FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Cleared case law. Contributor Ashley LaGanga shares, “In one case, the clearance applicant was a native U.S. citizen who, during the course of her work as a Top-Secret-level DOD contractor, met and married an Israeli man. The two met online and following several visits to the U.S. to meet, the couple married. Afterward, the applicant sponsored her spouse’s application for U.S. permanent residency. The court allowed the applicant to maintain her security clearance, finding that her foreign husband did not pose a threat. The court identified several factors for its finding . . . .”
Clear benefits. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “In a recent ClearanceJobs survey of defense industry professionals, 85% of men and 74% of women said they expect a pay raise in 2015. Of those expecting a pay raise, 34% expect a three to four percent pay raise. Thirty one percent expect a five to seven percent pay raise. In addition to higher-than-average pay, there are several other benefits of pursing a job using your federal security clearance. Here are just a few . . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
ISIS on the offensive: two-pronged attack. Reuters’ Tom Perry and Sylvia Westall report, “Islamic State fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian government and Kurdish militia overnight, moving back onto the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces near the capital of their ‘caliphate’. After recent losses to the Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, Islamic State sought to retake the initiative with attacks on the Kurdish-held town of Kobani at the Turkish border and government-held areas of Hasaka city in the northeast. In a separate offensive in the multi-sided Syrian civil war on Wednesday, an alliance of rebels in the south of the country also launched an attack with the aim of driving government forces from the city of Deraa.” See also, “Islamic State group storms northeast Syrian city of Hassakeh” and “Islamic State suffers losses in provincial home of the ‘caliphate.’”
Closing Gitmo: a special report. Defense One’s Molly O’Toole reports, “The outlines of how to close Guantanamo have existed for a decade. While Obama has said holding detainees indefinitely without charges is anti-American, to convince skeptics administration officials insist the remaining worst offenders who cannot be prosecuted or transferred abroad would be moved to a maximum security facility in the U.S. McCain and others want the military to hold them, and as enemy combatants. ‘There are people in Guantanamo Bay who cannot and should not be released because they will return to the terrorist fight,’ Carter said this week. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey has said the same.”
Kabul attack: Haqqani + ISIS. Afghan Zariza reports, “The complex terrorist attack on the parliament in Kabul was carried out by the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network with support from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. Abdul Haseeb Siddiqui, the spokesperson of National Directorate of Security (NDS), told the Pajhwok News Agency on Wednesday that the attack was jointly orchestrated by Maulvi Sherin, senior commander of Haqqani Network and the ISI officer Bilal in Peshawar city of Pakistan.” See also, “NDS says ISI was behind recent Kabul attack.”
Nuclear dealing. Reuters’ Kevin Krolicki, Lesley Wroughton, and Warren Strobel report, “A group of prominent American security advisers, including five with ties to President Barrack Obama’s first term, warned on Wednesday that a deal on curbing Iran’s nuclear program was at risk of failing to provide adequate safeguards. In an open letter, the group of former U.S. officials and foreign policy experts cautioned that an Iran nuclear deal would ‘fall short of meeting the administration’s own standard of a ‘good’ agreement’ unless it included a tougher line on United Nations nuclear inspections and conditions for sanctions relief.”
CONTRACT WATCH
DHS seeks stand-off bomb detection. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. government explosives-detection experts are reaching out to industry for ideas on how to protect government facilities from car bombs with bomb detector technology that finds explosives concealed in or on vehicles from safe standoff ranges. Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington released a solicitation Monday for the Standoff Explosives Detection on Vehicles (SED-V) component of the Standoff Explosives Trace Detection program.”
Smart acquisition. Government Executive’s Ron Ash reports, “Forward-looking agencies are not simply improving the acquisitions function, they are strategically aligning acquisitions with the organizational strategy, creating holistic business units focused on a highly engaged workforce, total cost of ownership and predictable outcomes. Taking three major steps can help agencies fundamentally transform federal acquisition . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
DoD open for hackers. Defense News’ Joe Gould reports, “The Defense Department is struggling to apply software patches for known vulnerabilities in a timely way, leaving systems open to hackers . . . . Instead of daily network hygiene, problems are being dealt with on an ‘episodic’ basis, said Army Lt. Gen. Mark Bowman, the Joint Staff J6, and director or command, control, communication, computers/cyber . . . . ‘When Microsoft or Adobe comes out with a patch, the bad guys are using that stuff too, so they know where the vulnerable areas are,’ Bowman said. ‘We have these combatant command readiness checks, and it appears to be an episodic thing, where a whole lot of work goes on when you’re getting ready to be inspected.’”
