Friday Finale & This Time Last Year

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

Dear Bigley . . . Security Clearance attorney Sean Bigley advises, “Buying an overseas vacation home would not have resulted in a categorical revocation of his security clearance, but it certainly would have created problems. Our experience dealing with overseas property owners has been that the onus is essentially on the clearance holder to prove that the property does not result in a heightened risk of foreign influence or coercion – not the other way around. Such a heightened risk could be brought about by the identity of the country, the value of the property relative to the clearance holder’s U.S.-based assets, and other ties with the foreign country that the clearance holder will inevitably develop by regularly traveling there to enjoy the property.”

Cleared case law. Contributor Ashley LaGanga shares, “In one case, a female applicant was married to a Cuban citizen, who at that time was residing legally outside the U.S.  After four years of marriage, the couple split and the applicant entirely cut off contact with her ex-husband and former in-laws.  At the time of her appeal, she had no contact with them for over one year.  The court approved her security clearance, stating that she had refuted the allegations of foreign influence because ‘the nature and extent of Applicant’s foreign contacts were greatly attenuated after her divorce.’”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

Terror attack in France. AP reports, “A French security official says an attack and explosion at a gas factory in southeastern France has left one person dead. . . . the dead person was found decapitated outside the entrance to the factory. France’s top security official was rushing to the scene. The official said two attackers arrived in a car, bearing banners written in Arabic, and set off an explosion. One of the attackers was arrested.”

Preserving our nuclear option. Defense Media Activity’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “Ongoing nuclear upgrades by Russia, China and North Korea make it critical for the United States to maintain a strong nuclear deterrent force now and far into the future, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told a House panel . . . . Work said a nuclear attack is the only existential threat to the nation and that the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter such an occurrence.”

In detail: Pakistan’s Balochistan Liberation Front. The Diplomat’s Karlos Zurutuza reports, “Their existence is palpable across locations of every size in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The initials of the several Baloch insurgent groups sprayed on brick walls and mud houses across the country’s southernmost region remind us of an insurgent movement the world still knows little about. The Baloch live in a vast territory the size of France boasting enormous reserves of gas, gold and copper, as well as untapped sources of oil and uranium, yet one that is criss-crossed by the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.”

Marines’ afloat forward staging bases. Defense News’ Hope Hodge Seck reports, “Marines are eyeing new alternative shipping platforms to solve an emerging problem: how to bring Marine units in the Pacific together quickly in the event of a crisis. A planned move of thousands of Marines from the Japanese island of Okinawa to other locations throughout the Asia-Pacific region will make the Corps more regionally capable, but create an ‘aggregation challenge’ to major contingency operations, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford told lawmakers at a Washington, D.C., event hosted by the Shipbuilding Caucus Thursday morning. One possible solution: position new ships like the afloat forward staging base in key locations, ready to transport lots of Marines quickly.”

Hezbollah equipped by Uncle Sam. The Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss report, “A video released on a YouTube account linked to the Popular Mobilization Committee or the “People’s Mobilization Units” (PMU), a coalition of largely Shiite militia forces, shows a montage of Hezbollah Brigades footage from its operations in Iraq’s Anbar province. In the video, the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization is seen operating an array of US military hardware, including M113 armored personnel carriers, HUMVEEs, and artillery. It is unclear how old some of the footage is, but some of the scenes are taken from more recent official releases from the Shiite militia.”  

CONTRACT WATCH

General Atomics’ Reaper mod for Europe. DoD Buzz’s Brenan McGarry reports, “Drone-maker General Atomics is upgrading the bigger version of its Predator-series unmanned aircraft so it can fly across European skies by 2019 . . . . The San Diego-based company said the enhanced Predator B — known in U.S. Air Force parlance as the MQ-9 Reaper — will be able to soar as high as 50,000 feet for more than 40 hours at a time, thanks to new fuel-economy features such as a 79-foot wingspan and winglets.”

