FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Rocket science (it’s not). Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be among the cleared professionals helping the U.S. on its quest to get to Mars – engineers, security planners and strategic specialists are just a few of the positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory headquarters in Pasadena, Calif. If your mission is to accomplish great things on an amazing team, JPL may be the place for you – here are five other reasons to add the organization to your employer watch list. . . .”
2. Clearance delays, delays, delays. Also from Editor Lindy Kyzer, “When it comes to the factors that delay clearances, multiple issues with adjudicative criteria is the most significant cause of significant delays, according to ODNI’s 2014 report. This means a candidate may have debt, drugs, emotional issues, foreign family members – some combination of one of these 13 guidelines used to establish eligibility. Of the single issues causing significant security clearance delays, foreign influence and financial issues are one and two on the list.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. North Korea’s sub nukes. The Wall Street Journal’s Jeyup S. Kwaak reports, “North Korea appears on track to deploy in four to five years a fully operational submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles . . . . If completed, it will present a fresh, hard-to-detect danger for U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, as well as U.S. troops stationed in the region. North Korea’s naval and missile technologies have come under renewed scrutiny after state media said for the first time Saturday that its military conducted a successful test launch of a new ballistic missile from a submarine.” See also, “North Korean submarines ‘could fire nuclear missiles at America within two years’” and “Taiwan’s Submarine Saga.”
2. Giant alliance: Russia-China wargames. The Los Angeles Times’ Carol J. Williams reports, “Neither Russia nor China has one inch of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, making it an unlikely and provocative venue for their first joint naval war games. The 10 days of maneuvers that got underway Monday will include live-fire exercises in the strategic sea connecting Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The point is lost on no one: A powerful new alliance of eastern giants is flexing its muscles in the very backyard of Western Europe . . . .” See also, “China’s (not so scary) drone army.”
3. Hersh is wrong. Politico’s Adam B. Lerner reports, “Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell on Monday dismissed a report from veteran journalist Seymour Hersh that claims Pakistani officials were harboring Osama bin Laden before his death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs. ‘It’s all wrong,’ Morell told CBS. ‘I started reading the article last night. I got a third of the way through and I stopped, because every sentence I was reading was wrong. The source that Hersh talked to has no idea what he’s talking about.’” See also Hersh’s “The Killing of Osama bin Laden.”
4. Airman’s story. NPR’s Daniel Hajek tells the story: “Roger Moseley had a reputation in the Air Force as an angry young captain. Back in 1980, Moseley was a test pilot instructor. He had a real problem with the ethic back then, which was all about flying higher and faster. He says there were much more important things on the horizon, like the computer revolution.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Army contract conference coming. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Army researchers will brief industry next month on soldier systems technology challenges and future contracting opportunities for the Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (NSSC). Presentations will center on warfighter survivability, sustainability, mobility, combat effectiveness, and quality of life. The NSSC Soldier Innovation Day briefings will be from 7:15 to 11:30 a.m. on 12 June 2015 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Inn & Conference Center, 50 Warren St., in Lowell, Mass.”
2. Fixing defense acquisition. Government Executive’s Alex Haber and Raj Sharma report, “Around the nation’s capital, defense acquisition reform is surely in vogue. . . . Enter Frank Kendall. Just a few short weeks after Thornberry put his stake in the ground, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology released Better Buying Power 3.0. The initiative complements Thornberry’s broad legislative push with a set of tactical recommendations that aim to coax the many stakeholders in the defense sector toward more efficient collaboration and more effective outcomes.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Speech recognition. The Intercept’s Dan Froomkin reports, “The strategic advantage, invasive potential and policy implications of being able to turn spoken words into text are not trivial: Suddenly, voice conversations, historically considered ephemeral and unsearchable, can be scanned, catalogued and archived — not perfectly, but well enough to dramatically increase the effective scope of eavesdropping.” See also, “The Computers are Listening.”
2. Terrorist profiles. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Social scientists and psychologists have not found a personality trait that visibly marks a potential for violent extremism, making it difficult to identify members of a group who may take up arms in support of a common cause. ‘As of now, there is no specific terrorist profile,’ said one expert, who studies violent radicalization. ‘They come in all shapes and sizes.’ Another experts writes that ‘There are no psychological characteristics or psychopathology that separate terrorists from the general population.’”
3. Rogers’ war on hackers. Defense News’ Joe Gould reports, “US deterrents to cyber attacks could include a range of responses, including conventional force and economic sanctions, the chief of US Cyber Command said . . . . Rogers said the primary ways to deter an adversary are either to convince them they will be unsuccessful or that they will ‘pay a price’ for success that ‘will far outweigh the benefit.’ That price may not entirely be in the cyber domain. . . . ”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Trade wars. “The war of words between President Obama and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren escalated Monday, with the White House accusing the progressive lawmaker of leveling ‘false criticism’ against its trade push. After Obama over the weekend accused Warren of distorting legislation that would grant him so-called Fast Track authority, the senator on Monday called on him to make the bill public. The White House countered that Warren already has the ability to read the bill in its current form, saying the administration has set up a private viewing room on Capitol Hill for lawmakers. . . . The White House is trying to tame a revolt from the Left on legislation that would ease Obama’s efforts to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation pact. Trade Promote Authority would allow the deal to go through Congress without amendments.”
2. Kind of in on surveillance. “Mitch McConnell defended his support for the Patriot Act — specifically, a measure allowing a National Security Agency program to collect phone data of Americans. The Senate majority leader called the measure ‘an important tool to prevent the next terrorist attack,’ while pledging to continue fighting for it amid calls for it to be changed. ‘The nation is better off with an extension of the Patriot Act than not, but we’ll see where the votes go,’ the Kentucky Republican said during a Sunday speech at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “North Korea could double its number of nuclear warheads by next year.” Reuters contributor Sharon Squassoni explains, “Today, the only question is how far the North Koreans will go. After three underground nuclear tests (2006, 2009, 2013), multiple missile tests, including some for long-range ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles, and publication of a nuclear weapons doctrine in 2013 (Supreme People’s Assembly law on Consolidating Position of Nuclear Weapons State), North Korea considers itself to be a growing nuclear power unconstrained by any treaty obligations.”
2. “Why NSA surveillance is worse than you’ve ever imagined.” Reuters contributor James Bamford argues, “Until the public fully grasps and understands how far over the line the NSA has gone in the past — legally, morally and ethically — there should be no renewal or continuation of NSA’s telephone metadata program in the future.”
3. “Give Soldiers a Rest.” US News contributor Wendy Troxel and Regina A. Shih argue, “What the military, and society at large, needs to do is give sleep its due by recognizing its importance as a crucial link to physical and mental well-being.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Beagle class.
2. I guess.
