THREATWATCH
A senior Iranian paramilitary officer was killed in Syria while traversing to Lebanon yesterday, raising suspicions about who — or what — is targeting top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership.
ON THE FORCE
In a hearing today, the House Armed Services Committee’s Emerging Threat and Capabilities subcommittee will hold court in deciding the future direction of U.S. Special Operations Command — and whether or not they will continue to be beholden to the traditional chain of command.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
CNN, with a scoop on John Kerry’s new press secretary:
Secretary of State John Kerry has asked his “old communicator and colleague,” Jen Psaki, to be his chief spokeswoman, a senior agency official confirmed Wednesday. Psaki is only in her 30s but she is an old hand at Democratic message-shaping. She worked with then-Senator Kerry on his 2004 presidential election bid and was President Barack Obama’s deputy communications director. Most recently, she has been senior vice president and managing director with the Global Strategy Group, a Democratic communications company. Diplomats usually measure their words; Psaki doesn’t mince words.
ON TECH
Though the Department of Defense and CIA share goals of decreasing costs and increasing security in the cloud, the two entities are pursuing separate cloud setups that are incompatible. DoD’s setup is a “joint information environment”, whereas CIAs is an “intelligence community information technology environment.” The Intelligence and National Security Alliance says, ideally, DoD and CIA will work together “to de-conflict opposing perspectives” as they pursue their cloud plans.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
John Felker has been named vice president of cybersecurity at SCI Consulting Services. Based in McLean, little is known about SCI, other than their inestimable influence in the world of cyberspace warfare operations.
CONTRACT WATCH
Lockheed Martin’s top information operations and space operations executives are departing the venerable defense behemoth with a cool 1.2 million each — and that’s before the money the IRS was forced to give back for an error.
Robert Caruso is a veteran of the United States Navy, and has worked for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Business Transformation Agency and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
