Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Secret scandals. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “The U.S. Secret Service, a part of the Treasury Department, has responsibility for protecting the President, his family and many other important officials. The 3,200 agents and 1,300 members of the Uniformed Division have always been considered an elite and admirable group of people. A series of scandals has left this elite group with an image problem. It turns out scandals are nothing new, however. Here is a round-up of some of the biggest Secret Service scandals. . . .”
Debt and clearance. Contributor Sean Bigley advises, “As with any debt, the government has two concerns regarding the security clearance holder: (1) is the debt evidence of a lack of financial responsibility that would translate to a similar, carefree attitude about protecting classified information; and (2) does the debt increase the clearance holder’s vulnerability to bribery or coercion? To mitigate the first issue, the security clearance holder needs to show how seriously he or she attempted to resolve the financial delinquency before it resulted in the lender being forced to seize secured property to satisfy the debt.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Seaming-up Sunnis and Shias. Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “Two examples of what Iraq needs to address the Sunni-Shiite divide are genuine political power sharing and an equitable division of the country’s economic pie. To attain such goals, some Iraq experts say, other nations including the United States will have to put pressure on the Shiite-dominated government. Some also say the US may have to support Sunni tribes directly – perhaps harking back to a 2006 strategy that was instrumental in the near destruction of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the precursor to IS. The Sunni-Shiite divide has hardened as Shiites have consolidated and monopolized power – creating the conditions for IS to seize earlier this month Ramadi, the capital of Anbar and of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland.”
Ash Carter on Asia Pivot. Defense Media Activity’s Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. reports, “America’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific is a continuation of its pivotal role over the past 70 years in helping ensure prosperity in the region, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said . . . . ‘The American approach, for 70 years, has been one which is, first of all, grounded in the values of participation by everyone, and security and prosperity for everyone,’ he said. ‘So that is what the United States has stood for in the region.’ What the rebalance is about, Carter said, is basically helping to keep a security system – not a purely American one, but one of friends, allies and inclusiveness – going, which includes China.” See also, “Civilians emerge as pawns in South China Sea legal chess game.”
Ariha falls in Syria. The Long War Journal’s Thomas Joscelyn reports, “Jihadists in the Jaysh al Fateh (“Army of Conquest”) coalition are claiming victory in the town of Ariha, one of the Assad regime’s last strongholds in the province of Idlib. . . . The jihadists’ capture of Ariha is the latest in a series of stunning advances since late March. The Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham and several other groups announced that they had established Jaysh al Fateh shortly before they stormed the city of Idlib, which served as the province’s capital. Assad’s forces were routed in a matter of days.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Super Cyber Command contract coming (we promise). Nextgov’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “After abandoning last week a $475 million job posting for cyberattack and network defense experts, the Pentagon now says a retooled solicitation that takes into account private sector questions will be out by Oct. 1. . . . The Pentagon has set a goal of reaching full operational capacity by 2018. That means standing up three types of National Mission Force teams: one dedicated to defending military networks; another poised to aid troops worldwide with military offensives; and the third to repel hacks targeting vital U.S. organizations.
Sub hunters. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) experts are ordering towed-array surface ship sonar systems to enable warships to hunt and attack quiet enemy submarines lurking at a variety of ocean depths. Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced a $27.3 million contract modification on Friday to the Lockheed Martin Corp. Mission Systems and Training segment in Liverpool, N.Y., to build seven TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array (MFTA) sonar systems.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Propaganda and Kremlin Trolls. AP’s Iuliia Subbotovska reports, “Deep inside a four-story marble building in St. Petersburg, hundreds of workers tap away at computers on the front lines of an information war, say those who have been inside. Known as “Kremlin trolls,” the men and women work 12-hour shifts around the clock, flooding the Internet with propaganda aimed at stamping President Vladimir Putin’s world vision on Russia, and the world.”
Getting Autonomous Undersea Vehicles just right. Federal Times’ Amber Corrin reports, “Call it the Goldilocks effect on autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs): Congress is looking to find unmanned underwater systems that aren’t too big, aren’t too small and just right for the job. Lawmakers want to know exactly what that job is, too. . . . Lawmakers are calling on Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to assess the number and types of AUVs needed to most effectively execute naval missions. The language directs Mabus to submit by Feb. 1, 2016 a report outlining what those missions may be, the different AUV classes as well as other undersea sensors and communications systems, and the number of AUVs required in each class.”
Measuring cyber security. Venture Beat contributor Ashok Sankar explains, “It’s fairly standard to count the number of breaches and alerts, as well as downtime resulting from a breach, among other numbers. But does that make any sense? . . . Counting alerts and breaches just doesn’t show the whole picture. So what should you do? Fortunately, there is an insurgent group of qualitative approaches that go beyond mere counting to help organizations understand the true state of their networks. The metrics can include average time to respond, time to repair, and dwell time.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Let me guess. The Hill’s Megan Wilson writes, “Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has resigned from his position as a lobbyist at law and lobby firm Dickstein Shapiro following a federal indictment released Thursday . . . . The Justice Department indicted Hastert on multiple charges, including lying to the FBI and illegally transferring millions of dollars to a victim of undisclosed past misconduct. . . . According to the indictment, Hastert agreed to provide an unnamed individual $3.5 million ‘in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct’ against that individual.”
Practically what? The Washington Examiner‘s Nicole Duran writes, “Biden said Putin will push issues as far as he can, but will pull back if he thinks the fallout is too great. ‘If you look at his behavior, he’s a practical guy’ . . . . Biden pointed to the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran as an example of Putin’s rationalism. Many Putin watchers theorized that Russia would drop out of the negotiations as retaliation for Western economic sanctions against Russian businesses and Putin allies, which were imposed to punish Russia for its aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. Biden dismissed that notion, and said a nuclear Iran is not in Russia’s interest and that given Putin’s penchant for pragmatism, he would stay the course.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“The ‘Modern Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ Still Ride.” US News contributor Eric Schnurer argues, “. . . what’s striking is not so much that the headlines of 2015 were so foreseeable in 2007, but rather that so little progress has occurred over eight years in addressing them.”
“What motivates barrier breakers?” Christian Science Monitor contributor John Yemma argues, “. . . breaking this last gender barrier is not just about gender equality. It is about military effectiveness. Special operations forces like Rangers usually work behind the lines and in civilian environments. The more diverse these units are, the more likely they will be able to derive what the military calls “situational awareness” from the men and women they encounter.”
“Is it possible for passengers to hack commercial aircraft?” Wired’s Kim Zetter argues, “Unless Roberts identifies definitively the vulnerabilities he uncovered and explains how he got into an avionics system then we’re left with unanswered questions. Boeing could clear up these questions by providing more than blanket assurances about the security of its networks, but the company has so far declined to do so publicly.”
