Insensitive Munitions, FBI Whistleblowing, and Phishing Works

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FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Accounting for drones. Contributor Chandler Harris reports, “The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is eliciting feedback from the public regarding new policies regarding privacy and drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The request comes asmany push for drone privacy laws and increased government accountability. . . .”

2. Auditing intel agencies. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “The 113th Congress existed from January 2013 to January 2015. At the end of March, 2015, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its annual report on its activities. On April 8, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) released their analysis of that report and its contents. . . . Four intelligence agencies had their fiscal 2014 financial statements audited, the CIA, NGA, NRO, and NSA.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Women Rangers: integration. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “Before the Army announced it would take female students at Ranger School this spring, it sent an invitation to about 60 female soldiers. The offer: Come to this massive Army base in western Georgia and be part of the service’s research into which combat assignments should be opened to women. . . . The women chosen are now part of the Army’s historic one-time experiment to allow women to attend Ranger School in the course beginning April 20.”

2. Losing the Arctic. DoD Buzz’s Bryant Jordan reports, “China is conducting Arctic research in an area considered the extended undersea shelf of the United States, while Russia is able to move across the frozen regions in 27 icebreakers. Meanwhile, Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said the United States is practically a bystander in the region.”

3. Air support in Afghanistan. Afghan Zariza reports, “Gen. [Sher Mohammad] Karimi, [Afghan National Army Chief of Staff], said the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are fully prepared to deal with the volatile security situation, however he complained about the limited air support to ANA during the military operations. He said the ANA requires more fighter jets for air support during the military operations against insurgents.” See also, “Afghanistan could face war with ISIS (Daesh), Ismail Khan says.”

4. Agreements with Iran. Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy reports, “For years now, Iran’s nuclear program has been presented as one of the greatest threats to world peace and prosperity. If this argument is to be believed, then the course is clear: finding a way to prevent the creation of an Iranian bomb should trump almost all other considerations. And that’s pretty much what’s happened. But since a tentative deal was struck between Iran and the so-called P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany – many in Washington and Israel have been throwing up new demands to be imposed on Iran before any final accord is signed.” See also, “With Obama’s Backing, Panel OKs Iran Measure.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. CIO-CS: new contracting vehicle awards 65. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Awards were announced Tuesday on the newest governmentwide acquisition contract vehicle, NIH’s CIO-Commodities Solutions (CIO-CS), which provides pre-competed contracts for IT products and services, especially those needed by the health IT community. The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) announced 65 awardees on the new GWAC, set to replace ECSIII. Final orders on ECSIII must be placed by May 9.”

2. Insensitive munitions: that’s good. Washington Post’s Christian Davenport reports, “[T]he Army is involved in a massive effort that would eventually replace those weapons with what are called ‘insensitive munitions,’ which are less susceptible to exploding inadvertently. The technology, developed by BAE Systems, the large defense contractor, uses an explosive that is far more chemically stable and able to withstand extreme heat and outside interference, including getting hit by bullets or shrapnel.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. FBI Whistleblowing: the Robert Kobus story. NPR’s Carrie Johnson reports, “An investigation by the Government Accountability Office recently found the system for reporting whistleblower allegations at the FBI is confusing and burdensome. And FBI workers have fewer protections than federal employees at many other agencies, because of the bureau’s sensitive national security operations.”

2. Cybersecurity strategy cometh. Defense Media Activity’s Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. reports, “The Defense Department will release a new cyber strategy next week to guide the way ahead for cyber in the foreseeable future . . . . Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee, Eric Rosenbach explained how DoD plans to continue improvement to America’s cybersecurity posture.” See also, “US Not Ready To Wage Cyber Attack.”

3. Phishing: you’re biting. Wired’s Kim Zetter reports, “If you work in IT security, you’ve got one minute and 20 seconds to save your company from being hacked. This is not a drill. It’s the median time it takes for an employee to open a phishing email that lands on a company’s network and in their inbox, setting in motion a race to prevent data from leaking. That’s according to the new Verizon Breach Investigations Report, which is due to be released publicly [Wednesday].”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. The price of presidency. “Hillary Rodham Clinton and her support groups are opening a massive fundraising effort to collect an historically-high $2.5 billion to win the White House, according to reports. That amounts to $37.92 per vote in the general election for the Democrat, more than ever spent in a national campaign. The math is based on the votes received by President Obama in his reelection, 65,915,796.”

2. What goes around comes around. “Three months after they voted against John Boehner’s third term as speaker, two Republicans have been removed from a key committee in retaliation for their dissent. The House Rules Committee announced on Tuesday that they have filled two positions temporarily vacated by Reps. Richard Nugent and Daniel Webster, who were taken off the panel after they joined 24 conservative Republicans in voting against Boehner in January. Reps. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., will fill the positions, meaning that Webster and Nugent have been permanently ousted. The two lawmakers served on the Rules Committee in the 113th Congress, but were excluded from the roster approved by lawmakers in the hours after they voted against Boehner.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “The CIA Needs an Iran ‘Team B.’” The Wall Street Journal contributors Michael B. Mukasey and Kevin Carroll argue, “House and Senate leaders of both parties should ask former senior national-security officials to study raw intelligence-reporting on Iran, and direct the administration legislatively if necessary to give them the data needed to make an informed judgment.”

2. “China-US: Avoiding the ‘Improbable War.’” The Diplomat contributor Jared McKinney argues, “Making war avoidable should not be dismissed as a utopian pursuit. The U.S. has chosen to be a colossus that bestrides the world and says stop. But nothing forces it to adopt this position. Realizing that history does indeed wander off on its own, that power shifts, that the status quo cannot be enshrined as holy, and that it is time to build a new consensus with China would permit American statesmen to begin stepping off the road to war and onto the road to peace.” See also, “China growth slowest in six years, more stimulus expected soon.”

3. “A new crisis is brewing between two nuclear-armed neighbors.” Reuters contributor Tom Rogan advises, “India and Pakistan each possess more than 100 nuclear warheads. Their political establishments really don’t like each other. Correspondingly, we should always pay heed to tensions between the two nations. A new crisis is brewing.”