FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Don’t just sit there . . . engage! Editor Lindy Kyzer on bracketing- and firing-for-effect in your job search: “if you haven’t joined the Cleared Network, you’re missing out on the best resource in your cleared job search. Take advantage of all of the best features of social networking, within a secure, password protected platform.”
2. Look, learn, leap. Also from Kyzer, job hunting savvy by way of a LS Technologies company profile: “For LS Technologies, a long-term strategy includes diversifying outside of the FAA into other arenas where their expert background in Air Traffic Control services will be useful. That kind of diversification is pivotal in today’s contracting environment. Other things that make LS Technologies a stand-out – a small business, personal touch attitude that includes personally on-boarding every employee, as well as reaching out periodically to see how they’re doing.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Putting the Kiowas in the hanger. DefenseNews.Com’s Paul McLeary and Michelle Tan report, “US Army leaders are considering scrapping its entire fleet of Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters, while pulling the National Guard’s Boeing AH-64 Apaches into the active-duty force to fill the scout helicopter role as the Army seeks to fulfill its longer-term requirement of a newly developed armed aerial scout, according to several Army and defense industry sources. The plan also calls for giving active Black Hawk helicopters to the Guard, while taking half of the Guard’s Lakota fleet, using them as active-duty trainers and scrapping its Jet Rangers.”
2. Japan and China’s irreconcilable differences? WaPo’s Chico Harlan reports from Tokyo, “The decline in high-level contact, the most pronounced since Japan and China normalized relations 41 years ago, points to fundamental shifts in both countries that have made it harder for diplomats to control and solve problems. In particular, hardening nationalism in China and Japan has reduced the ability of officials to appear conciliatory. Japanese Foreign Ministry officers who appear to be sympathetic to China have been largely sidelined over the last 12 years, according to two former senior-level officials who handled Asian affairs.”
3. Iran to Congress, “Sanction us, we walk.” Time’s Robin Wright’s interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif : “Zarif spoke to writer and Iran expert Robin Wright about how the Geneva nuclear deal came together, how the government has to appeal to Iran’s own parliament not to undermine the interim pact, and how any new sanctions passed by the United States Congress would kill the deal.” See also Aljazeera.Com’s take on Wright’s interview.
4. SecDef Hagel, repairing bridges to the Kingdom of Saud. American Forces Press Service reports, “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with senior Saudi officials during a visit to Saudi Arabia . . . . according to a senior U.S. defense official traveling with Hagel, the Crown Prince conveyed to Hagel that his second Gulf tour and second visit to Saudi Arabia comes at just the right time, noting that he is leaving tomorrow for Kuwait to attend a Gulf Cooperation Council Ministers meeting and will convey their discussions. Hagel was told his assurances are well received and that the partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia is as strong as ever, the senior official said.”
5. N. Korea’s purge has S. Korea on edge. Reuters’ Ju-Min Park reports from Seoul, “North Korea is engaged in a purge amounting to a ‘reign of terror’ that has claimed the scalp of the country’s second most powerful man and risks further damaging relations with the South, President Park Geun-hye said . . . . South Korea’s intelligence service last week said two of Jang’s close entourage were executed for corruption and two of his relatives serving in embassies overseas had been recalled.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Logistics – it’s already hard enough . . . . FederalTimes.Com’s Adam Stone explains that “government logisticians and supporting vendors continue to wrangle with the challenges inherent in outdated government systems. . . . In the commercial world, Wal-Mart set the logistics standard years ago with visibility, coordination and just-in-time operations among all of its suppliers. Government infrastructure still lags.”
2. Navy and UAVs – the way ahead. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s John D. Gresham reports, “The accomplishments of the Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) test program this past summer have been a source of pride for U.S. naval aviation as well as spurring debate about the future of the community. The successful test program of takeoffs, landings, deck handling procedures, and traffic patterns flown by the X-47B decisively proved the viability of a UCAV being integrated into future U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wings (CVWs). Questions at the moment surround where the Navy presently stands with its UCAV program, and how does the road ahead lead to carrier-capable unmanned warplanes?”
