FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Star FSO – evolving with your company. Contributor Jeffrey Bennett advises, “An FSO should have credibility with the senior management and ability to contribute to a successful growth strategy. They should be able to recommend requirements for hiring and training additional security employees, accurately calculating classified inventory storage and managing classified performance needs. The FSO should be able to address unique contract opportunities such as: classified projects, new facility or alternate locations with new physical security expectation and an increase in classified storage or volume. When the FSO does not have credibility or influence, they will not be prepared to project the growth and will constantly be trying to catch up with the work. Such a posture costs plenty in company overhead.”
2. Position Designation Determination made simple. Contributor Marko “Polo” Hakaama leverages his own experience to navigate the PDD maze: “’Position designation’ is the starting point for determining the type of background investigation needed and when done properly, dictates how closely an individual is screened for a position. A Non-Sensitive Low Risk position designation means that the employee is in a low risk position that does not have sensitive duties involving public trust or national security and does not need access to classified national security information (CSNI).”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Israel rankled at Iran deal. Aljazeera.Com reports, “An agreement for Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions in exchange for the easing of sanctions has sparked a diplomatic row, with the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, calling the deal a ‘historic mistake’. The deal reached between Iran and six world powers in Geneva on Sunday is an interim agreement that many hope is a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old standoff. While it was welcomed in many world capitals, the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said: ‘What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake.’”
2. In Afghanistan, Loya Jirga affirms partnership with America. Khaama.Com reports, “US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the resolution by Afghan elders which was passed during the national grand council (Loya Jirga) regarding the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington. Kerry in a statement following the conclusion of the grand council, called for quick signing of the security agreement between the two nations. ‘I can’t imagine a more compelling affirmation from the Afghan people themselves of their commitment to a long term partnership with the United States and our international partners,’ Kerry said . . . .” Also from Khaama.Com, “Taliban condemn endorsement of Afghan-US security deal.” Finally, “Couple executed for having love affair in northern Afghanistan.”
3. Evolution of civil war in Syria:
a. Islamist Front in Syria. LongWarJournal.Org contributor Lisa Lundquist explains that “a new Islamist group emerged in Syria, a coalescence of seven major Islamist fighting forces in Syria now calling itself the Islamic Front. Estimated to consist of about 45,000 fighters, the group includes the Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Suqour al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Haqq, Ansar al-Sham, and the Kurdish Islamic Front. . . . Notably, several of the groups that repudiated the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition and called for sharia are among those now forming the new Islamic Front: Jaish al Islam, Ahrar al Sham, Suqour al Sham, and Liwa al Tawhid. All four of these outfits frequently fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front and ISIS in Syria. The Kurdish Islamic Front, another member of the new group, has fought alongside the Islamist Ahrar al Sham against Kurdish YPG forces.”
b. Aljazeera.Com reports on Islamist Front fighting, “The latest fighting in the Eastern Ghouta region came against the backdrop of regime advances in the region that have cut rebel supply lines to the capital and its southern districts. Rebels have been struggling to break the blockade by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. . . . the dead included 55 rebel fighters, including seven battalion leaders, and 41 fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the al-Nusra Front.
c. Finally, U.S. influence in Syria fades. Time’s Piotr Zalewski reports, “For those, including the Obama Administration, exasperated with the fragmented, increasingly fratricidal rebel forces pitted against Syria’s strongman Bashar Assad, any consolidation within the insurgents’ ranks would have once come as a welcome development. That time is now gone, however, and that rule no longer holds. . . . With fundamentalists of all stripes effectively sidelining the moderate opposition in Syria, the only thing the West may now fear as much as rebels’ total defeat, it appears, is their total victory.”
