FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCE JOBS.COM

1.  Christopher Burgess, ClearanceJobs.com, hits another nail squarely on the head.  Overclassification of documents:  “The number one problem with respect to government classification systems,” writes Burgess, “is the over classification of information, meaning, information which does not require the heightened level of security (and the attendant expense associated) is incorrectly/inappropriately anointed with a security classification.”

2.  Cuts like a knife. Marc Burgess gives it to us straight – contractors will sacrifice along with everyone else:  “’Contractors are part of any institution,’ Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the Senate panel. ‘We need them — certain skills, certain expertise. But there’s no question that we’re going to have to make some rather significant adjustments, which we are.’”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  New math:  $487 billion + $500 billion = $1.2 Trillion (trillion) in Defense cuts:  For English majors, Karen Parrish of Armed Forces Press makes it simple:  “The Pentagon is maintaining a fiscal balancing act that must eventually teeter into a potentially dangerous loss of combat power.”  For Congress, CJCS Dempsey makes it simple: “’We haven’t decided that it would make our current strategy unfeasible,” he added, “but it would put it at great risk and could make it unfeasible.’”

2.  Don’t turn your back.  ISAF Commander General Joseph Dunford “has warned the international community not to turn its back on Afghanistan. . . . talks with the Taliban would be essential, sooner or later.”

3.  Brother against brother.  Violence reaches the high water mark:  “insurgents have stepped up attacks across the board in recent weeks, bringing violence to among the highest levels of the 12-year war as they seek to weaken the government and security forces. Foreign troops have been pulling back from front-line fighting in preparation for the international coalition turning over full responsibility for security to Afghan units later this year.”

4.  Is this really news?  “Soldier accused of paying for sex”:  “In Texas, Master Sgt. Brad Grimes was charged in military court Wednesday with patronizing a prostitute, conspiring with another soldier to patronize a prostitute, committing adultery and solicitation to commit adultery, according to Fort Hood officials.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  Get “Program Manager” on your resumes, quicklyGovernment Exec’s Charles Clark reports, “Federal agencies are behind private industry in training program managers to reduce costs in today’s worldwide climate of ‘doing more with less,’ according to a survey released at the event by the nonprofit Project Management Institute.”

2.  $22 billion on holdFederal Times’ Jim McElhatton reports that “many of the government’s biggest pending contracts are encountering significant delays.  Among the 20 largest pending contracts, the Army is facing delays in awarding six procurements worth nearly $22 billion combined, according to new estimates from Deltek, a market research firm.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Alexander the Great.  NSA Director Keith Alexander reassures us that liberty is safe, and secure:  “’We do not see a tradeoff between security and liberty. It is not a choice, and we can and must do both simultaneously.’”

2.  It’s all relative, theoretically.  EMC’s RSA CEO Arthur Coviello asks, want to catch more terrorists?  Expose more data.  “The chairman of RSA, the digital-security company best known for its password key fobs, made the case for ‘full visibility into all data’ as essential to detecting and thwarting threats to the cyberworld as well.”  By the way, EMC and RSA are just the initials of founders.  See also, February’s “Stop looking for the hackers and start sharing data about the hack” in Venturebeat.com.

3.  You’re doing what?  The “European Union is up in arms over the NSA’s access to data from Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and other companies. Now, the EU’s justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, has written a letter to the US attorney general asking some very pointed questions about PRISM and other U.S. civilian spying programs.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Not until we see a patternNew York Times’ observes that “two decades of scandals could not persuade Mr. Levin to budge from his decision to support the military brass.  [Senator] Gillibrand says she will try again to get her measure included when the full Senate takes up the defense spending bill. She has done a diligent job of building a bipartisan coalition pressing for more sweeping change, and further debate about the sexual assault problem and its solutions can help strengthen the result when the Senate negotiates a final bill with the House.”

2.  If you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em (for $23 billion).  Josh Hicks of Washington Post reports on Larry Klayman’s latest law suits: “Activist attorney Larry Klayman filed two class-action lawsuits this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking a combined $23 billion in damages. Klayman, who founded the political advocacy group Freedom Watch, filed in response to sweeping National Security Administration surveillance programs that monitor phone data and Internet communications. He claims those efforts violate citizens’ reasonable expectation of privacy, as well as their rights to free speech and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  Still inside the box.  Walter Pincus, Washington Post, reviews an important National Defense University Strategy Study Group (NDUSSG) paper:  “the group emphasized that ‘we know that the military instrument of power is over-emphasized’ in today’s budget and that it is difficult to summon the ‘political will necessary to make the hard choices that are now fairly apparent.’”

1.  Like a chocolate Easter bunnyNational Journal’s James Kitfield asks, “A hollow military again?” and concludes that “the looming postwar drawdown of the U.S. armed forces will prove the most challenging of modern times.”

2.  E.J. Dionne Jr. looks for a balance, but reminds, “The vast majority of Americans were ready to let Washington do almost anything in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, to safeguard us from further harm. The ardent civil libertarians who resisted the Patriot Act were a tiny minority.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  If they could see what you’re doing.

2.  Perpetual body scan.

3.  Ask, Tell.

4.  Remember Lou Grant?

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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.