Monday in a Minute & Man oh Manning!
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. 2014 National Defense Authorization Act: Breaking it down! Breaking it down! Breaking it down! Contributor Ashley LaGanga does Judas Priest a la the NDAA: “President Obama signed the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In addition to dictating Department of Defense funding levels for the upcoming year, it covers a host of provisions affecting the defense industry. Here’s what’s coming in 2014.” Includes Ashley’s take on Contractor Salary Caps, Procurements, Security Clearances, TriCare, and Tech – everything important to us.
2. What is the Cleared Network, you ask? Editor Lindy Kyzer is glad you asked that question: “The Cleared Network includes a variety of features that help candidates reflect their job search personality, and helps recruiters present a more complete picture of their opportunities. Job seekers can update their personality, preferences, and security clearance details. Recruiters can build a robust company profile which includes links to the company website, as well as current openings and events.” And that’s just the beginning.
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Russia rocked by more than Pussy Riot. AP reports, “A blast that tore through an electric bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd during Monday’s morning rush hour, killing 14, was probably carried out by suicide bombers from the same organization behind a railway explosion a day earlier, officials said. Together more than 30 people were killed in the explosions, putting the city of one million on edge and highlighting the terrorist threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Winter Games in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin’s pet project.” LongWarJournal.Org’s background on the Islamic Caucuses Emirate’s Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyr Brigade, the group likely responsible for the Marvel-esque “Black Widow Bombers.” Reuters’ Maria Tsvetkova reports from Volgograd, “Second blast in Russia’s Volgograd kills 14 on trolleybus.” And, finally, Aljazeera.Com explains with a shade of extremist empathy, “Rebels have said they want to carve out a Muslim state in the North Caucasus. Their insurgency is rooted in two post-Soviet wars in Chechnya, one of the region’s provinces. Putin, who was first elected president in 2000 after launching the second war in Chechnya, which drove Chechen separatists from power, has staked his reputation on a safe and successful Winter Games.”
2. Almost the irony of ironies – Aljazeera reporter arrested in Egypt. Aljazeera.Com reports with alarm, “Egypt’s security forces have arrested four Al Jazeera journalists in Cairo. Correspondent Peter Greste, producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed as well as cameraman Mohamed Fawzy are being held in custody after arrested by security forces on Sunday evening. Greste is a veteran journalist who previously worked for Reuters, CNN and the BBC over the past two decades. Human rights groups say conditions for journalists in Egypt have become difficult since former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was removed in a coup on July 3, 2013. The latest arrests come after a series of clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters across Egypt.” Related, SecDef on the phone with Egypt’s Minister of Defense Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi: “’ Both men discussed the balance between security and freedom, and the Secretary stressed the role of political inclusiveness in the democratic process. Secretary Hagel also expressed concerns about the political climate in advance of the constitutional referendum, including the continued enforcement of a restrictive demonstrations law.’”
3. Afghanistan’s National Security Council’s 5th Step. Khaama.Com reports, “The National Security Council of Afghanistan (NSC) took over the responsibilities for the transition of security responsibilities from coalition forces to Afghan national security forces. The fifth and final phase of security transition to Afghan security forces, which is currently in process, will be completed by next year. . . . The first phase of security transition from NATO troops to Afghan security forces took place in the month of August 2008, where Afghan forces took over responsibility of capital Kabul from coalition forces.”
4. In Nigeria, democracy slaps the face of Islamic extremists. AP’s Adamu Adamu reports from Damaturu [that’s just poetic!], “The opposition All Progressives Congress swept every seat in peaceful local government elections in Nigeria’s northeast state of Yobe, officials said, defying Islamic extremists opposed to democracy and the ruling party’s insistence it was too insecure to campaign. . . . The Democrats disputed the Yobe electoral commission’s figures showing nearly 80 percent of 1.2 million registered voters cast ballots. Some reporters had noted a low turnout and the figure was surprising in a region where tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes by a 4-year-old Islamic uprising.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $1.4 billion (billion) cash. GovWire.Com reports, “Textron (NYSE: TXT) has struck a deal to acquire all outstanding shares of the parent company of business and military aircraft manufacturer Beechcraft Corp. for $1.4 billion cash. Textron expects the Beech Holdings LLC purchase to close in the first half of 2014, pending regulatory approvals, and will finance the deal using cash on hand and debt capital, Textron said Thursday. Scott Donnelly, chairman and CEO of Textron, said the company aims to expand its general aviation offerings and global aircraft services through the acquisition.” AviationWeek.Com’s Kerry Lynch follows up: “Textron also is acquiring the type certificates for all of the former Hawker and Beechcraft business jets, including the Premier and Hawker 4000, programs that Beechcraft has been actively shopping since it shuttered the lines more than a year ago.”
