FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. It’s not about the money, but . . . . Contributor Tranette Ledford has it right – salary matters: “A quick scan of the job posts requiring a security clearance proves that employers increasingly value veterans. But when it comes to your own financial interests, consider the areas of expertise that currently come with the highest salaries.”
2. Look like a serious, experienced professional. Being you is important, unless it means blue jeans, t-shirts and Tevas. Contributor Diana Rodriguez explains, “In the traditionally conservative world of defense contracting, and many federal agencies, flashy, trendy, revealing clothing are almost always unsuitable; and usually strongly discouraged. Clothing that is distracting may cause co-workers to feel awkward, and is probably not the best choice. When selecting work attire, it is best to consider practicality and functionality before stylishness.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Sixteen minutes of clarity on Syria. Last evening, the Commander-in-Chief (and his speechwriters) made every word count. Reuters reports, “In a speech of only 16 minutes, Obama gave perhaps the most coherent expression of his Syria policy to date following weeks of muddled messages by his administration as opposition to a U.S. military strike mounted. ‘If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons,’ said Obama. ‘As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and using them.’” Read the full speech transcript.
2. Syria – a land with no accountability. Aljazeera.Com reports, “UN human rights investigators have in their latest report on the Syria conflict accused both sides of committing war crimes. . . . Opposition forces, including foreign fighters, have committed war crimes including executions, hostage-taking and shelling civilian neighbourhoods, the report added. ‘The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability. Referral to justice is imperative,’ the UN commission of inquiry, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, said.”
3. A waste of diplomatic efforts: Russia rejects U.N. sanctions with consequence. AP’s Sylvie Corbet reports, “The plan for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons, initiated by Russia, appeared to ease one diplomatic stalemate only to open up new potential for impasse as Moscow rejected U.S. and French demands for a binding U.N. resolution with ‘very severe consequences’ for non-compliance.”
4. In Egypt, crackdown on crackpots – Egypt bars unlicensed Islamist preachers. Reuters’ Yasmine Saleh reports, “Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques in the latest move against sympathizers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi . . . . Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the clerics lack licenses to preach and were considered to be fundamentalist and a threat to the Egypt’s security.”
5. Pakistan will release Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. AP’s Munir Ahmed reports, “Pakistan has decided to release the most senior Afghan Taliban prisoner it is holding and could do so as soon as this month to jumpstart the struggling peace process . . . . Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai welcomed Pakistan’s decision to set Baradar free, saying ‘we believe his release will help the Afghan peace process.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. RFP-EZ – don’t miss it. GovExec.Com covers government contracting made simple: “A new crop of solicitations has been posted in the past few weeks to the government’s startup website for simplified government contracting RFP-EZ. There were 15 solicitations on RFP-EZ Monday afternoon, including one for a new mobile application to help the U.S. Marine Corps communicate with marines and recruits and one for a new health promotion Web tool for the Health and Human Services Department.” Visit RFP-EZ and see for yourself.
2. $80 million 3M contract for Leatherneck helmets. The helmets will provide 50% more protection. StarTribune.Com’s Dee DePass reports, “The contract means the Maplewood-based conglomerate better known for making Scotch tape and Post-it notes will manufacture 77,000 rugged combat helmets with 50 percent more protection than Marine helmets currently in use. 3M begins delivering the helmets this fall, and Marines are scheduled to get them early next year.”
3. Super Tuesday: $311 million awarded yesterday. The Motley Fool reports, “The Department of Defense issued nine new contracts on Tuesday worth $311.2 million in total. Most of these contracts went to privately held companies for services such as temporary medical staffing, storing and transport of soldiers’ privately owned vehicles, and maintenance. But there were still a few noteworthy contracts let to publicly held companies.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA’s meta-data gorge-fest. Belch. Wired.Com contributing triumvirate Kravets, Zetter, and Poulsen report, “What happens when a secret U.S. court allows the National Security Agency access to a massive pipeline of U.S. phone call metadata, along with strict rules on how the spy agency can use the information? The NSA promptly violated those rules — ‘since the earliest days’ of the program’s 2006 inception — carrying out thousands of inquiries on phone numbers without any of the court-ordered screening designed to protect Americans from illegal government surveillance.
The violations continued for three years, until they were uncovered by an internal review, and the NSA found itself fighting to keep the spy program alive.” Also on the NSA: “Too big for anyone to understand.”
2. The new iPhone(s) – early evaluations are positive. VentureBeat.Com contributor Jolie O’Dell offers, “Of these two devices, we actually found the cheaper 5C a greater pleasure to handle. Its gorgeously smooth plastic surface made us feel like we were caressing some mythical sea creature, silky and cool.” But, according to reports, the Chinese aren’t impressed: “Despite being among of the first to receive the new Apple models, Chinese netizens still feel cheated over both price and size.” Finally, TheVerge.Com reports, “It’s a cheaper iPhone, but not a cheap one.”
3. Blackberry’s demise on the horizon. Reuters covers WSJ’s report, “Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd cut several dozen jobs from its U.S. sales team on Monday . . . . BlackBerry, which has bled market share to rivals including Apple’s iPhone and phones using Google’s Android technology, said last month it was weighing its options, which could include an outright sale.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Continuing cakewalk. “Continuing Resolution” – now that’s a oxy-moron-ic. DefenseNews.Com with the details: “A US House panel introduced legislation to avert a government shutdown by funding the Pentagon and other federal agencies at fiscal 2013 levels until mid-December. With the Senate unable to pass appropriations bills, a stopgap funding measure called a continuing resolution will be needed to keep the federal government operating beyond Sept. 30. The GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee’s bill would fund the Defense Department and other agencies through Dec. 15. For the Pentagon, that means its many accounts and programs would continue to receive the same amounts of monies they got in 2013.”
2. National security for the insecure. DefenseOne.Com’s Kevin Baron crafts a metaphor: “Like a beach town waiting in eerie angst for a hurricane three days away, it’s a time where seemingly everyone has something to say and none of it makes much difference to what’s about to happen.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. The Obama Doctrine – Stephanie Gaskell takes a stab. DefenseOne.Com contributor Gaskell argues, “After more than a week of press conferences, congressional hearings and debate about the war in Syria, Obama has laid out his clearest reasoning yet for Syria. Yet, his speech was full of contradiction, reflective of the dueling goals of a nation still reeling from 9/11.”
2. Syria’s chemicals – a “real and immediate threat.” Israel’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) report “bolsters one of the White House arguments in favor of military action against the Assad regime, cites the ‘realistic’ possibility of Syria transferring chemical weapons to allied terror groups, including but not limited to Lebanese-based Hezbollah.”
3. The U.S. and Iran after an attack on Syria. Aljazeera.Com contributor Geneive Abdo argues, “If President Barack Obama does indeed attack Syria, with or without congressional approval, he will forfeit an opportunity to make headway with Iran over its nuclear programme and risk allowing Tehran once again to reap the greatest benefit from Washington’s military excesses in the Middle East.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Begging?
3. Food for thought processor.
