Friday Finale & This Time Last Year

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Foreign influence and clearance. Contributor William Loveridge explains, “Foreign Influence covers an array of conduct, behavior and actions that could reflect negatively on an individual’s ability to protect classified information, including contact with a foreign family member, group or government that could create a heightened risk of foreign exploitation, pressure or coercion. . . .”

2. Moonlighting. Attorney and contributor Sean Bigley advises, “The last few years have been a difficult time to be on the job market. As a result, many people have turned to self-employment or ‘odd jobs’ to pay the bills. . . . For many security clearance applicants, however, an equally pressing question is what to do when the work – whether self-employment or working for someone else – is compensated on a cash basis without any tax reporting.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Training Syrian rebels. Defense Media Activity’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced today that combat training has begun for nearly 90 fighters from the new Syrian forces and that a second group will begin training in the next few weeks. . . . The training for what the secretary called ‘highly vetted individuals’ is led by very experienced trainers and taking place in a secure location . . . .” See also, “U.S. Starts Training Moderate Syrian Rebels.”

2. Politics of insurgency. The Diplomat’s Hekmatullah Azamy and James Weir report, “The relationship between the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL and Da’esh) is emerging as the most influential factor in the future of violent jihadi movements in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region. To date, however, the Taliban finds itself in a bind, able to neither welcome nor resist IS in Afghanistan.” See also, “Al Qaeda’s deputy general manager killed in US drone strike.”

3. Senate Legitimizing Iranian regime. Defense News’ John T. Bennett reports, “The US Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would establish a framework for Congress to examine and potentially vote on any agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Crafted during sensitive behind-the-scenes negotiations among senior Republican and Democratic Senate Foreign Relations Committee leaders and staffers, the bill would set up a 30-day review period of any deal with Iran. It also states Congress would put off votes on any deal until after a June 30 deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach an agreement.” See also, “Iran courting US oil interests in secret talks.”

4. Soldier story: Major Mathew Golsteyn. First Look’s Ryan Devereaux and Jeremy Scahill report, “On September 14, 2011, the CIA sent an alarming message to the Pentagon: a decorated U.S. special operations commando admitted during a job interview with the agency to hunting down and killing ‘an unknown, unarmed’ Afghan man. The claim triggered an investigation that spanned years and saw U.S. Army Major Mathew L. Golsteyn stripped of his Silver Star. While the admission has been reported in the press, the Army’s investigation into the alleged killing has been largely conducted in secrecy. . . .”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. $40 million Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation contracts awarded. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Six of the government’s biggest agencies are on track to vastly improve their cybersecurity postures with the award of the second set of task orders for Group B of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program. The $39 million contract was awarded to Booz Allen Hamilton, one of 17 prime blanket purchase agreement (BPA) holders on the government’s massive cybersecurity effort, led by the Department of Homeland Security.”

2. F-35 flak. Government Executive’s Charles S. Clark reports, “The F-35 joint strike fighter, already the most expensive U.S. weapons system ever, took hits last month from two government watchdogs, but it does not appear to have been thrown off course. . . . The Pentagon watchdog, in an April 27 report on quality management for the F-35 Lightning II being manufactured chiefly by Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, found 61 ‘nonconformities,’ or violations of regulatory requirements affecting engine issues such as software. Oversight by the department’s Joint Program Office was deemed insufficient, and safety requirements were not met in areas such as parts and supplier identification.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Court rules: NSA bulk data collection illegal. Wired’s Andy Greenberg reports, “As Americans wait for Congress to decide next month whether to renew the Patriot Act and the vast NSA metadata surveillance program it’s made possible, a panel of three appellate judges has made the decision on its own: The Patriot Act, they’ve now ruled, was never written to authorize the sort of sweeping surveillance the NSA interpreted it to allow. . . . ‘if Congress chooses to authorize such a far-reaching and unprecedented program, it has every opportunity to do so, and to do so unambiguously. Until such time as it does so, however, we decline to deviate from widely accepted interpretations of well‐established legal standards.’” See also, “Appeals court rules that NSA phone surveillance program is illegal,” “NSA’s phone spying program ruled illegal by appeals court,” and “Court rules NSA bulk metadata collection exceeded Patriot Act’s Section 21.”

