Humph Day Highlights

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  In demand—Cleared Project Managers. Evan Lesser reports, “Both private industry and government agencies rely on PMPs and their unique experience and knowledge every day. But with just over a half million people holding a PMP cert, jobs and opportunities are often more plentiful than available talent. Metro D.C.-based STG, Inc. regularly hires cleared professionals with a PMP certification. Presently, STG is looking for 15 project management professionals with Secret clearance for interesting work with the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission.”

2.  Keep the clearance active. Also from Evan Lesser, “Don’t let workers’ security clearance expire. Periodic reinvestigations of clearance holders are designed to ensure cleared workers remain suitable for access to classified information. If the results of a cleared worker’s reinvestigation are unfavorable, his security clearance can be revoked, leaving the worker without a job and a valuable career asset.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  PTSD and Pot. Aljazeera America’s James Higdon reports, “Although medical and recreational marijuana are legal in Washington, PTSD is not a qualifying condition under state law for a prescription, forcing veterans who suffer from post-combat stress either to lie to their doctors about why they need medical marijuana or to pay higher costs for recreational pot. . . . However, in Oregon, while recreational pot is not yet legal, PTSD can qualify a patient for medical marijuana, as it can in eight other states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Nevada.”

2.  Kyle White and his Medal of Honor. Local10.Com’s Greg Botelho and Ashley Fantz report, “[President] Obama called him on February 10 to tell him he’d be given the Medal of Honor. He’s the 10th recipient of that award for his actions in Afghanistan, and the seventh surviving recipient. Four service members received the Medal of Honor—all posthumously—for actions in the war in Iraq, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In a brief statement to reporters after Tuesday’s ceremony, White called the Medal of Honor ‘a symbol of the responsibility all soldiers knowingly face when they depart for distant lands in defense of the nation, a responsibility that locks us all in the bonds of brotherhood.’”

3.  Intractable civil war in Syrian. Reuters’ Michelle Nichols reports, “Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will step down on May 31, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, blaming an international deadlock over how to end the three-year civil war in the country for hampering his bid to broker peace. The veteran Algerian diplomat had long threatened to leave, just as his predecessor, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, did in 2012. Annan quit after six months as the U.N. and Arab League joint special representative on Syria, slamming the U.N. Security Council for failing to unite behind his efforts.” See also, “Infighting in Syria.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  $1 billion mil sale to Iraq. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “The Pentagon has cleared a nearly $1 billion package of aircraft trainers, surveillance aerostats and up-armored Humvees for the Iraqi military. . . . The largest part of the deal is 24 Beechcraft T-6C Texan II trainer aircraft. The turboprop aircraft and related services and equipment is estimated to cost $790 million. . . . . The aircraft are used to train pilots before they move to larger, more sophisticated aircraft. Iraq has already inked a deal to buy 36 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters. The first Iraqi F-16 made its initial flight last week.”

2.  Rebuilding the retirement system. NextGov.Com’s Bob Brewin reports, “DLA seeks a vendor versed in the seven-stage Business Capability Lifecycle for planning, design, acquisition, deployment, operations, maintenance and modernization of Defense Business Systems. The RFP calls for the winning vendor to develop new system architecture, a functional and technical design, convert and manage data migration from the old to new systems, develop new data interfaces, and provide a software development methodology, among other tasks. Interested vendors must reply to the RFP by June 4.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  Killer robots on trial. Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor reports, “On Tuesday in Geneva, the United Nations will convene a meeting on the use of ‘killer robots’—lethal autonomous weapons that in theory could select targets and attack them without direct human mediation. To be clear, killer robots don’t yet exist, but a host of countries are developing technology that could make them a reality in the not so distant future. Quite a few organizations and activists want to prevent that from ever happening.” See also, “The Case Against Killer Robots” and “The Military Is Going To Build Robots That Have Morals.”

2.  Scanning the world around you. Wired.Com’s Issie Lapowsky reports, “A simple search can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the world around you. But the world’s largest search engine, robust as it may be, has its shortcomings. Most notably, there’s no way to Google physical objects. . . . Scio is a scanner, about the size of a flash drive, that can determine the molecular makeup of objects like food and medication. It emits a beam of light, which you can shine on, say, a piece of fruit. The device will then connect to a smartphone app that reveals the nutritional breakdown of that piece of fruit. It uses near IR spectroscopy, and though it’s long been used in scientific environments, Consumer Physics has miniaturized the technology and made it more practical for consumers. This seemingly small development could have massive implications.”

3.  Cold war moves to space. NextGov.Com’s Alex Brown reports, “In a surprise move, the Russian government is attempting to limit the Pentagon’s ability to send satellites into space, cutting off the U.S. military’s access to the engine it uses for many of its launches. The cutoff, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday, is a response to U.S. sanctions, which have limited sales of some key space-technology items to Russia. While Russia won’t restrict the U.S. from buying the RD-180 engine altogether, sales will be limited to nonmilitary launches.” See also, “Russia’s Space Program Retaliates.”

4.  Space taxi on the horizon. GovConWire.Com reports, “Boeing (NYSE: BA) has scheduled an unmanned test flight of a private space taxi to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s commercial crew program . . . . NASA aims to transport astronauts as well as cargo to the ISS by November 2017.”

 POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  McCain sanctions executive action: “Forget hashtag diplomacy. Sen. John McCain said if he were president, he would send U.S. troops to Nigeria to rescue the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by an Islamist rebel group, regardless of whether he had the permission of the Nigerian government. . . . According to McCain, a United Nations bylaw permits U.S. troops on the ground in Nigeria because the kidnapping is a crime against humanity. . . . McCain said President Obama could act without the permission of Congress, just as Ronald Reagan did in 1983 when he decided to send U.S. troops to Grenada. ‘If we rescued these young girls,’ McCain said. ‘It would be the high point of the president’s popularity.’ McCain is among the most vocal critics of Obama’s foreign policy strategy, suggesting his approach has been weak and misguided, allowing adversaries to strengthen their hand.”

2.  Senate impasse: “Senate Republicans repeatedly have accused Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., of trying to ram through Democratic bills without giving them an opportunity to amend the legislation. Republicans say Reid has allowed only nine of their amendments since July 2013. Reid in turn has accused Republicans of shamefully trying to stall and block almost every Democratic bill and major White House nomination. The impasse came to a head Monday evening when a mostly noncontroversial energy-efficiency bill failed after Reid refused to hold votes on proposed GOP changes, including amendments to sped up natural gas exports, block new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on new coal-fired power plants and ban a tax on carbon emissions.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “After Boko Haram kidnapping: What does the US stand for?Christian Science Monitor contributor Dambisa Moyo argues, “It is naive to ignore the mounting evidence that, beyond considering its own strategic and national self-interest, the United States does not have an operating philosophy when it comes to defending human rights.

2.  “How Nigerians can thwart Boko Haram.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Good governance in Nigeria will help keep poor, young men from joining radical insurgencies. . . . With the world spotlight now on Nigeria, its people have an opportunity to dry up the swamp of corruption that allows militants to thrive. Foreign aid will not do that. Only the people can.”

3.  “The threat of a cloned Iranian stealth UAV.” MilitaryAerospace.Com contributor John Keller argues, “I think Iran is trying to lull U.S. military forces into a false defensive strategy in attempts to keep the Gulf open and safe for international shipping. They’re trying to leave the impression that an attack UAV would be the spearhead of an attack on U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf if it came to war. I don’t think that’s the case at all.”

THE FUNNIES

1.  The enemy?

2.  Decisions, decisions.

3.  Fatherly advice.

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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.