FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Analyst analysis. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “A financial analyst is a key behind-the-scenes contributor for most defense contractors. Generally, financial analysts play a two-part role: ongoing project financial management in coordination with the program manager and financial support for proposal development. At times, financial analysts will be called upon to conduct internal financial audits and support need for external financial audits.”
2. Transition tips. Editor Lindy Kyzer offers, “Considering a career transition? It takes tenacity, passion, and the ability to learn new things. Some of the same things it takes to be successful at a cutting-edge federal contracting firm such as Barbaricum. Barbaricum was founded in 2008. Over the years its missions have expanded, but attracting top talent has remained a priority. Employees offered several tips for job seekers looking to make a transition and remain successful.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Cyberwar expands with China. VentureBeat.Com’s Chris O’Brien reports, “Chinese authorities condemned the concept of cyber attacks today but insisted there was no evidence that North Korea was behind the Sony hack. The statement effectively dashed any hopes that the breach of Sony’s network would be an opportunity for the U.S. and China to find some common ground on an issue that had been a growing source of tension between the two countries. ‘Before making any conclusions there has to be a full (accounting of) the facts and foundation . . . . China will handle it in accordance with relevant international and Chinese laws according to the facts.’”
2. MUST READ. Abu Ghraib revisited. NewYorker.Com contributor Seymour Hersh reports, “Whether the President was told about Abu Ghraib in January (when e-mails informed the Pentagon of the seriousness of the abuses and of the existence of photographs) or in March (when Taguba filed his report), Bush made no known effort to forcefully address the treatment of prisoners before the scandal became public, or to reëvaluate the training of military police and interrogators, or the practices of the task forces that he had authorized. Instead, Bush acquiesced in the prosecution of a few lower-level soldiers. The President’s failure to act decisively resonated through the military chain of command: aggressive prosecution of crimes against detainees was not conducive to a successful career.”
3. Apaches to Egypt. DefenseNews.Com reports, “The United States delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt in recent weeks after lifting part of a freeze on aid to the north African nation, a US official said Saturday. US Secretary of State John Kerry promised Cairo’s new leadership that the aircraft — aimed to join counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai Peninsula — would be delivered soon. ‘They got there a few weeks ago’. . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. South Korea gets Grumman’s Global Hawk. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experts at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment in San Diego will provide four RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawk long-range UAVs to South Korea to boost that country’s long-endurance surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $657.4 million contract to Northrop Grumman on Tuesday to provide four Global Hawk surveillance UAVs to the Republic of Korea.”
2. Navy’s $2.5 billion in contracts runs aground. The Government Accountability Office has partially sustained a bid protest filed by contractor CGI Federal over a $2.5 billion set of U.S. Navy contracts. GAO’s ruling could further delay Navy’s plans to upgrade the nation’s surface warship fleet. . . . GAO agreed with CGI Federal that the Navy solicitation’s price evaluation methodology was flawed. According to GAO, the Navy changed the price evaluation scheme it had laid out in its request for proposal between the closing date for final proposal revisions and the actual award date.”
3. Helo acquisitions—learning from lessons learned. NationalDefenseMagazine.Org’s Valeria Insinna reports, “Future vertical lift has not yet been established as a program of record, but the services already have created multiple joint organizations to help guide the FVL effort, from a flag officer-level steering group to integrated product teams that collaborate on science and technology, commonality, requirements and acquisition . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Cybervandalism. Reuters’ Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu report, “U.S. President Barack Obama moved to prevent U.S. anger at North Korea from spiraling out of control on Sunday by saying the massive hacking of Sony Pictures was not an act of war but instead was cyber-vandalism. . . . Obama and his advisers are weighing how to punish North Korea after the FBI concluded on Friday that Pyongyang was responsible. North Korea has denied it was to blame.”
Maya revealed. Christian Science Monitor’s Brad Knickerbocker reports, “In the film ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ she was known as ‘Maya,’ the CIA analyst who spent years doggedly tracking down Osama bin Laden, then identifying his body when US Navy Seal Team Six killed him during a raid in Pakistan. In real life, however, her story is more complicated with ties to the rendition and torture of terrorist suspects, as well as a missed opportunity to head off the attacks of 9/11. And now she’s been forced out of the shadows with several news outlets revealing her identity.”
Last minute Xmas gifts that will keep you cool. Wired.Com offers, “Well here it is, December 22, and you still haven’t done your shopping. Don’t worry. We’re going to save your butt. You’re probably going to have to shell out for shipping, but here are a few last-minute ideas you can still have under the tree (or at least on a doorstep) by Christmas Day. Watch out—we aren’t responsible for anything sold out.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Four thumbs up: “President Obama’s decision to act as movie critic in chief, using his bully pulpit to address a never-released Hollywood comedy, showcases how unsettled his administration has become about losing a cultural fight to North Korea. Obama surely never imagined that his final press conference of 2014 would center on a Hollywood satire about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Yet, in likely his final, major moment of 2014, Obama found himself talking about Seth Rogen and James ‘Flacco’ — he meant Franco — calling Sony Pictures’ decision to scrap ‘The Interview’ a ‘mistake.’ . . . The episode demonstrated the modern challenges of White House messaging, in which a president’s agenda can instantly become overshadowed by an incident seemingly outside of his purview.”
2. 2014 ruled! “President Obama did his best to accentuate the positive in looking back on the year, talking up recent economic gains and the idea of compromise with Republicans while pledging to continue issuing executive actions and wielding his veto pen to protect his top priorities. Setting aside his lame-duck status, deep losses in the midterm elections and a series of foreign-policy crises that contributed to his sagging poll numbers, the president said the U.S. economy has come roaring back this year and America is in a period of ‘resurgence.’ ‘Pick any metric you want,’ he told reporters at the White House Friday. ‘America’s resurgence is real.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “How much has the Syrian war cost the Levant?” Aljazeera.Com contributors Elena Lanchovichina and Maros Ivanic argue, “The direct effects of war in the region are, sadly . . . an understatement of the real economic costs of the civil war and the spread of ISIL. Because the war has disrupted the growth of strong intra-regional trade and plans for deep trade integration, one must include the foregone benefits of further trade integration in order to provide an accurate assessment of the economic costs of war.
2. “U.S.-Cuba deal: What the two sides get out of it.” Reuters contributor Peter Hakim argues, “Already, Cuba may be receiving $2 billion a year in remittances from Cuban-Americans in the United States and perhaps a billion more from trade and tourism. A rapprochement between the two countries would only multiply those figures. Obama and Castro both expressed an interest in a more prosperous Cuba. They do not, however, claim a common concern about Cuban democracy.”
3. “Don’t be the next Sony.” USNews.Com contributor Keith Lee Rupp argues, “With the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyberattack, we now have the spectacle of a rogue nation, North Korea, and its agents successfully attacking a Western corporation. The implications for American ideals of freedom of speech and for corporate risk managers are enormous. And other bad actors on the planet are certainly taking note. Our responses must include strategic action by the White House and Congress, but also concerted individual action on the part of everyone who is a potential target of similar attacks in the future.”
