Reuters’ Review & Farewell Craig “Porky” Chedwick
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Back in BRAC. Contributor Jennifer Cary reports, “Elected officials see it as their responsibility to protect their districts from projects that will spark job loss and decrease the amount of federal money coming in. Whle some districts would benefit from BRAC, some would suffer. Specific bases targeted for closure have yet to be named so it’s easier to deny the request than take a chance your district would be negatively impacted. What’s more, elected officials tend to want to be re-elected. A negative BRAC outcome could result in a loss of popularity and in turn, a loss of votes.”
2. The taxman cometh. Editor Lindy Kyzer’s tax saving tips: “Have security clearance or job search expenses? Be sure to include them as an itemized deduction when completing your federal income tax return. Security clearance expenses are most applicable to federal contractors overseeing the security clearance applications of their employees, but the costs can apply to any clearance holder and are particularly relevant for 1099 employees.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. QDR 2014 – a military strategy sans Russia. DefenseOne.Com’s Sara Sorcher reports, “Russia has shocked the world by sending troops into Ukraine, and a new Defense Department long-term threat assessment proves that the U.S. military was no exception. The department released its Quadrennial Defense Review on Tuesday, and in all of its 64 pages, only one paragraph of the sweeping U.S. military strategy outlines the possible risks Russia may pose to Washington’s or its allies’ interests . . . .” Read the 2014 QDR. See “House Armed Services Chairman Rejects Defense Review for First Time in History”: TheBlaze.Com reports, “McKeon said he will introduce legislation requiring the Defense Department to resubmit an acceptable review. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defended the review, while admitting the report reflects current budget woes.” GlobalPost.Com reports, “The 88-page document, issued along with the U.S. military’s fiscal year 2015 budget request, describes the communist nation and Iran as sources of ‘dynamic and unpredictable’ challenges.”
2. Four points on the Obama Budget. Christian Science Monitor’s Mark Trumbull explains, “From poverty reduction to helping manufacturers improve productivity, the president’s clear priority is to use the government as a lever boost the economic well-being of ordinary Americans. Although the budget also offers proposals aimed at fiscal sustainability, it does little to reduce a public debt load that stands at a historically high level. The four themes below summarize the budget proposal and Washington’s fiscal state of play.” DefenseNews.Com’s John T. Bennett reports, “Republican hawks say US President Barack Obama’s latest military spending request will embolden America’s foes to take aggressive acts, while his Democratic mates offered only tepid support. Republican lawmakers began panning the fiscal $496 billion Pentagon request before senior Defense Department officials explained the plan in their briefing room.” See also, “Growth in Military Pay and Benefits Cannot Be Sustained.” Finally, in Defense’s own defense, “Defense Budget Request Squares Priorities, Resources.”
3. Tensions easing in Ukraine, perhaps. AP’s Vladimir Isachenkov and Tim Sullivan report from Moscow, “Stepping back from the brink of war, Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, saying Russia has no intention “to fight the Ukrainian people” but reserves the right to use force. As the Russian president held court in his personal residence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev’s fledgling government and urged Putin to stand down.” Reuters reports that Putin sees “military force . . . ‘last resort’ in Ukraine.” Today, AP reports, “Top diplomats from the West and Russia trying to find an end to the crisis in Ukraine are gathering in Paris on Wednesday as tensions simmered over the Russian military takeover of the strategic Crimean Peninsula. . . . Russia has suggested that it will meet any sanctions imposed by Western governments with a tough response, and President Putin warned in a press conference on Tuesday that those measures could incur serious ‘mutual damage.” [Mutually assured damage?] Last, Reuters reports, “European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday could decide on sanctions against Russia if there is no ‘de-escalation’ by then.”
4. Truce failures in Syria. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Food deliveries to thousands of people living in a blockaded area in southern Damascus ground to a halt after a truce collapsed and clashes broke out between Syrian rebels and government forces . . . . The halt in the food distribution in Yarmouk also underscores problems that bedevil a February 22 UN Security Council resolution that called on warring parties to facilitate food and aid deliveries to Syrians in need. On Tuesday, Syrian helicopters dropped explosives-packed barrels near rebel-held Yabrud, a monitoring group said.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. 112 new U.S. Air Force Pave Hawks in the pipes. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “The US Air Force will award a contract on its new Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) before the end of the year, despite the program not being included in the fiscal 2015 budget request. . . . The choice to fund CRH was apparently one that came down to the wire. Martin said he was just informed of the decision before entering the briefing. The CRH program is the Air Force’s latest attempt to modernize its combat search-and-rescue fleet. The Air Force wants to buy 112 new helicopters to replace the aging Sikorsky Pave Hawks. In late November, the service said it would select Sikorsky if it can award a contract.”
