Jordan Retaliation, Ash Carter Confirmation, and NSA Reform

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Tech job and salaries on the rise. Contributor Tranette Ledford reports, “Across all sectors, opportunities for cleared technical careers are on the rise, with salaries matching the upward swing. According to data provided by U.S. News and World Report, the following five cleared technical careers are among the top 25 jobs in the technology industry. . . .”

2. Falling for fake degrees. Security clearance attorney Sean Bigley advises, “Unfortunately, one of the more lucrative target demographics for unscrupulous colleges is members of the Armed Forces, many of whom sacrifice their own educational opportunities to serve our nation. Federal employees and contractors – often requiring advanced, technical degrees for hiring or promotion – can also fall prey to diploma mill scams.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Jordan retaliates without a blink. Reuters’ Suleiman Al-Khalidi reports from Amman, “Jordan hanged two Iraqi jihadists on Wednesday including a female militant in response to an Islamic State video showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive by the hardline group. . . . Jordan, which is part of the U.S.-led alliance against Islamic State, has promised an ‘earth-shaking response’ to the killing of its pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh, who was captured in December when his F-16 crashed over northeastern Syria.” See also, “Jordan executes 2 al-Qaeda,” “Westerners join Kurds,” “Kurdish president: ’we are ready to go into the final war’ against ISIS,” “International Community United Against ISIL, Strikes Making Difference,” and, finally, “One group battling Islamic State has a secret weapon – female fighters.”

2. Ash Carter confirmation pre-game. Defense One’s Gordon Lubold reports, “Republicans in the Senate have made it clear they plan to confirm Carter, who has methodically met with each member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as of Monday. Still, Carter is in for a grilling from Republicans heavily critical of Obama’s foreign policy, several senators have said. As most confirmation hearings go, Carter will likely err on the side of caution, saying just enough to address senators’ concerns while not saying anything that would raise questions about his positions.” See also, “GOP to take on Barack Obama at Ash Carter hearing,” “Carter to Affirm Need for Spending Restraint,” “Ashton B. Carter expected to win easy approval as new U.S. defense secretary,” and “Ash Carter Has One Shot To Keep the Pentagon’s Technology Edge.”

3. Boko Haram threat spreading beyond Nigeria. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “In a communiqué adopted by the peace and security council of the African Union (AU), African leaders are responding to the threat posed by Boko Haram with plans of sending a 7,500-member regional force to northern Nigeria to search for those abducted by Boko Haram and to stop the militant group from spreading beyond Nigeria’s borders and into neighboring Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. The AU, however, has not authorized cross-border operations, a sensitive issue which may be the key to defeating Boko Haram and finding hundreds of kidnapped victims.”

4. Pacific pivot distracted by ISIS, Ukraine. DoD Buzz’s Kris Osborn reports, “The chairman of the powerful House Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee is concerned that current emerging global threats and conflicts will slow down the implementation of the Pentagon’s much-discussed Pacific rebalance. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Virginia, is concerned that Pentagon plans to rebalance to the Pacific could be neglected in light of ongoing military operations against ISIS in the Middle East and continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine.” See also, “Why Washington might be shifting toward sending arms to Ukraine.”

5. National Security Strategy coming Friday. Washington Examiner’s Susan Crabtree reports, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s brutal slaying of a Jordanian pilot and concern about the Obama administration’s strategy to confront the extreme terrorist group are ratcheting up expectations for the White House’s long-awaited national security doctrine. President Obama plans to release the long-overdue document Friday, and counter-terrorism experts are hoping it will outline a robust, multi-pronged approach to fighting the Islamic State.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Budget lessons learned for contractors. Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber explains, “From the outside, the Pentagon’s budget looks relatively similar that the plan the Defense Department laid out one year ago. But upon closer inspection, President Barack Obama’s budget request gives a glimpse into how the military will look decades from now. A number of new research-and-development projects could lead to major, multibillion weapon programs down the road. As such, defense firms are paying close attention to these projects.”

