Humph Day Highlights

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  Contracting across the pond. Contributor Diana Rodriguez explains, “Applying for overseas jobs isn’t always an easy decision. Overseas jobs vary considerably, and it is wise to get as much information about the job requirements and expectations before signing on the dotted line. Depending on the country or region, special consideration may be necessary before moving forward.”

2.  Electronic footprints and you. Contributor Marko Hakamaa explains, “If private companies or individuals can collect this information, then it would stand to reason that the government should be able to leverage this same information to create a more complete picture of who you are in order to determine your level of trustworthiness to protect national security.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Pakistan—three years after OBL. Politico.Com contributor Nahal Toosi reports, “Decades of policies that promoted austere, harsh versions of Islam—brought about largely thanks to funding by the Saudis, the cowardice and rapaciousness of Pakistani leaders, and strategic silence on the part of U.S. leaders eager to see insurgents push the Soviets out of neighboring Afghanistan—had seemingly made some forms of violence increasingly acceptable, or at least tolerable, to mainstream Pakistanis.”

2.  Ukraine’s crazy COIN. TheDailyBeast.Com contributor Jamie Dettmer reports, “The Ukrainian counter-insurgency operation seems to rely on hit-and-run tactics that aren’t denying much territory to the separatists but are inflaming local opinion and losing the battle for hearts and minds. The operation isn’t stabilizing the region or helping to stem the rising lawlessness—something most people across the east are desperate to see brought to an end.” DefenseOne.Com’s James Kitfield reports, “Ukraine Shows Us ‘You Never Know What’s Around the Corner.’”

3.  DoD and sexual assault. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “As the Pentagon released figures last week showing that incidents of sexual assault increased 50 percent between 2012 and 2013, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel vowed to take a number of steps, including some designed specifically to reach out to men, who make up half of all reported victims of sexual assault, according to a Pentagon study released last week.”  Read the Pentagon’s reports back to 2004.

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  Boeing and Navy—closing the deal. GovConWire.Com reports, “Boeing (NYSE: BA) is set to finalize the details of a U.S. Navy order for an additional fleet of fighter jets . . . . the contract is worth billions of dollars and involves 47 F/A-18 Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, funded from fiscal years 2013 and 2014. . . . the deal includes 12 Growlers for the Australian government. The two sides expect to sign the contract by June. . . .”

2.  Harpoons to Brazil. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “The US government cleared a $169 million sale of Boeing AGM-84L Harpoon missiles to Brazil . . . . Brazil requested 16 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Missiles, four CATM-84L Harpoon Block II Captive Air Training Missiles, spares, training, logistics and support equipment . . . .”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Unsolved Mysteries. WashingtonPost.Com contributor Caitlin Dewey with five internet phenomena.

2.  NSA’s mystery tweet. Also from Caitlin Dewey, cracking the code on NSA’s encoded tweet: “The Internet was abuzz . . . over a cryptic tweet sent by the National Security Agency’s careers account, which looked like (1) a particularly bad pocket tweet, (2) the latest from Rakesh Agrawal, or (3) a coded message containing national secrets/spy instructions/something else out of the FX drama ‘The Americans.’ . . . An NSA spokeswoman explained to the Daily Dot that the agency is known for its ‘code markers and code breakers,’ and that the tweet was ‘part of our recruitment efforts to attract the best and the brightest.’”

3.  Dat’s Data—the power of numbers. FederalTimes.Com’s Steve Watkins picks the brain of a data master: “Data is an asset as far as we’re concerned. If you look at it, it’s no different than money. If you get money, and you just bury it in the mattress, it won’t grow. It won’t provide you any value except when you spend it. But if you invest it wisely, it will grow, and you can use it for multiple needs and you can expand your spending potential. And, that’s how we view data assets in the VA: How we can take that data, transform it into information that can help decision makers to make better decision, policy folks to make better policy, planning folks to plan wisely with facts, data driven? So that is challenge that we see. We must shift VA from all of these silos of excellence to an integrated environment.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Monica mania: “Ms. Lewinsky, now 40, broke her years-long silence about her affair with President Bill Clinton in the article to appear in the May 8 issue of Vanity Fair. In excerpts released by the magazine on Tuesday—which include a photograph of her wearing a white dress and lying casually on a sofa—Ms. Lewinsky sounds off about her regrets, her feelings of humiliation and the effect that the scandal has had on her career.”

2.  Benghazi E&E: “The House will vote as early as Thursday on a resolution to create a select committee to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, citing ‘evasion’ from the White House, introduced the resolution Tuesday night, a day after appointing Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to head the panel, which will be made up of seven Republicans and five Democrats. Boehner said the panel will have special investigatory tools and will have the singular purpose ‘of getting the unvarnished truth about what took place leading up to, during, and following the terrorist attack on our consulate in Libya . . . . The American people will accept no less.’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “State Secrets in the Snowden Era.” Reuters contributor Jack Shafer argues in an in-depth discussion, “Making secrets and managing them have always been a great source of political power, and the closer politicians get to this power, the more enamored of it they become.”

2.  “Egypt’s future in the shadow of Nasser.” Aljazeera.Com contributor John Bell poetically argues, “The revolution of 2011 has unleashed untamed dynamics and the impatience of short-term expectations, while, Egypt’s demographic and socio-economic problems require long term solutions. Sisi knows this, but unless he quickly adapts to the demands of his red-blooded revolutionary era, he may find his tenure short, bitter and fatefully tragic. As he decides, the looming shadow of Nasser will pass into the slipstream of history like many other dreams in the eternal land of the Nile.

3.  “Benghazi Is No Watergate.” USNews.Com contributor Nicole Hemmer argues, “There’s room for debate about whether these attacks are a result of incompetence, a consequence of the war on terror, or a sign that the world is a dangerous place. But they hardly rise to the level of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’”

THE FUNNIES

1.  Oligarch envy.

2.  Nice shootin’, Beetle.

3.  Eye test.

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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.