Tuesday’s Tops, Animal Crackers in My Soup, and So simple!
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Government 101. Contributor Jillian Hamilton finds lessons in leadership from how our government governs: “Of course, we can debate each of those frustrating traits of the U.S. government on social media. Or we can acknowledge the pitfalls of the U.S. government and learn from them.”
2. Innovation – NASA’s way ahead. Contributor John Holst explains, “NASA could use a few good teams. At least, that’s who they’d like to have participating in their first in-space NASA Centennial Challenges Program. . . . The challenges themselves are focused on deep space missions, but with small spacecraft (or satellites—cubesats in particular). The first of the NASA Centennial Challenges wants competitors to figure out how deep space communications will work. The second challenge requires competitors to design a viable propulsion system for the small spacecraft.” Intrigued? Read on.
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Partnership – one success story from Afghanistan. Khaama.Com covers NATO Channel’s Mel Preen: “A feature on Lieutenant Colonel Heffington who has just finished his deployment in Afghanistan. During his deployment, Lt Col Heffington was referred to as an ‘Afghan Hand’. He was part of a program designed to integrate American military and civilian personnel within the Afghan government and society.”
2. Hiring Vets – 100 for 100,000. American Forces Press Service’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “First Lady Michelle Obama announced today that more than 100 construction industry companies have committed to hiring more than 100,000 military veterans over the next five years. Obama and Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez delivered remarks at the National Symposium on Veterans’ Employment in Construction, hosted at the Labor Department. The event brought together construction industry officials, government leaders and education professionals to highlight hiring commitments throughout the industry, and it addressed employment challenges and opportunities for transitioning service members and veterans.”
3. Thirty-five years later, “Death to American.” Aljazeera.Com reports, “Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the streets of the Iranian capital and cities around the country to mark the 35th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. In Tehran, huge crowds thronged central Azadi square on Tuesday for a speech by the president Hassan Rouhani, his first major address to the public since his election in August. Rouhani launched into the traditional anti-US rhetoric despite a significant political shift in Tehran, which resulted in his election last year as a leader pursuing a policy of outreach to the West.”
4. “Peace? I hate the word. . . .” Reuters’ Daria Sito-Sucic and Matt Robinson report from Tuzla, “Under socialist Yugoslavia, Tuzla in northeastern Bosnia was a hub for the metals and chemical industries. Today, the city’s industrial zone is a wasteland and home to one in five of Bosnia’s 27 percent registered unemployed. The mismanaged transition to capitalism in the town is replicated on a smaller scale in all the former republics of Yugoslavia, which splintered two decades ago. But Bosnia, where more than 100,000 people died in ethnic warfare between 1992-5, is different, and more dangerous. . . . The grievances – unemployment, corruption and political paralysis – have their roots in the deal that ended the war, divvying up power to stop the fighting between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. DARPA’s web deep dive. DefenseOne.Com contributor Bob Brew reports, “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has kicked off a project to fine tune Web searches by topical domain rather than general subjects, allowing it to ‘maintain technological superiority in the area of content indexing and Web search on the Internet.’. . . DARPA wants researchers to develop advanced and highly automated Web-crawler software to penetrate sites and resources that have erected crawler defenses to aid domain-specific indexing and a domain specific search engine.”
2. Winners on GSA imaging Blanket Purchase Agreements. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The General Services Administration has awarded blanket purchase agreements to 10 imaging equipment service providers as part of its strategic sourcing efforts. GSA awarded agreements to AMB Federal, CTI, Merdian, Omni FaxPlus, PrinTree, Canon, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark and Ricoh . . . . This is the first time the agency has offered imaging services as part of a BPA. a purchasing instrument that leverages high-volume business to secure price discounts.”