Agile delivery services blanket purchase agreement. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Solicitations close June 26 for 18F’s agile delivery services blanket purchase agreement (BPA), which, when finished, will enable agencies to buy services for agile development projects in an agile way. The Agile BPA being piloted at 18F — a division of the General Services Administration created to help agencies with software development — will include some 20 vendors with a proven ability to facilitate rapid code development and deploy functional software through an iterative approach.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

Clapper names China in hack. Breaking Defense’s Colin Clark reports, “Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified China today as ‘the leading suspect’ in the two sweeping hacks of the Office of Personnel Management, one day after NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers dodged the issue. In Clapper’s first answer to a question about who is responsible for the OPM hacks, he laid the blame squarely on China. ‘On the one hand — please don’t take this the wrong way — you’ve got to salute the Chinese for what they did,’ Clapper said. Then, when he was pressed for a direct answer — were the Chinese responsible for the OPM hacks — he sort of backed off, saying they are, ‘the leading suspect.’” See also, “NATO must prepare for hybrid cyber threats.”

Video chat warfare. Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “Picture messaging and video chat technology similar to Skype or Apple’s FaceTime could soon enable U.S. troops to accompany Iraqis on patrol — at least virtually. The U.S. military is already testing the idea in Afghanistan, said Steve Weiler, who directs requirements for the Joint IED Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO. . . . The setup is similar to videoconferencing equipment used by medics in austere locations to communicate remotely with doctors . . . .”

Jet packs are here. Reuter’s Jim Drury reports, “The world’s first commercially available personal jetpack should go on sale to customers next year, at a cost of around $150,000. The Martin Jetpack has been developed over the past 35 years, the dream of then university student, New Zealander Glenn Martin. Tests in New Zealand of the initial prototype in 2011 saw the manned jetpack successfully fly at least 1,000 meters off the ground before landing via parachute. The improved version, the P12, was on display at last week’s Paris Airshow – along with a simulator allowing the public to experience the Jetpack for themselves.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

Go ahead and gloat. “In a major victory for President Obama and his health-care reform law, the US Supreme Court on Thursday agreed with the law’s supporters that the statute authorizes billions of dollars in tax credits through health-care exchanges, regardless of whether they were set up by a state or the federal government. In a 6-to-3 decision, the high court acknowledged that the counterarguments in the case were ‘strong,’ but that a ‘fair reading of the legislation demands a fair understanding of the legislative plan.’ ‘Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,’ Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.”

Definition of insanity. “House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that the GOP will keep trying to repeal Obamacare, after a Supreme Court ruling that upheld subsidies to people using the federal insurance exchange and basically left the law intact. ‘Obamacare is fundamentally broken, increasing healthcare costs for millions of Americans. Today’s ruling doesn’t change that fact,’ Boehner said. ‘Republicans will continue to listen to American families and work to protect them from the consequences of Obamacare.’ ‘And we will continue our efforts to repeal the law and replace it with patient-centered solutions that meet the needs of seniors, small business owners, and middle-class families,’ he said.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

There’s no such thing as a lone wolf in cyberspace.” Reuters contributor Gabriel Weimann argues, “The war on terrorism — especially on lone-wolf terrorism — requires new countermeasures. But also a well-defined set of rules and guidelines.”

You can’t defeat ISIS with Facebook.” The Daily Star (Lebannon) contributor Rami G. Khouri argues, “Rarely has amateurism in American foreign policy in the Middle East been as glaring and shocking as it has been in the past year with regard to Washington’s policy toward ISIS. . . . The world’s most powerful country should snap out of its analytical silliness and political dishonesty, and admit that this kind of dark dynamic tearing apart the Arab world cannot be fought with Facebook ‘likes.’”

A US military option against Iran: A vanishing idea.” The Jersusalem Post contributor Gideon Sa’ar argues, “. . . the Obama administration’s intense desire to reach an agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue, in addition to the administration’s perceived need to respond to the criticism leveled against it following the Lausanne understandings, has led it to sharpen the rhetoric invalidating the military option against Iran.” See also, “Iran is about to become the biggest free-for-all since the Soviet collapse.”

THE FUNNIES

BFFs.

Manual labor.

Hillaries.

Related News

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.