2. Sikorsky’s $3.5 billion Turkey lays $491 million golden egg. DefenseNews.Com’s Burak Ege Bekdil reports, “As Turkey finally penned a $3.5 billion contract with US helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft for the co-production of an initial batch of 109 utility helicopters, a Turkish company has won a substantial deal under the same contract. Military electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s biggest defense firm, has signed a US $491.5 million deal with Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), prime local contractor for the Sikorsky-led utility helicopter program, the company has announced.”
3. Budget cuts Tactical Networking Radio Systems. NextGov.Com’s Bob Brewin reports, “The Army took the biggest hit in command and control systems. Service officials would receive $542 million for Tactical Networking Radio Systems (formerly the Joint Tactical Radio System), down $289 million from the $831 million enacted in the 2014 budget. The funding would allow the service to purchase handheld, backpack, vehicle and helicopter radios for Army tactical units and support development of software waveforms that define bandwidth, frequency and security.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Snowden to speak. Time’s Denver Nicks reports, “Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor whose extensive leaks in 2013 sparked a massive and still-unfolding global debate over government surveillance, will speak via videoconference at South by Southwest Interactive, the major tech festival held annually in Austin, Tex. . . . The session, ‘a Virtual Conversation with Edward Snowden,’ will be livestreamed online for free courtesy of The Texas Tribune.”
2. Drone me. AP reports, “Facebook is in talks to buy Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, to step up its efforts to provide Internet access to remote parts of the world, according to reports from technology blog Techcrunch and financial news outlet CNBC. Both websites cited anonymous sources who are familiar with the deal and put a purchase price at $60 million. . . . Titan’s drone-like atmospheric satellites, which are still in development and not yet commercially available, can stay in the air for as long as five years, according to reports.”
3. Tech falls flat in 2015 Budget. NextGov.Com’s Joseph Marks reports, “Funding for civilian information technology projects and maintenance is essentially flat in President Obama’s proposed budget for the 2015 fiscal year, and the Defense Department’s requested technology allowance is down slightly . . . . The 2015 request for information technology spending is about $79.1 billion, including $43.7 billion for civilian IT and $35.4 billion for defense . . . . That’s down from about $81.4 billion enacted in the 2014 fiscal year. The lower number is possible thanks to an increase in shared technology services across government and strategic sourcing for commodity IT such as computers and Internet service . . . .”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. No-bones-about-it Boehner on Budget: “Congressional Republicans were quick to criticize President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2015 budget on Tuesday, arguing that the document does little to curb government spending while hiking taxes. Though Obama’s budget proposal is largely meaningless in practice, it gave lawmakers an opportunity to either defend the president’s economic policy agenda or jump on him for spending and taxing too much. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called Obama’s latest plan ‘perhaps his most irresponsible budget yet. . . . Obama calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy, expanding tax credits for the poor and middle class and broadens government social programs.”
2. Here she is, $3.9 trillion in all her glory: “President Obama on Tuesday released an election-year budget proposal that calls for $3.9 trillion in spending in fiscal 2015. Deficit reduction takes a back seat in the budget to jobs initiatives Democrats hope will be popular with voters. The central elements of the proposal are $56 billion in new stimulus spending above the discretionary budget cap in place for next year, $302 billion in infrastructure spending over four years and a series of tax breaks for lower-income workers. The initiatives would be fully paid for by increasing taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. The stimulus spending is split evenly between defense and non-defense initiatives, and focuses on funds for basic research, elementary education, manufacturing initiatives, job training, climate change preparation and reversing cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The claims for Russian imperialism.” Reuters contributor John Lloyd argues, “The strength that Putin likes to project is increasingly illusory. Russian growth is less than two percent today, the population is falling fast, there is little modernization, the economy is buoyed by oil and gas prices that are likely to fall and corruption sits at the heart of every enterprise. Western sanctions will deepen this disastrous situation, and though they should be imposed, it’s still more urgent to find a new form of relationship.”
2. “To Inflict Pain on Russia, Target Her Energy First.” DefenceOne.Com contributor John Deni argues, “The challenge confronting policymakers in Washington is how to safeguard and promote United States interests in Ukraine in a way that swiftly deters Russia from further escalation and compels President Vladimir Putin to stand down. Unfortunately, ejecting Russia from the G-8 or dispatching United Nations fact-finding missions is unlikely to move Moscow. Instead, inflicting costs on Russia for its intervention in Ukraine begins with using a tool very familiar to Moscow: energy.”
3. “US patience better than pressure for Afghan security deal.” Christian Science Monitor contributor James Weir argues, “The US should remain a partner with power to wield substantial influence over those political processes and public programs [in Afghanistan] that show promise, always able to withhold assistance from those people and processes detrimental to US and Afghan interests. This role will demand flexible planning, frequent patience, and, as this transition rapidly unfurls, increasing deference to Afghan processes.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Putting the crime back in Crimea.
3. Bye-partisanship.
