and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan on Monday, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.” See also, “Ghani wants slower withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.”
2. Israel supporting Syrian rebels. Christian Science Monitor’s Christa Case Bryant reports from Jerusalem, “The Israeli military has been in direct contact with Syrian rebels for more than 18 months, facilitating the treatment of wounded fighters and at times exchanging parcels and ushering uninjured Syrians into Israel, according to UN reports. The quarterly reports bolster speculation over the past year that Israel’s humanitarian assistance to more than 1,000 wounded Syrians had also opened a channel of communication with Syrian rebels. Today, the Syrian military accused Israel of carrying out two airstrikes near Damascus. The Israeli military declined to comment on that claim.”
3. Jordan fights ISIS ideology in its courts. Aljazeera.Com reports, “While Jordan has made public its participation in US-led air strikes against ISIL in Syria, it has launched a quieter war at home, as authorities crack down on social media users and religious leaders who allegedly promote ‘terrorist ideology’. Since Jordan began participating in the air campaign in mid-September, authorities have arrested more than 100 local citizens for allegedly supporting ‘terrorist’ ideology. At the same time, the government has banned 30 imams for allegedly expressing sympathy and support for ISIL at the pulpit.”
4. Women volunteers flooding Ranger slots. ArmyTimes.Com’s Michelle Tan reports, “So many women volunteered to attend Ranger School that the Army is now asking its commands and units to whittle down the list to 160 candidates. . . . The response was so good—Fivecoat declined to say how many female soldiers volunteered—that the Army has released a new All-Army Activities message that allocates 160 seats at the two-week Army National Guard Ranger Training and Assessment Course. The Army is requiring all female soldiers who want to attend the two-month Ranger School to complete the pre-Ranger course, which takes place at Fort Benning.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Industry pivot. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “Amid a global downturn in defense spending, the training and simulation world is booming. . . . [E]executives for some of the world’s largest defense firms acknowledged that the sector’s market strategy is changing. The biggest market trend . . . is a growing emphasis on providing services to customers. In the past decade, companies could feast on providing the technology of simulators and classroom education. Now, governments are buying less new equipment, which means industry needs to focus on upkeep and training opportunities in existing systems.”
2. Linux wins Leathernecks’ support. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va., announced a $10.2 million contract modification Wednesday to the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems segment in Linthicum Heights, Md., to convert the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) operator command and control computer from Windows XP to Linux.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. CIA torture report due Tuesday. DefenseOne.Com contributor Allen McDuffee reports, “The report, which was only approved by the committee’s Democrats (Republicans on the committee say they plan to release their own report), concludes that the CIA routinely exceeded legally allowable techniques to get information from detainees and that the techniques were not effective in obtaining it. Yet, the agency systematically lied to the White House, Congress and the Department of Justice about its efficacy in order to continue its operations.”
2. Cryogenic Computer Complexity: spies’ supercomputing goals. NextGov.Com’s Frank Konkel reports, “The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is funding research that could fundamentally change the field of supercomputing. Announced today, IARPA—the intelligence community’s research arm—awarded research contracts in support of its Cryogenic Computer Complexity, or C3, program that IARPA hopes will lead to a new generation of energy-efficient superconducting supercomputers that far exceed the capabilities of current supercomputers.”
3. Navy’s eel drones. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “Eel bots can explore difficult to navigate reefs, hulls and undersea geological formations in a way that other fish types can’t. . . . [F]uture prototypes . . . will require less and less guidance to operate. They’ll self-navigate through difficult or dark crawl spaces, which also means fewer operators presiding over more robots, potentially making them even more cost efficient for the Navy.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Buffet likes Hillary in 2016. “Warren Buffett is ready for Hillary Clinton. The third richest man in the world donated $25,000 last quarter to Ready For Hillary, the maximum donation the political action committee allows . . . . The group, which has no official ties to Clinton, now has more than $11 million to help with her election campaign should she officially decide to run for president in 2016. Buffett has donated money to party committees and candidates, but has long disliked political action committees and never donated to them.”
2. Suing for friendship. “It’s not often that the man you have sued more than two dozen times invites you to hang out. But that’s exactly what happened Friday, when Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott came to the White House. Abbott, currently the state’s attorney general, led a lawsuit filed against Obama this week that challenges his executive action on immigration. Sixteen other states have signed on to the suit. It’s the 31st lawsuit Abbott has filed against the Obama administration. The president invited the nation’s new governors-elect to the White House for a meeting. Abbott and six others attended.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The US Needs To Recognize Russia’s Monroe Doctrine.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Ted Galen argues, “Russia’s behavior toward its neighbors may be abrasive, but it is operating as major powers tend to do in their sphere of influence. U.S. leaders once understood that reality. It is unfortunate, and potentially disastrous, that our current policymakers apparently do not.”
2. “The widening war in the Middle East.” Aljazeera.Com contributor James Denselow argues, “While the focus of global attention has been on ISIL’s dismantling of the Iraq-Syria border, the Lebanon-Syria border is also becoming functionally blurred and clearly no longer deters Israel’s strategic decision makers.”
3. “Iran: A not so unlikely ally.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Ibrahim Al-Marashi argues, “Al Jazeera‘s correspondent in Iraq . . . raised the question: Are the US and Iran on the same side in Iraq? The answer to this question is not only a ‘yes’ in Iraq, but could also be a ‘yes’ in terms of the long-term stability of Syria and Afghanistan. It is domestic politics in both the US and Iran that prevent any official from saying this publicly.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Double Axel.
2. Peace on Earth.
