FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. House introduces new security clearance reform legislation. Another day – another security clearance reform bill. Ashley LaGanga reports: “One notable difference, however, is cutting security clearance contractors and instead mandating that critical investigative functions – including Top Secret level investigations – be performed by federal employees alone.”
2. Cleared Careers in Construction. Veterans have the skills, and the security clearance, to land lucrative positions in the construction industry. “With 100,000 new construction jobs on the horizon over the next five years, veterans may want to take a closer look at their opportunities for high paying clearance careers in this industry.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. A no-win legacy?. Politico reports, “There’s no talk of “victory,” or how the U.S. should spend its share of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, or how to use the peace dividend from a world made safe from Al Qaeda. Instead, the discussion has boiled down to a debate over whether the future will bring a quick implosion or a slow-motion collapse — and whose fault it would be.”
2. Dancing into the abyss – the Syria Crossover. BBC News reports “Almost every week in Tripoli, there are clashes between Sunni militants who oppose Assad in the Bab al-Tabbana district, and pro-Assad militants just up the hill in Jabal Muhsin, an area inhabited mainly by members of the Alawite sect, to which the Syrian leader belongs.”.
3. The crisis on the streets of Kiev intensifies. The New York Times reports, “The violence, which will resonate for weeks, months or even years around this fragile and bitterly divided former Soviet republic of 46 million, exposed the impotence, in this dispute, of the United States and the European Union, which had engaged in a week of fruitless efforts to mediate a peaceful settlement. It also shredded doubts about the influence of Russia, which had portrayed the protesters as American-backed “terrorists” and, in thinly coded messages from the Kremlin, urged Mr. Yanukovych to crack down.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Congress is making its lists (The Pentagon is checking them twice) – you decide who’s naughty or nice. Time’s Swampland reports,“They’re called “unfunded priority lists” inside the Pentagon, which is an oxymoron when you think about it: if something is unfunded, ipso facto, it’s not a priority.”
2. DoD Daily Contracts – February 18. Jacobs/Stantec, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $9.5 million contract for architectural and engineering services for military civil works projects primarily within the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division boundaries.
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. We want YOU – to sign up for Electric Brain Shock. Red Bull may give you wings, but if the U.S. military gets its way, electric shocks may do the job just as well. Several news outlets are reporting on new military testing that would give troops the energy jolt they need, without the jitterness and loss of effectiveness over time. “The military is investigating how to use low-level electrical stimulation to help personnel stay alert as they conduct digital surveillance and review footage from drones for hours on end.”
2. Tony Stark, eat your heart out – Military prepares to unveil their own Iron Man. CBS News reports, “The first prototypes of a high-tech suit of armor to give soldiers superhuman abilities could be ready to test this summer, according to top military officials. The suits, which have drawn comparisons to the one worn by Marvel Comics superhero “Iron Man,” could be delivered to special operations forces as early as June.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. “American Veterans are dying – it’s the VA’s fault.” Um…why don’t you tell us what you really think? Military Times reports, “The line, pulled from a CNN piece earlier this year, refers to VA Inspector General findings of 31 preventable deaths at Veterans Affairs Department medical centers nationwide in recent months. The deaths have been the focus of increased scrutiny from congressional Republicans, who have accused VA leaders of failing to hold employees accountable for a variety of failures.”
2. Non-partisan report finds higher minimum wage = fewer jobs. The partisan bickering begins instantly “Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will cost the U.S. economy a half-million jobs by 2016 but will substantially boost wages for most low-income workers, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released Tuesday that adds a significant hurdle to Democrats’ push for an increase.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Press pause.