3. Army’s Sweet Sixteen. GovConWire.Com reports, “The U.S. Army has awarded positions on a basic ordering agreement to 16 contractors for worldwide communications and infrastructure support services. The two-year agreement covers work to help the Army install new information infrastructure tools and to update enterprise communication systems.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. They’re here – drones on station CONUS. AP’s Michael Melia reports, “As police responded to a deadly car crash, they noticed an increasingly familiar sight: a remote-controlled aircraft, equipped with a video camera, hovering over the wreckage. The Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation of the drone, which was used by an on-call employee for a Connecticut television station. The FAA is developing new rules as the technology makes drones far more versatile, but for now operators can run afoul of regulations by using them for commercial purposes, including journalism.”
2. Friends of Bill. VentureBeat.Com’s Harrison Weber reports, “Bill Gates is hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit yet again, and this time he’s offering up his thoughts on the NSA. When asked by one Reddit user how he feels about ‘the NSA and its oversight of computer usage,’ Gates responded directly, but remained even-tempered. Referring to the U.S. government in its entirety, Gates said it ‘will have to be more open’ but acknowledged, ‘There is a role for the government to try and stop crime and terrorism.’” [Bill said it. I believe it. That settles it.]
3. The 411 on the 911 for your wet smartphone. Wired.Com’s Christina Bonnington explains, “It fell in the toilet. The clumsy waitress knocked a glass of water onto it. You forgot it was in your pocket when you jumped into the pool. That’s just a few of the hundreds of ways your phone could come into life-threatening contact with liquid. When it happens to you (and it will), as soon as you’re done freaking out, you’ll probably begin frantically tapping all the buttons, blowing on it, or blasting it with a hair dryer to quickly get rid of all that water. While those are all well-meaning actions, guess what? Totally the wrong approach. Here’s what you should do.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Hillary + Petraeus + Paula = Politics: “Hillary Clinton had kind words for former CIA Director David Petraeus after his resignation in 2012. After Petraeus resigned when his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell was uncovered, Clinton wrote a note and called to express her sympathy. ‘I have a little experience,’ she joked to Petraeus, according to HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton, which is being released Tuesday. Petraeus made a rare [?] jump into the political arena in the book, telling authors Amie Parnes of The Hill and Jonathan Allen of Bloomberg News that Clinton would make ‘a tremendous president.’” [A rare jump into politics for P4? Only if diving is rare for Greg” Louganis.]
2. French rolls with Francois Hollande sauce: “President Obama this week will host French President Francois Hollande for a state visit at the White House, a trip meant to highlight a ‘transformed’ alliance between the two nations but one that is being overshadowed by Hollande’s personal problems back home. On Monday, the two leaders [traveled] to Monticello, the Virginia residence of former President Thomas Jefferson. And the duo penned an op-ed Monday, touting their cooperation on issues ranging from Iran’s nuclear ambitions to ending the civil war in Syria.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Moving beyond personality cults in Afghanistan elections.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Helena Malikyar argues, “Despite the opportunities squandered by the international community and Afghan leaders alike – to establish the right environment and code of conduct for Afghanistan’s journey towards healthy elections – the candidates’ acquiescence of the need to communicate their programmes to potential voters represents a glimmer of hope for the future. On the brink of the US and NATO military drawdown, facing the inevitable decrease in foreign aid and with a treasure trove of experiences both sweet and bitter, Afghans are beginning to utilise civic pressure and their politicians are beginning to show signs of paying attention.”
2. “Nurturing the impulse to save Syria’s millions.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Upholding the dignity of each individual lies at the heart of the humanitarian cause that began to take hold on a global scale in the mid-19th century. But as Europe and America step back from that cause, other nations – or private groups – must step in. The US and France must persuade countries such as Russia to put compassion ahead of power politics. This is why the Homs rescue is not a small event.”
3. “Let NATO Keep the Peace in Palestine.” DefenseOne.Com contributor John Deni argues, “Despite these hurdles, Abbas’s proposal, or rather his enthusiastic endorsement of a longstanding proposal, should appeal to Washington for many reasons. Most significantly is the opportunity it presents to contribute substantively to ending the Israeli-Palestinian divide — a major security challenge of the last several decades that involves vital American interests. Indeed, for this reason alone, Washington should seize upon Abbas’s proposal as a useful point of departure for what a peacekeeping mission might eventually look like.”
THE FUNNIES
3. Happy 35th.
