FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. 10 tips to make 2015 great for you. Editor Lindy Kyzer advises, “If you want your year to be great, don’t just sit back and wait for good things to happen – a new job or promotion won’t fall in your lap, and you don’t wake up instantly happier because it’s 2015. Here are a few tips to help make 2015 your #BestYearEver.”
2. WANTED: FBI Cyber Agents. Contributor Chandler Harris reports, “After the high-profile hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the FBI is now looking to hire ‘cyber special agents’ to help the agency in its cybersecurity efforts. These cyber agents are expected to have the skills to ‘conduct multi-faceted investigations of high-tech crimes, including cyber-based terrorism, computer intrusions, online exploitation and major cyber fraud schemes’ . . . The preferred backgrounds and work experiences for these new agents include computer forensics, computer programming and ethical hacking . . . .” See from Homeland Security Newswire, “Universities adding cybersecurity programs to their curricula to meet growing demand.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. al Qaeda in Yemen: “We did Charlie Hebdo.” AP’s Maggie Michael reports, “Yemen’s al-Qaida branch on Wednesday claimed responsibility for last week’s deadly attack on a Paris satirical newspaper, with one of its top commanders saying the assault was in revenge for the weekly’s publications of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, considered an insult in Islam. . . . Washington considers [Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] as al-Qaida most dangerous offshoots. Formed in 2009 as a merger between the terror group’s Yemeni and Saudi branches, AQAP has been blamed for a string of unsuccessful bomb plots against American targets.” See also from Reuters, “Al Qaeda in Yemen claims responsibility for Paris attack.”
2. Kobane update: Peshmerga progress. Rudaw reports from Erbil, “The commander of Peshmerga forces in Kobane announced that Kurds now control 85 percent of the city in Syrian Kurdistan, and that the number of families now living there has doubled to 300. . . . ‘When we entered the city the ISIL was in control of 50 percent of the neighborhoods, but the Peshmerga forces and People’s Protection Units have regained control over 85 percent of the city,’ said Brigadier Shawkat Mizuri, commander of Peshmerga forces in Kobane.”
3. Boko Haram slaughter unabated. The Long War Journal’s Laura Grossman reports, “Since the New Year began, Boko Haram has continued its offensive against Nigerians and its perceived enemies. Setting off what turned into a horrendous chain of events, the jihadist group assaulted and overran a military base that hosted the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) on Jan. 3. The initial attack sent nearby villagers fleeing into neighboring Chad. In the days that followed, members of Boko Haram attacked the nearby village of Baga and others, killing civilians and burning as they went. Jihadists reportedly unleashed assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades on townspeople.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable. Government Executive’s Eric S. Crusius reports, “LPTA certainly has its admirers, but even the most ardent supporters in the contracting community recognize its severe limitations. Nevertheless, J. David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, offered a full-throated endorsement of LPTA in a recent column in Government Executive. Mr. Cox stated the reasons why LPTA is preferred to the ‘best-value premium’ approach to acquisition. Here are several reasons he is wrong . . . .”
2. GSA’s agile buying push. Nextgov’s Jack Moore reports, “Federal agencies are increasingly looking for ways to shake up the often sluggish process of buying information technology. And if the General Services Administration gets its way, agency buyers could soon be able to purchase services specifically from companies that specialize in quick-turnaround software deployments and other IT projects.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Cybersecurity focus: Defense Information Systems Agency. Nextgov’s Frank Konkel reports, “The Defense Information Systems Agency looks a little different following a reorganization effort announced Monday at an AFCEA DC event in Arlington, Virginia. The restructure puts cybersecurity in the limelight, with cyber categorized by DISA Director Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins, Jr. as the most important of five ‘Cs’ for which DISA will be responsible. The others, he said, are cloud computing, collaboration and old standbys, command and control. This isn’t your father’s DISA anymore.”
2. Information sharing: cybersecurity’s boon. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “President Barack Obama released a legislative plan Tuesday to boost the nation’s cybersecurity posture by incentivizing information sharing between the private and public sector and establishing new tools for law enforcement. . . . The centerpiece Tuesday was a push to reinvigorate cybersecurity legislation first proposed in 2011. At that time, legislative efforts stalled due to concerns over information sharing and consumer privacy.” See also from Nextgov, “Obama thinks cyberthreat sharing is ready for comeback.”
3. IBM’s super-duper powerful computer. Venture Beat’s Daniel Terdiman reports, “IBM today unveiled its z13 mainframe, a computer system it says is the most powerful and secure ever built. Made to process 2.5 billion transactions a day, the z13 is said to be the first computer system to enable real-time encryption of any and all mobile transactions at scale. The system also comes with embedded analytics tools meant to offer real-time data on all transactions. All together, the z13 is geared towards large-scale retailers who want the ability to power huge numbers of transactions, and analyze them for fraud.” Wired’s Davey Alba asks, “Why on Earth Is IBM Still Making Mainframes?”
4. New DIA Head: Maj. Gen. Vincent Stewart. DoD News’ Terri Moon Cronk reports, “The first Marine Corps officer to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency will take command later this month . . . . Maj. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart will be promoted to lieutenant general just prior to assuming command of the agency in a Jan. 23 ceremony at DIA’s Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling headquarters here . . . . In addition to being the first Marine to hold the position, he added, Stewart will be DIA’s first African-American commander.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Damnable civil liberties. “President Obama’s attempt to overhaul online security policy is meeting resistance from civil libertarians, including Democratic lawmakers, who want to couple the cybersecurity push with languishing reforms to the National Security Agency. The White House is aiming to convince private companies to share more information with the federal government as part of its plan to crack down on cyberattacks. But many in the president’s own party see the two topics as inextricably linked. The president and his spokesman Tuesday scrambled to differentiate the debate about government surveillance programs from its calls for greater collaboration in warding off cyber threats.”
2. Accentuating the positive. “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a meeting between congressional leaders and President Obama at the White House Tuesday was productive, saying they discussed ‘several areas where I think we can make some bipartisan progress.’ The new leader said the president and Republicans found common ground on trade fast-track authority, cybersecurity and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ‘We spent our time largely talking about the things that we agree on . . . . We don’t want to use the fact that there is an election coming up as a rationale for not making some progress.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “When the camera lies: our surveillance society needs a dose of integrity to be reliable.” Homeland Security News Wire contributors Joshua Gans and Steve Mann argue, “There is . . . a need to resolve the lack of integrity in our surveillance society. . . . But unless we start establishing principles on these matters, we will be perpetuating a lack of integrity regarding surveillance technologies and their uses.”
2. “Collection and Analysis: Two Sides to the Coin.” Security Week contributor Joshua Goldfarb argues, “It’s important to remember that big data involves two equally important but somewhat diametrically opposed interests—collection and analysis. Both aspects are important, but they have a tendency to work against each other if not properly aligned strategically.”
3. ONE TO CONSIDER: “Charlie Hebdo fallout: Specter of fascist past haunts European nationalism.” Reuters contributor Jacob Heilbrunn argues, “The demons that European leaders tried to suppress after 1945 are back. It won’t be easy to exorcise them.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Global warming.
