Grill on the Hill, Vets and clearances, and Progress in Syria

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Cleared Vets – move out! Contributor Tranette Ledford explains the advantages and disadvantages of your transition to the suit and tie: “Leaving military service with a security clearance comes with both an advantage and a caution. Cleared veterans have an obvious edge over non-cleared civilians when it comes to landing cleared jobs. But they have a two year window in which to use it. Taking full advantage begins with understanding how clearances are issued and where they have value in order to leverage that information in the job search.”

2. Your clearance and you. Also from contributor Tranette, how to leverage that security clearance in your job search: “Studies show that more than half of civilian employers admit to being in the dark when it comes to understanding the qualifications transitioning service members have to offer. In some cases, this includes security clearances. As security conscious as the nation has become in the post 9/11 environment, many employers have never served in the military. Thus, their understanding of military qualifications may be more limited now than in any other generation.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. In Iran, let’s be adults about this, alright? Reuters’ Fredrik Dahl reports, “Iran’s new proposal to U.N. inspectors is practical and meant to “solve the issue”, an Iranian envoy said before a second day of talks on Tuesday, a hint Tehran may cooperate more with an inquiry into suspected nuclear arms research in the country.”

2. In Syria, gettin’ her done. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Syria is on target to meet a looming deadline to destroy its chemical weapons production equipment, even though inspectors have yet to visit all sites, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, says in a progress report.”

3. In Afghanistan, Men Not At Work. Khaama.Com reports, “Around 1,000 Australian forces are expected to return back to home after the Australian prime minister formally declared the end of Australia’s front line involvement in Afghanistan. . . . the involvement of the Australian forces in Afghanistan was ending, ‘not with victory, not with defeat, but with, we hope, an Afghanistan that is better for our presence here.’” [So, we can start putting periods and commas inside quotation marks again?] Also in Afghanistan, oversight opportunities shrinking.

4. In Syria, forget the chem, let’s do bio. Aljazeera.Com reports, “A polio outbreak has been confirmed among young children in northeast Syria by the World Health Organisation. ‘Out of those 22 being investigated, 10 are now confirmed to be polio type one,’ Oliver Rosenbauer, WHO spokesman, announced in Geneva on Tuesday. Laboratory results were still being awaited on the remaining 12 suspected cases in Deir al-Zor, he said. ‘Of course this is a communicable disease. With population movements it can travel to other areas. So the risk is high for
[its] spread across the region,’ Rosenbauer said.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Healthcare.Gov contractors under scrutiny. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Government contracts with a major vendor building HealthCare.gov drew scrutiny in the past, a 2007 audit shows. . . . This week, lawmakers are expected to hammer CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over the deficient Healthcare.gov when they testify in hearings for the first time since the system’s launch. In yet another snag on Sunday, a network failure at a different contractor, Verizon’s Terremark division, crashed the whole site . . . .”

2. Improved Grey Eagle endures. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Steven Hoarn reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced the successful completion of the first of two U.S. Army endurance demonstration flights using their Improved Gray Eagle unmanned aerial system (UAS). . . . Payload size has also been increased with the Improved Gray Eagle. The Gray Eagle’s 400-pound internal payload capacity has been increased to 540 pounds. The extra internal payload provides growth margin for additional features to be added to the aircraft, including lightning protection, damage tolerance, and a traffic collision avoidance system.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. We’d swear you in, but that doesn’t seem to have an effect. Reuters reports, “More than any previous disclosures from material given to journalists by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the reports of spying on close U.S. allies have forced the White House to promise reforms and even acknowledge that America’s electronic surveillance may have gone too far.”

2. To spy, or not to spy, that is the question. AP’s Julie Pace and Kimberly Dozier explain, “Faced with a flood of revelations about U.S. spying practices, the White House is considering ending its eavesdropping on friendly foreign leaders, a senior administration official said. A final decision has not been made and the move is still under review, the official said. But the fact that it is even being considered underscores the level of concern within the administration over the possible damage from the months-long spying scandal – including the most recent disclosure that the National Security Agency was monitoring the communications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.”

3. A faint cry to Congress. VentureBeat.Com’s Rebecca Grant reports, “Thousands of people protested the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs in a march on the National Mall over the weekend. The organization collected 575,000 printed signatures on a petition and delivered it to Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI). The letter asked members of Congress to repeal Section 215 of the Patriot Act, create a special committee to investigate, report and reveal the extend of the domestic spying, and hold accountable public officials who are responsible for this ‘unconstitutional surveillance.’”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Let the grilling begin: “Medicare Chief Marilyn Tavenner will be questioned Tuesday by the House Ways and Means Committee not only on what went wrong with HealthCare.gov, but also whether lawmakers can trust Obama administration promises to have things running efficiently by the end of November.”

2. Jousting at windmills: “Jay Stamper first came to national attention a decade ago as a political prankster, but he tells David Freedlander his quixotic Democratic campaign for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat is no joke.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. Shut up and color. Aljazeera.Com contributor Jillian C. York argues, “It’s increasingly common for governments to use terrorism charges and national security laws to silence opposing voices.”

2. Why can’t we be friends, jerk? Reuters’ contributor argues, “Though public policy cannot easily address ideological segregation, all is not lost. Restoring the ideological middle ground to Congress is possible if we rethink how we organize our elections.”

3. Women drivers. Time contributor Jasmine Bager explains, “As most of the world now knows, Saudi Arabia is the only country which still forbids women to legally drive. But honestly, most Saudi women didn’t think to change that until the last decade or so. Growing up in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in the 1990s, I never thought that we females should drive. It wasn’t that I was conservative; the answer was much simpler: we never talked about it seriously back then. But people are talking about it now.”