2. The F-35 dispute: Contractors weigh in. AviationWeek.Com’s Bill Sweetman updates, “A Rand Corp. report produced to guide future U.S. Air Force program plans has concluded that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will cost more than three single-service programs would have done. That conclusion drew a sharp riposte from Lockheed Martin, which accused the report’s authors of using ‘outdated data’ that overstated the F-35’s projected operating costs by a factor of two. Lockheed Martin based its criticism on numbers that cannot be found in the report. The company declined to give a source for those numbers, stating that they were ‘government data.’ The Joint Strike Fighter program office distanced itself from the argument, saying it had ‘no real issues’ with the report, and did not confirm any of the company’s figures.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA’s Team James Bond. Der Spiegel’s Spiegel Staff reports, “One of the two main buildings at the former [Sony computer chip plant in San Antonio] . . . house[s] a sophisticated NSA unit, one that has benefited the most from this expansion and has grown the fastest in recent years – the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. This is the NSA’s top operative unit – something like a squad of plumbers that can be called in when normal access to a target is blocked. . . . these on-call digital plumbers are involved in many sensitive operations conducted by American intelligence agencies. TAO’s area of operations ranges from counterterrorism to cyber attacks to traditional espionage. The documents reveal just how diversified the tools at TAO’s disposal have become — and also how it exploits the technical weaknesses of the IT industry, from Microsoft to Cisco and Huawei, to carry out its discreet and efficient attacks.”
2. NSA’s Spy Catalog. Also from Der Spiegel’s Jacob Appelbaum, Judith Horchert and Christian Stöcker, “A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry — including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell. . . . The specialists at ANT, which presumably stands for Advanced or Access Network Technology, could be described as master carpenters for the NSA’s department for Tailored Access Operations (TAO).”
3. Supreme Court Watch: NSA’s constitutional dilemma. Reuters Jonathan Stemple explains, “A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans’ phone calls is lawful, calling it a ‘counter-punch’ to terrorism that does not violate Americans’ privacy rights. Friday’s decision by U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan diverged from a ruling by another judge this month that questioned the program’s constitutionality, raising the prospect that the Supreme Court will need to resolve the issue. . . . Both cases interpreted a 1979 Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Maryland, that said people have no ‘legitimate expectation of privacy’ regarding phone numbers they dial because they knowingly give that information to phone companies.”
4. “Bill, are these your livers on the 3-D printer?” NextGov.Com contributor Sophie Novak reports, “Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center are embarking on a project that is so overloaded with sci-fiesque elements that if it were a movie, you might question the screenwriter’s credibility. The ‘body on a chip’ project will use 3-D printing—or bioprinting—technology to create mini human-organ systems about the size of a quarter to test the body’s response to drugs. It’s funded by a $24 million grant from the Defense Department to develop antidotes to very strong agents in the areas of chemical and biological warfare.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. On your dance card, Biden, Clinton, Cuomo, O’Malley, Bush, Cruz, Ryan, and many more: “The 2016 presidential campaign is well underway. Not in name, so much, but rather in the deeds of more than a dozen people who might run. They’ve been busy plugging holes in resumes, getting known on TV, networking with activists and party luminaries, taking early steps to build campaign organizations and much more. Most are methodically ticking off items on what could be called the presidential prep checklist, and they’ve picked up that pace since The Associated Press last took a broad look at who’s doing what to advance their high ambitions.”
2. GoP, Senate is in the bag, if . . . : “Republicans count enough competitive races to challenge Democrats for control of the Senate in the 2014 elections, if only they can figure out what to do with the Tea Party. Crowded primaries in states such as Georgia, Iowa and North Carolina, where Tea Partiers and social conservatives are fighting for the nomination and pushing candidates farther right, worry many Republicans, especially after they saw their legitimate shots at a Senate majority slip away in 2010 and 2012.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The deal of the year: Why the Iran nuclear deal is good news for all.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Riccardo Alcaro argues, “Iran will be farther from acquiring a nuclear weapon capability than it is now. Moreover, the international community will have a deeper knowledge of its nuclear activities thanks to the greater verification powers accorded to UN inspectors. In return, Iran will be spared the imposition of new sanctions and regain access to around $7bn currently frozen by US and EU authorities. These results will be secured even if the deal signatories prove unable to resolve the dispute once and for all.”
2. “U.S. must get tough on Assad or stay home.” Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin argues, “This war is about a dictator who will go to any lengths to retain power, and who has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that destabilizes the whole region. Assad’s reign of terror has fueled a rise of radical Islam that will threaten the entire Middle East — and the West. Peace talks in Geneva are unlikely to end the war, but at least they might stop Assad’s assault on civilians. If Obama cannot persuade the Russians to force Assad to permit the delivery of food to the starving and vaccine to the children, the U.S. delegation should stay home.”
3. For 2014 Resolutioneers: “Want to Lose Weight This Year? Choose the Right Resolution.” Time contributor Uri Gneezy argues, “Millions of Americans will kick off 2014 with the same resolution they started 2013 with — a goal of losing weight. Some will succeed, but only a handful will keep the weight off in the long run. Why? Because losing weight is the wrong goal. Don’t misunderstand me — many of us could benefit from losing a little weight. Defining weight loss as a goal, however, is a mistake.” [Personally, I resolve not to resolve not to resolve.] Also from Time, “New Year’s Resolutions Are Bad for You.”
