Thirsty Thursday & Happy Birthday Bill!
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. “You’re not real FBI, are you?” Contributor Jillian Hamilton reports, “It’s still a man’s world inside the intelligence community, according to a ‘small but vocal’ group of female whistleblowers from the FBI. They’re alleging discrimination in the ranks, and have garnered the ear of Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley. He asked the director of the FBI about the discrimination in a hearing last year, and now one female FBI agent who was fired is telling her story . . . .” See also, “Former FBI Agent Speaks Out: ‘I Was Not Protected.’”
2. Cyber-tenacity. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Keep building those skills. Many veterans are being sucked into the cybersecurity hype. For good reason – IT-security is an understaffed career category with six figure pay. The problem with that scenario? If you want a high-paying IT career you also need to have the skills to succeed. A cybersecurity certificate may be a start, but you’ll also need to move beyond a C+ certification and DoD 8570 compliance to succeed.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Assad’s grip weakening, perhaps. Christian Science Monitor’s Nicholas Blanford reports, “Having clung to power for four years amid an armed uprising, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is being buffeted by a series of battlefield setbacks that could place fresh strains on its internal cohesion. While there are no indications yet that Mr. Assad plans to drop his hard-line strategy against the armed opposition, a recent flurry of reports of suspicious deaths and disappearances point to possible tensions developing within the regime. If the trend of rebel successes continues – placing ever more pressure on an already exhausted and overstretched Syrian Army – those reported internal stresses might squeeze the regime into finally considering a negotiated settlement . . . .”
2. Getting beyond sexual assault. Defense Media Activity’s Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. reports, “Eradicating the scourge of sexual assault in the military will require strong leaders if the U.S. military is to remain the finest fighting force in the world, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said . . . . the U.S. military is based on trust and an ethos of honor, and that sexual assault is dishonorable. ‘We have to have trust,’ he said. ‘You have to trust the soldier in the foxhole next to you. You have to trust the sailor you’re underway with. You have to have trust the airman on your wing. And you have to trust the Marine on your flank.’ Carter said these [sexual] assaults aren’t just violations of the law, but also are ‘violations of that trust which is essential to our mission.’” See also, “Defense Secretary to Troops: I Need You to Say ‘Enough’ to Sexual Assault.”
3. Blue angel. Christian Science Monitor’s Alexander LaCasse reports, “The first woman who to hold the distinction as a United States Navy pilot with the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Blue Angels, will have an opportunity to fly in front of friends and family at home in June. Marine Capt. Katie Higgins, of Severna Park, Md., is a third-generation military pilot and a graduate of the US Naval Academy . . . . Captain Higgins is not the first woman to have been a part of the Blue Angels; she is one of twenty women on the team but she is the first and only female pilot . . . .”
4. North Korea’s atomic arsenal. Quartz’s Lily Kuo reports, “China’s top nuclear experts believe North Korea may be a much larger and immediate nuclear threat than previously believed. According to the Wall Street Journal . . . , Chinese uranium enrichment experts estimate Pyongyang has 20 nuclear warheads and enough weapons-grade uranium to double that arsenal within a year. The comments, made in a briefing with nuclear experts from the United States, are well above current US estimates of between 10 and 16 nuclear bombs. Sanctions, international condemnation, and negotiations haven’t done much to dent the country’s nuclear ambitions. Pyongyang routinely threatens to nuke New York and turn Seoul into a lake of fire.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Contractors on centralizing purchasing power. Government Executive’s Charles S. Clark reports, “The largest contractors trade organization has asked the House Armed Services Committee to rethink several components of its bill to reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process, opposing in particular a plan to centralize decision-making on whether to buy products on the existing commercial market. . . . Thornberry’s Agile Acquisition to Retain Technological Edge Act is designed to streamline the acquisition process, modernize military technology and enhance workforce training.”
2. Revolutionary IR means many, many millions. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “One of the biggest trends in military night vision these days involves the transition to high-definition (HD) infrared sensors, which will enhance intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and provide big opportunities to infrared lens manufacturers who are tooling up to meet new demand. . . . Users of military surveillance and reconnaissance systems will be able to see more than they ever have before with HD infrared, industry experts say. One likened HD infrared capability to the difference between looking through a paper towel tube, and relatively wide field of view.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Cyber deterrence. Reuters’ Phil Stewart reports, “U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is due to unveil an updated cyber strategy on Thursday that will stress the military’s ability to retaliate with cyber weapons, a capability he hopes will help deter attacks. The strategy presents a potentially far more muscular role for the U.S. military’s cyber warriors than the Pentagon was willing to acknowledge in its last strategy rollout in 2011 and singles out threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. ‘The United States must be able to declare or display effective response capabilities to deter an adversary from initiating an attack,” according to a copy of the document’ . . . .”
2. Army’s ray guns: set laser to stun. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “The U.S Army is currently testing electricity guns for possible use against electronics on the battlefield. . . . The Pulsar takes the explosive energy released when the gun fires and converts it into electrical energy. This is done via the piezoelectric effect, which derives an electric charge when pressure is exerted on crystalline materials such as quartz, changing the balance of positive and negative ions.”
3. Hacker target: Reddy Kilowatt. Headline News Wire reports, “A third of the cyber incidents handled in 2014 by DHS’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team involved energy companies. Oil and gas operators face the greatest cyber risks among energy producers because their projects often involve multiple companies working together, sharing information, and trying to integrate systems. Still, 60 percent of energy companies around the world said they do not have a cyberattack response plan.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Lapdog Lindsey. “Lindsey Graham and John McCain are ‘lapdogs’ for President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, Rand Paul said Tuesday, at once firing back at recent remarks from the hawkish Republicans and seeking to distinguish his defense credentials. ‘This comes from a group of people wrong about every policy issue over the last two decades,’ the Kentucky Republican said in an interview . . . . ‘And these people are essentially the lapdogs for President Obama and I think they’re sensitive about that,’ he said.”
2. Surrogate Hillaries. “Hillary Clinton is uniquely qualified to be president, she’s not much like President Obama, and she most certainly didn’t do anything illegal or improper when she served as secretary of state. At least, that’s what her many surrogates in media are telling reporters. . . . When questions started to pile up regarding Clinton’s use of an unauthorized email server and nondescript private email address to conduct official business when she worked at the State Department, it was up to longtime surrogates, including James Carville and Lanny Davis, to go out and field uncomfortable questions from media.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The Pentagon’s Slush Fund Is Getting Slushier.” US News contributor Ryan Alexander argues, “Let’s be perfectly clear about what the House and Senate are doing: trying to squirm out of the Budget Control Act caps and use national security as a fig leaf for an insatiable appetite for Pentagon spending.” See also, “More Ships, More Missiles, Less Waiting: Rep. Forbes Talks 2016 NDAA” and “House Boosts Funds for Nuclear Submarines, Super Hornets and Amphibs.”
2. “Putin’s Calculated Charm Offensive.” Also from US News, contributor Michael Leigh argues, “As Russia’s economy reels from sanctions following its annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine, Moscow is doing its best to undermine European Union solidarity against Russian aggression.”
3. “Kurdish party makes June polls the most decisive in Turkey’s history.” Rudaw contributor Rebwar Karim Wali argues, “Turkey’s political fate appears to be tied to the June elections, about which several scenarios are being currently speculated. The first is that the Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) would cross the 10 percent threshold and double its 29 seats in the 550-place parliament to nearly 60. If AKP’s other rivals also win more seats, that will mean that the AKP will not only be unable to amend the constitution, it will even need allies to form a government.”
THE FUNNIES
1. No mercy.
2. Scout’s out.
3. Next!