Government log-in credentials exposed. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Recorded Future has identified the possible exposures of login credentials for forty-seven U.S. government agencies across eighty-nine unique domains. Recorded Future says that as of early 2015, twelve of these agencies, including the Departments of State and Energy, allowed some of their users access to computer networks with no form of two-factor authentication.”
Rogers on China hack: assumptions. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “The U.S. military’s top cyber warrior says it’s merely an ‘assumption’ that the Chinese government was behind the recent hack at the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM — and not necessarily one he shares. That puts Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, in opposition to unnamed sources within the U.S. government who blamed Beijing in June 4 interviews with the New York Times and Washington Post.” See also, “NSA’s Rogers Won’t Say China Did OPM Hack.”
Space race: satellite net. Quartz’ Tim Fernholz reports, “In the next two years, we’ll find out if entrepreneurs driven by human betterment—one looking up at the heavens and humanity’s future, the other looking down to the earth’s neediest—can share a shot at creating the next big space product. The two contenders, Greg Wyler’s OneWeb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, both say that within the next three years they will build, launch and operate hundreds, if not thousands, of satellites flying in a low orbit around the earth to provide broadband internet. It’s an ambitious attempt to double the number of satellites orbiting earth—and succeed at a business that tends to break companies.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Not in my house. “President Barack Obama took on a heckler head-on at a gay pride month reception at the White House Wednesday, scolding the protester for being disrespectful in ‘my house.’ The heckler had interrupted Obama’s remarks by protesting the detention and deportation of gay, lesbian and transgender immigrants. The president responded, ‘Hold on a second.’ When the heckler persisted, Obama, flashing an exasperated look, countered, ‘OK, you know what?’ Wagging his finger and shaking his head, Obama said, ‘No, no, no, no, no,’ repeating the word more than a dozen times.”
Boehnered. “Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies are charging ahead with their effort to punish conservatives who have been a thorn in leadership’s side — a purge that is roiling the GOP conference. The latest victim is Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, who could be stripped of his title as GOP freshman class president on Thursday morning. Boehner allies have been retaliating against rank-and-file members who voted against a procedural motion earlier this month, nearly derailing a major trade package favored by Republican leaders that is set to clear the House on Thursday.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“To defeat the Islamic State, the U.S. will have to go big.” Washington Post contributors Michèle Flournoy and Richard Fontaine argue, “Most Americans regret having permitted al-Qaeda to establish a sanctuary in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Years from now, we do not want to look back with regret at this time, when the Islamic State is creating its own havens. In Iraq, we have imperfect and disorganized partners, but they are partners nonetheless. Now is the time to intensify our efforts to help lead them in a common campaign to defeat the Islamic State.” See also, “How to defeat the Islamic State.”
“Germany’s assumptions about peace and power are out of sync with reality.” Reuters contributor Lucien Kim argues, “For Merkel, it’s convenient to let the United States play the bad cop by threatening to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine and hatching plans to station heavy arms in NATO countries in Eastern Europe. Germany, meantime, can continue being the good cop by advocating dialog and talking peace. The danger is that the Minsk process has gone nowhere, with the top international negotiator, Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, quitting this summer.”
“A Dilemma of a Deal.” US News contributor James S. Robbins argues, “Given the complex and interconnected nature of the various sanctions the United States has levied on Iran to date, it is critical for the White House to make clear exactly which sanctions are eligible for relief under the proposed nuclear deal – and provide a rationale for why this is the case. After all, Iran has made no effort to curtain its support for terrorism, slow the pace of its ballistic missile development or improve its horrific human rights record. It only stands to reason that it should not be rewarded for things it has not done.”