3. Sikorsky in Connecticut wins big in Austria. DSCA.Mil reports, “he Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress today of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Austria for UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopters in Total Package Approach and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $137 million. . . . The principal contractor will be Sikorsky Aircraft Company in Stratford, Connecticut. The engines will be purchased from General Electric Aircraft Company (GEAC) in Lynn, Massachusetts.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Reaching out and touching you – all 6 billion of you. BusinessInsider.Com’s consideration of secret squirrel iconographic analysis: “The logo, featuring a massive octopus straddling the earth with its tentacles above the phrase “Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach” is probably not the best choice from a public-relations standpoint, in light of the many leaks about mass government surveillance from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.”
2. Now EVERYONE’s doing it! Reuters’ Alexander Vilf reports, “Chinese hackers eavesdropped on the computers of five European foreign ministries before last September’s G20 Summit, which was dominated by the Syrian crisis . . . . The hackers infiltrated the ministries’ computer networks by sending emails to staff containing tainted files with titles such as ‘US_military_options_in_Syria’ . . . . When recipients opened these documents, they loaded malicious code onto their personal computers.”
3. Titan Hand – giving you a hand, and another. AP’s Kathy Matheson reports, “Titan Arm looks and sounds like part of a superhero’s costume. But its creators say it’s designed for ordinary people – those who need either physical rehabilitation or a little extra muscle for their job. In technical terms, the apparatus is an untethered, upper-body exoskeleton; to the layman, it’s essentially a battery-powered arm brace attached to a backpack. Either way, Titan Arm’s cost-efficient design has won the team accolades and at least $75,000 in prize money.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Just pass it so we can go home: “Republicans and Democrats working out the Pentagon’s annual policy bill said Monday that they had reached an agreement on a stripped-down version of the bill over the Thanksgiving recess and presented it to their colleagues with one message: Take it or leave it. Leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said they had reached a compromise that they would hope to pass the House this week and the Senate next week, before both chambers adjourn for the year. . . . ‘Do you want the bill or not?’ House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said. ‘We are where we are. We ran out of time.’”
2. Getting a jump on 2016: “Smack dab in the middle of this jolly holiday season, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus set political tongues wagging when he told radio bomb-thrower Hugh Hewitt that the party’s oppo-research machine is already combing through the metaphorical trash of a certain blond Democratic presidential possible. . . . One of the big lessons the GOP took from its epic 2012 fail: Define your opponent early and often and—most important—before he (or she) manages to define you.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Israel’s open wound.” WaPo’s Richard Cohen argues, “Much of Israel’s history is about parallelism. Things happen and at the same time other things happen. Palestinians are oppressed and they are given legal representation. Israel conquers the Gaza Strip and then withdraws. The blogger’s handy word “but” is of no use here. Nothing balances. Everything exists at the same time.”
2. Domestic drones outrunning the FAA. USAToday.Com’s Editorial Board argues, “So make no mistake, drones are coming to American skies, if not your doorstep any time soon. Some small businesses already use drones to photograph real estate, monitor farms or do aerial shots for movies, even though commercial use is still technically illegal, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The issues are much more complicated than Amazon makes them sound, and the hype is outrunning concerns about safety and privacy.”
3. “Report Card for Congress, 2013: Incredibly Inefficient but Not Lazy.” Time contributor Steve Freiss argues, “This is a Congress at loggerheads on everything important. That’s how we, as an American electorate, made them. It’s a systemic issue, one that hopefully a few more elections and perhaps some redistricting can wring out, not having them sit in their fancy chambers talking past one another more. D.C. dysfunction isn’t caused by the number of days they’re in session. It’s caused by the harsh, vituperous political culture in which members are on edge about appearing even cordial with colleagues with whom they disagree.”
THE FUNNIES
3. Sneak attack.