4. In AFRICOM, CUTLASS EXPRESS concludes. Specialist Seaman Luis R. Chavez Jr. reports, “The third-annual exercise was conducted across four different operational hubs in waters surrounding Seychelles, Tanzania, Kenya and Djibouti. The scenarios are designed to sharpen tactical expertise on a number of levels and included counter-piracy, counter-illicit trafficking and illegal fishing. Participating nations felt that the exercise was beneficial to improving skill sets that can be used in real-world operations.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Raytheon’s new leadership: George Oliver. GovConWire.Com reports, “George Oliver, CEO of Tyco International since 2012, has joined Raytheon‘s (NYSE: RTN) board of directors, effective immediately. He joined Tyco in 2006 and has served as president of different divisions including safety products, electrical and metal products and fire protection, Raytheon said Thursday. William Swanson, chairman and CEO of Raytheon, said Oliver brings international business knowledge, a technology background and operating knowledge to help the company meet its international goals.”
2. $3.6 million to train the trainers in the Pentagram. NextGov.Com contributor Bob Brewin reports, “The Washington Headquarters Service – which provides overall support to folks who work in the Pentagon – awarded JRogers Consulting of Alexandria, Va., a $3.6 million contract for something called the Advanced Professional Executives Program, or APEX, which is ‘designed to provide newly appointed executives with both a practical and theoretical understanding of the structure and processes of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Combatant Commands, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the military departments.’”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. “’Great Satan’ meets ‘Axis of Evil’ and strikes a deal.” [I can’t beat that title.] Reuters’ special report by Louis Charbonneau, Parisa Hafezi, and Arshad Mohammed: “Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. A black tie charity ball was finishing up and singers with an after party band at a bar above the lobby were crooning out the words to a Johnny Cash song – ‘I fell into a burning ring of fire’ – while weary diplomats in nearby conference rooms were trying to polish off the last touches of an accord. Negotiators emerged complaining that the hotel lobby smelled like beer.”
2. Sharp Sword – China’s new drone. DefenseOne.Com’s Kedar Pavgi reports, “The flight took place mid-afternoon Thursday at a testing center in southwest China . . . . The plane was designed by the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute and built by Hongdu Aviation Industry Group, two Chinese state owned companies that develop military planes. China now joins the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia in an elite group of countries that are making stealth drones.”
3. Look out Mars, here we come. AviationWeek.Com’s Frank Morring Jr. reports, “NASA’s Maven mission to Mars is symptomatic of the global effort to put humans there—ambitious, but constrained by tight funding that demands international collaboration to cover costs. Increasingly, former competitors in the space arena are accepting cooperation as the only way humans will ever reach Mars, and are willing to drop short-term gain for long-term success. . . . That unmanned mission, the first for the SLS/Orion stack, is currently scheduled for the end of 2017, and will mark the beginning of a ‘stepping stone’ approach through cislunar space designed to take humans to Mars in the 2030s.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Bad blood on The Hill – Congress threatens to do less than nothing. FederalTimes.Com contributor John T. Bennett reports, “Things have gone from bad to worse on Capitol Hill as Senate Republicans warn that the Democrat’s “nuclear option” will further complicate getting anything done. . . . There were signs Thursday that the decision by Democratic leaders to invoke the ‘nuclear option’ could cause all-out partisan war and make passing legislation nearly impossible — including budget and defense bills.”
2. Something they can agree on: “Lawmakers on Sunday overwhelmingly bad-mouthed the deal the U.S. reached with Iran for Tehran to halt its nuclear program in exchange for eased economic sanctions. A slew of Republicans as well as several key Democrats warned that Congress could actually legislate new sanctions if Iran doesn’t cede enough ground in the final pact.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Afghanistan Troop Deal Prelude to Another Half Decade of War.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Anthony Cordesman argues, “The Afghan conflict is already the longest war in U.S. history, but if a workable BSA is agreed upon, it is anything but over.”
2. “America is a terrified country.” Salon.Com contributor and noted philosopher Noam Chomsky argues, “The United States is a very frightened country. And there are all kinds of things concocted for you to be frightened about.”
3. “The Iran nuclear deal’s test of motives.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Testing Iran’s motives in its nuclear program is really a test of whether the Islamic republic will give up its goal of dominating both the Middle East and much of the Muslim world by threat of force.”
THE FUNNIES
2. SPF 2016.