2. Warp drive slow down. Forbes’ Ethan Siegel reports, “Humans have a long history of fooling ourselves with bad science; the truth of the matter is that we want to believe. And as great as this new technology would be, it need to be scrutinized properly, subjected to independent tests, reproduced and quantified under a whole slew of conditions. In short, we have to ensure that we aren’t fooling ourselves. And, so long as we want this device to be real, we’re still the easiest people to fool.” See also, “That NASA warp drive? Yeah, it’s still poppycock.”

3. China on U.S. cyberstrategy. Defense One contributor Adam Segal reports, “This week a scholar from the Chinese Academy of Military Science published a short critique of the strategy. Lu Jinghua summarizes the strategy in three words: deterrence, offense, and alliances. As did many U.S.-based analysts, Lu also stresses the importance of the shift to offense in the report. In contrast to analysts outside of China, Lu gives greater weight to the strategy’s emphasis on alliances, highlighting NATO and the Middle East but paying special attention to the revisions of the U.S.-Japan Security Guidelines.”

4. NASA’s drones. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. government researchers are experimenting with what could be the key to ultra-quiet unmanned aircraft for a wide variety of uses ranging from covert military surveillance and reconnaissance to package deliveries that don’t annoy the neighbors. Researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have developed a scale model of what they call distributed electric propulsion, and now are moving to general aviation-scale prototype aircraft with this ultra-quiet UAV propulsion technology.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Mess with Texas. “Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Thursday slammed ‘foolishness’ surrounding the upcoming Operation Jade Helm 15, calling the mobilization of the Texas State Guard in response to the military exercise ‘one of the dumbest things I have ever heard’. . . . ‘I don’t know what’s going on in Texas. I don’t know the paranoia that goes on in Texas, but the people in West Virginia welcome — welcome the Special Forces exercises,’ Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said . . . .”

2. Just doing it. “The White House’s decision to visit Nike’s posh Oregon headquarters to tout the benefits of a massive new trade deal with Asia has human rights activists crying foul and predicting the move could actually cost him votes in Congress. President Obama is furiously trying to win over recalcitrant Democrats and Republicans on the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, a legacy-building trade deal essential to the administration’s elusive foreign policy pivot to Asia. . . . Skeptics also say Obama is shooting himself in the foot with a trip to Nike’s Beaverton, Ore. campus Friday to extol the virtues of free trade.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “3 Reasons the United States Should Invite China to RIMPAC 2016.” The Diplomat contributor Dingding Chen argues, “[A] confident and secure United States should not worry about China’s participation in RIMPAC. It is not a reward for China in the first place, and it will not be a punishment for Beijing should no invitation be extended. It is merely a normal confidence and trust-building activity, made all the more necessary due to the already tenuous U.S.-China relationship.”

2. “Congress’ Flabby Defense Budgets Aren’t Entirely Lawmakers’ Fault.” Defense One contributor Rachel Rizzo argues, “As reconciliation continues over the coming weeks, Congress must make tough decisions. To say a narrower, more clearly defined defense strategy from the White House would solve the budget impasse is a stretch. It would, however, be a good place to start.”

3. “President Is Not an Entry-Level Job.” US News contributor Susan Milligan argues, “The idea that someone who ran a major company can be president, as though the nation were just another multinational corporation to streamline and manage, is absurd. It’s like bringing a winning basketball coach in to fix what ails the New York Jets: It will definitely create a disruption (which can be useful), but it’s not going to make the situation any better.”

THE FUNNIES

1. Passion aggression.

2. Happy Mother’s Day.

3. Congrats, grads.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.