Thursday’s Tops

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  Building a better Fed team. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “If Obama says don’t discriminate against the unemployed, it seems logical to update federal hiring practices to make sure that practices follow policy. A recent report from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) showed that the federal government needs better hiring practices if it wants to attract the best applicants.”

2.  Getting the right hire. Also from Jillian Hamilton, how personality testing can help, and hurt, the human resourcing process: “Background checks simply weed out the candidates that have scary skeletons in the closet. Just because an individual is able to get a clearance does not make that person the right person for the job or the organization. So, if personality testing can be helpful, what pitfalls could recruiters encounter in the screening process?”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Standoff in Ukraine and warning to Russia. AP’s Dalton Bennett reports from Simferopol, Ukraine, “Dozens of heavily armed pro-Russia gunmen seized control of local government buildings in Ukraine’s Crimea region early Thursday, escalating tensions in a peninsula that’s become a flashpoint in the east-west divide that threatens to rip apart a country engulfed in political and economic turmoil. Ukraine put its domestic security forces on high alert and urged Russian forces not to leave their base in southern Crimea. Failing to do so ‘will be considered a military aggression,’ Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said in the national parliament in Kiev.”  Reuters reports, “Russian troops on alert.”And Time reports, pro-Russian gunmen chant, “Crimea is Russia.”

2.  SecDef – Afghanistan options narrowing. American Forces Press Service’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “Every day that goes by with no signed U.S.-Afghanistan bilateral security agreement and no status of forces agreement for International Security Assistance Force partners narrows the options available to help the people of Afghanistan after 2014, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said . . . .” On the OTHER hand, Khaama.Com reports, “NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the alliance was not discussing options for zero troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014. . . . Rasmussen said NATO defense ministers together with ISAF and Afghan partners will discuss the progress of the ISAF mission and planning for a mission to train, advise and assist Afghan forces after 2014.”

3.  Syrians – turning on jihadists. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio reports, “The Syrian military and its ally Hezbollah killed more than 170 Islamists from the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, and the Islamic Front during an ambush in an area just outside of the capital of Damascus. ‘Saudis, Qataris, and Chechens’ were among those killed, according to the government-owned news agency.”

4.  Al Qaeda Genealogy—The Third Generation. Aljazeera.Com contributors Abdulaziz Alhies and Hamza Mustafa in Part I of a two part series: “Al-Qaeda went through its worst period ever in the years 2009-2011. The beginning of the Arab Spring shook the organisation’s fundamental ideological belief in violence as the means to topple dictatorial regimes. The subsequent momentum generated by the Arab Spring, driving people en masse to the ballot boxes and thus effecting political change by moderately peaceful means, was a further setback to al-Qaeda’s bloody revolutionary ideology.”

5.  Army’s hard look at itself – it isn’t so pretty. USAToday.Com’s Tom Vanden Brook reports, “The Army has disqualified 588 soldiers as sexual assault counselors, recruiters and drill sergeants for infractions ranging from sexual assault to child abuse to drunken driving . . . . The number of disqualified soldiers from what are called ‘positions of trust’ is 10 times higher than the initial number the Army reported last summer after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered that troops in sensitive positions be screened for previous criminal or unethical behavior.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  $2.5 billion for Boeing Poseidons. GovConWire.Com reports, “Boeing (NYSE: BA) and the U.S. Navy have signed a $2.4 billion contract for the company to build 16 additional P-8A Poseidon planes, bringing the branch’s total fleet to 53 and moving the P-8A program from preliminary low-rate production to full production. The maritime patrol plane is based on the 737-800 commercial aircraft and is built to carry out submarine warfare, surface security and ISR missions (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) . . . . The company works with CFM International, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation on an in-line production process to assemble the aircraft.”

2.  RFP for Long Range Bombers. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “The US Air Force intends to issue a request for proposal (RFP) on its new long-range strike bomber this fall, according to the service’s top civilian official. . . . The news came as something of a surprise, as the bomber program has been shrouded in mystery. James also promised more details would come out during next week’s budget rollout. . . . Service officials have cited a cost figure of $550 million per plane as the ceiling for the program, but even that figure has some mystery to it. Outside observers have noted that the figure does not include research and development costs, which could drive up that amount.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Cyber Electromagnetic Warfare—war by any other name. DefenseOne.Com contributor Patrick Tucker reports, “The Army just publically released its first-ever Field Manual for Cyber Electromagnetic Activities. The manual covers operations related to cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum, highlighting that for the Army electronic warfare is every bit as important as the cyber threat we hear so much about in abstract. . . . For U.S. soldiers, according to this new manual, cyber and electronic are the same. Eventually the term cyberwar may soon become obsolete. It might be time to just call it war.”

2.  DARPA—Quality controlling General Issue. Wired.Com contributor Allen McDuffee reports, “Darpa has taken on a new role in military procurement: quality control. The military’s research agency is developing a device to detect used and counterfeit electronic components in the Pentagon’s supply chain, hoping to get a handle on a problem the agency says could lead to system failures that put soldiers’ lives and missions at risk. The agency says bad electronics are rampant in the defense supply chain. More than one million suspect parts have been found in the last two years alone.”

3.  Data driven decisions. NextGov.Com’s John Kamensky explains, “OMB and agencies are undertaking a series of initiatives to build or expand the skills and capabilities of staff to be more evidence- and evaluation-based in their decision making.  In some cases, this requires money; but in many other cases it is a change in how existing work is done.  In addition, an interagency group focused on youth programs recently posted online a number of initiatives underway or planned that would advance the use of rigorous evaluation to improve the impact of programs serving at-risk youth. The following are some steps underway to help build a foundation for evidence-based thinking in government . . . .”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Getting Taxing: “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive tax reform plan that would lower rates, broaden the spectrum of taxpayers and greatly simplify the tax code system, shrinking it by 25 percent. . . . White House spokesman Josh Earnest praised Camp’s plan to close tax loopholes but criticized the elimination of the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers, which President Obama hopes to broaden.”

2.  Committed to cut to the quick: “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is trying to do more than just lay out the Pentagon’s spending priorities for the coming fiscal year. He’s trying to mark America’s passage into a new postwar era — though not exactly peacetime. . . . A senior defense official who briefed reporters on Monday called the administration’s fiscal 2015 blueprint a ‘consequential budget’ in turning the corner after the Iraq and Afghan wars. ‘The recommendations in this budget are going to take us from 13 years of war to focus on our future strategic challenges and opportunities,’ the official said.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “Obama’s options for Syria.” Reuters contributor Daniel Serwer argues, “President Obama has wanted Syria to go away, because it does not pose a direct and vital threat to U.S. national security. But it is becoming an indirect and more serious threat with every passing day, as extremists join the fight and it spills over into the region. Continuation of the war is costly, in terms of human suffering, in outlays for humanitarian and military assistance, and in lost confidence among America’s Arab allies and friends. If the president wants to recalibrate, he has his choice of options.”

2.  “Another Change for Change in Ukraine.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Mykola Riabchuk argues, “The biggest threat comes from within:  from old habits and old-boy networks, from sophisticated corruption schemes and shadow funds accumulated by oligarchs, from lack of much needed skills on part of the revolutionaries and lack of political will on part of the politicians.”

3.  “Moral outrage – and action – needed on North Korea.” Christian Science Monitor contributor Adrian Hong argues, “The international community should begin finally to act not under the assumption that North Korea cannot change, but in the sure belief that it must and will. We must make clear to governments, businesses, and banks that working with the regime is a moral choice, not just a practical one.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Crimea is Russia.

2.  Fearmongering.

3.  Pressing problem.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.