A Soldier’s Story, Clapper Testifies, and CIA Takes on Cyberespionage

Friday Finale & This Time Last Year

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. The CIA, the Congo, and the little girl. Contributor Charles Simmins tells the story: “The girl soon realized that she had better distract the three men or else. She got out of bed and spoke to them in Langala. She offered to help them locate valuables, all the while warning them that the Americans had magic ways to identify those who harmed their citizens and that those people were always killed . . . .”

2. Targeted status messaging. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “Conventional wisdom may be that a status message should be broad—broad enough to engage any potential recruiter or job seeker. But . . . a status message meant for anyone in the security-clearance community is not likely to appeal to anyone. If you’re only looking for a certain type of position or candidate, make sure that’s clear in your status updates. Also keep in mind that on an exclusive, niche site like ClearanceJobs.com, your status messages are even more targeted.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. A Soldier’s story: wounds that don’t heal. LA Times’ Alan Zarembo relates, “In the early afternoon of June 28, 2007, they were riding in the same Humvee when insurgents in southern Baghdad ambushed their convoy. Five soldiers under Sulham’s command were killed. Now, nearly seven years later, Reyes had tracked Sulham down in Florida to make a confession: One of the soldiers, his friend Spc. Shin Woo Kim, hadn’t died at the hands of the enemy. Reyes said he had to tell the truth. He had accidentally shot Kim. . . .”

2. China’s islands in the stream. Breaking Defense’s Colin Clark reports, “What began with a tiny artificial island built by China to stake a concrete claim in the South China Sea is fast on its way to becoming 600 acres of at least seven islands spread across the South China Sea. One of the most impressive is so-called Fiery Cross Island, the permanent structure above complete with an air strip and, perhaps, the ability to permanently station advanced weapon systems there to patrol the skies and seas. Sen. John McCain made a point of asking Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about the Chinese actions just before the end of this morning’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats, calling the Chinese actions ‘a rather dramatic change.’” See also, “Admiral Says China Outnumbers U.S. in Attack Submarines” and “Chinese diplomat tells West to consider Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine.”

3. Clapper testifies on threats. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “. . . it’s not just the Islamic State that’s hard to pin down – Clapper also said the Russian cyber threat was ‘more severe’ than the intelligence community had assessed prior. China is aggressively expanding into the South China Sea. Libya has become a terrorism magnet, currently harboring anywhere from six to eight terrorist groups, in addition to ISIS, ‘because it’s ungoverned.’ And Turkey did not take seriously the issue of foreign fighters crossing through their border into Syria and Iraq, an problem since 60 percent of the fighters entering Syria to join the terrorist group go through Turkey . . . .” Read Clappers opening statement. See also, “Fight against Islamic State: Is Obama’s ‘lead from behind’ working?”

4. Sequestration and readiness. Defense Media Activity’s Nick Simeone reports, “Funding cuts triggered by the 2011 Budget Control Act have negatively impacted Navy and Marine Corps readiness, leaving sailors and Marines inadequately prepared to fight and increasing the dangers to them if they do, the chief of naval operations told Congress . . . . ‘This means longer timelines to arrive, less time to prevail, if we do, more ships and aircraft out of action when in battle, more sailors, Marines and merchant mariners killed’ . . . .”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Navy’s Tomahawk missile buy. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Munitions experts at the Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN) will build 114 Tomahawk Block IV long-range cruise missiles for the U.S. Navy under terms of a contract announced Thursday. . . . Raytheon won a $139.2 million order last month to build 100 Tomahawk Block IV missiles. Last September Raytheon also won a $251.1 million order to build 231 Tomahawk Block IV all-up-round missiles shortly after U.S. forces fired 40-plus Tomahawks at terrorist targets in the Middle East.”

2. Computer Sciences Corporation set for Fed success. Nextgov’s Frank Konkel reports, “Computer Sciences Corporation has finalized the purchase of North Carolina-based cloud computing infrastructure provider Autonomic Resources. The Feb. 19 deal, for an undisclosed sum, signals CSC’s intent to target the growing public sector cloud market by acquiring a company with a service – Autonomic Resources Cloud Platform – that’s already met some of the government’s toughest cloud security requirements.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. CIA takes on cyberespionage. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is planning to join the growing list of U.S. intelligence and security agencies which have redefined their missions to include cyber operations — in the CIA’s case, cyber espionage. Current and former agency officials say the new effort will be part of the broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work. The shift also reflects the increasing role cyber plays in intelligence gathering, with allies and adversaries relying on smartphones, social media, and other technologies to communicate.” See also, “Cyber Teamwork Between Federal Agencies Still Too Hard, Says Army Cyber Commander.”

2. DARPA’s dive deep into the Dark Web. FierceGovernmentIT’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports, “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to shine light into the ‘dark Web’ the intentionally hidden portion of the World Wide Web which often provides those exchanging information with anonymity and encryption that deters monitoring. The dark Web is used by governments, dissidents, cyber criminals and, increasingly, terrorists. ‘Today in DARPA we are developing some of the tools and technologies that allow us to start seeing patterns of interconnection in that vastness of the Internet,’ said DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar . . . .”

3. Gemalto and the SIM card hack: an update. Wall Street Journal’s Sam Schechner reports, “[Security-chip maker Gemalto NV] confirmed details of the report, saying that hackers had used spoofed emails sent to clients to install software that allowed them to intercept communications. The company said the hackers had also likely managed to access computers in its office network, but not a separate network it used to store SIM-card encryption codes or customer data.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Shutdown showdown: “Senators have scheduled a string of votes Friday morning in an effort to pass a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill ahead of the midnight deadline to prevent a shutdown. The Senate will take up its first vote at 10 a.m., setting the stage for the Senate to take a final vote on a ‘clean’ DHS funding bill Friday that would be stripped of any language defunding or overturning President Obama’s actions on immigration. The House appears poised to separately move a three-week funding bill for the agency. If the Senate agreed to also pass that measure, it would keep the agency funded for three weeks and give House Republicans more time to try to develop a funding bill for the rest of the fiscal year.”

2. Dance-off: “Jeb Bush has defended the motivations of undocumented immigrants, suggested that Republicans should accept a small tax increase in exchange for a much deeper spending cut, saluted Hillary Clinton’s commitment to public service and praised the Wall Street bailout. Now, as the establishment favorite for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he will have to defend those stances and other perceived deviations from conservative orthodoxy. On Friday, the former Florida governor will appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference, taking part in a Q&A with Fox News host Sean Hannity.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “Hybrid war: The real reason fighting stopped in Ukraine – for now.” Reuters contributor Fiona Hill argues, “President Vladimir Putin understands how insurgencies work better than any other Russian leader. We are watching this play out right now in Ukraine.” See also, “Ukraine rebels seen withdrawing heavy weapons front line.”

2. “Kremlin Glorifies Military, Ignores Social Decay.” The Moscow Times contributor Ivan Sukhov argues, “The country continues to celebrate [Defender of the Fatherland Day on Feb. 23 and International Women’s Day on March 8] and for now, the country can go on ignoring the old woman on the commuter train singing ‘Katyusha.’ We can forget about all of them, until it turns out that the powerful country with the heroic past and gloriously festive present exists only on the television screen and nowhere else.”

3. “We’re Letting the Terrorists Win.” US News contributor Jean Card argues, “An emboldened enemy is definitely the worst kind, and right now, the Islamic State group probably thinks it is the varsity team, united, growing stronger and focused on clear goals. Unlike us.”