2. Tech acquisition adapts to flat budgets. Federal Times’ Brian Fogg reports, “The fiscal outlook for most federal information technology projects is grim, with declining or at best, flat budgets for the foreseeable future. Under such constraints, federal chief information and technology officers are becoming chief solutions officers (CSOs). They are having to think outside the box about how to approach technology acquisition projects because they are starting to understand the lowest cost may not be the best approach for all technology acquisitions.”

3. John Bean Technologies wins Navy $21 million. Military & Aerospace Technology Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Navy aircraft experts have chosen John Bean Technologies (JBT) Corp. in Ogden, Utah, to design and build a new-generation mobile shipboard power generator for Navy and Marine Corps aircraft based on aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., announced a potential $20.9 million contract Monday to provide as many as 80 new-design shipboard mobile electric power plant (SMEPP) vehicles for Navy ships.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. CIA’s Edwin Hale Sr. The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Steinberg reports, “Edwin ‘Ed’ Hale Sr., a retired bank executive known locally for his sharp-elbowed approach to business, installed video surveillance on his 186-acre farm and still sleeps with a sawed-off shotgun by his bed. His friends, former employees and even his own daughters were shocked to learn in his recently published biography that he had ample reason to do so: The former chief executive and chairman of Bank of Baltimore says he worked covertly for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.”

2. NSA reform. US News & World Report’s Tom Risen reports, “New limits on the NSA will require officials to delete any data from the dragnet collection program that does not meet one of six categories of intelligence. These are counterespionage, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, cybersecurity, countering threats to U.S. or allied armed forces, and to combat transnational criminal threats, according to the report. These limits on the collection and retention of people’s communications are ineffective because they are ‘riddled with loopholes and exceptions’ . . . .” See also, “White House allows NSA’s bulk data collection to continue,” “President Tweaks the Rules on Data Collection,” and “An alternative to NSA bulk surveillance?”

3. Carriers: out with the old and in with the new. Wired’s Katherine Kornei reports, “US Navy sailors and shipyard workers work together to update, clean, and restore nearly every square foot of a carrier: They refuel the nuclear reactors, overhaul living spaces, replace catapult systems used to launch aircraft, and repaint the hull, among other things. . . . With the help of 2,500 sailors and 3,000 shipyard workers, Lincoln is being methodically overhauled.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Netanyahu’s wall flowers. “Vice President Joe Biden won’t commit to attending Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress next month. He’s not the only one. Dozens of House Democrats are privately threatening to skip the March 3 address, according to lawmakers and aides, in what’s become the lowest point of a relationship between the Israeli prime minister and President Barack Obama that’s never been good.”

2. Now that’s progress! “The House has voted to repeal Obamacare for the first time since the law’s major components were rolled out. All but three Republicans present voted to pass the legislation, approving it 239 to 186 on Tuesday. . . . Democrats mocked that provision, noting that Republicans have previously said they’ll vote on their own version of healthcare reform but have been unable to reach agreement on a single plan. The House has voted more than 60 times to repeal or change parts or all of the law, but haven’t voted on a bill to replace the entire law.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “Defending defense spending.” Washington Post contributor Jennifer Rubin argues, “If Republicans are serious both about reform and about prioritizing national security as the first obligation of the federal government, it will do precisely that.”

2. “Vast majority of those who fought Iraq, Afghan wars won’t get pensions.” Reuters contributors Lawrence Korb and Katherine Blakeley argue, “[The military retirement system’s] rigid 20-years-or-nothing approach isn’t just bad for the majority of servicemembers—who may never see a dime of retirement benefits. Denying the Pentagon tools to make sure it has the right number of troops with the right experience in the right roles hurts the U.S. armed forces and U.S. national security.”

3. “9 Résumé Mistakes That Might Cost You a Job.” Fast Company’s Christine Ryan Jyoti explains, “While good old paper may seem passé in the digital age, LinkedIn hasn’t completely replaced the old-fashioned résumé.”