NIST Guidance, Villagers Beat Boko Haram, and the Future of Federal Service

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Successful e-mail recruiting. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “Years ago, introductions would have taken place face-to-face, or maybe even over the phone. Today, emails or network messages are a great way to quickly touch base with a contact, but if you stop talking like a real person in your email, you quickly lose credibility. Sometimes, it is hard to focus with so much email in the inbox, so here are five ways to make your introductory email stand out from all the noise in your recipient’s inbox.”

2. The great first impression. Also from Jillian Hamilton, “First impressions happen only once, and in the recruiting world, a good first impression can go a long way in putting you a step ahead of your competition. We all have off days. We all say stupid things. However, a little preparation and research can be a game changer when it comes to making a bold, first impression (sounds like the same advice we give candidates, doesn’t it?). A recruiter can say a lot about a company. Are you delivering the right message to candidates in the first meeting?”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Taking on Boko Haram. BBC.Com reports, “Residents of three villages in northern Nigeria have repelled an attack by suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters, an eyewitness has told the BBC. About 200 of the militants were killed during the fighting in the Kala-Balge district of Borno state, he said. The witness said the residents had formed a vigilante group. . . . A security official told the Associated Press news agency that the vigilantes in Kala-Balge, which is near Lake Chad, were ready for a fight after learning of an impending Boko Haram attack.”

2. New York’s 9/11 Museum to open. AP reports, “By turns chilling and heartbreaking, the ground zero museum leads people on an unsettling journey through the terror attacks, with forays into their lead up and legacy. There are scenes of horror, including videos of the skyscrapers collapsing and people falling from them. But there also are symbols of heroism, ranging from damaged fire trucks to the wristwatch of one of the airline passengers who confronted the hijackers.” See also, “Inside the Sept. 11 Museum.”

3. Ukraine talks peace, rebels not invited. Reuters’ Richard Balmforth reports, “Ukraine’s interim leaders on Wednesday pushed a plan to allow the regions a greater say over their affairs, but the exclusion of separatists from round table talks cast doubt over whether the move could defuse the crisis. . . . When the round table talks opened in the parliament building in Kiev, the country’s main leaders sharply attacked Russia, with acting president Oleksander Turchinov accusing Moscow of launching ‘systematic action to destabilize eastern and southern regions of Ukraine’ to produce an ‘explosive situation’.”

4. Afghanistan—the votes are in. Khaama.Com reports, “The independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) on Thursday released the final vote results for the presidential election. Based on the final vote results, Abdullah Abdullah has secured 44% of the total votes, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai 31.6% and Zalmai Rassoul 11.2%. . . . the election runoff between the leading candidates will be held on 14 June.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Making sense of Federal contracting. NextGov.Com’s Rebecca Carroll reports, “The Labor Department has a question: Does anybody know what’s up with federal contracting? The department’s Office of Procurement Services is looking to the private sector as it tries ‘to determine if the capability currently exists to provide online acquisition knowledge services as a subscription,’ according to a document posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website.”

2. Network Solutions 2020—a contracting strategy. FederalTimes.Com’s Michael Hardy reports, “The General Services Administration is making strides in developing Network Solutions 2020, the governmentwide telecommunications program that will replace the expiring Networx contracts. . . . NS2020, unlike the major communications programs that preceded it, will not be made up of a few large, comprehensive contracts, said Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for Integrated Technology Services. Instead it is a strategy, a portfolio of smaller contracts, including some that already exist.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Best Practices—National Institute of Standards and Technology. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports on the latest NIST guidance, “The National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a new draft publication May 13, which aims to help agencies build or acquire IT systems with better security baked in from the start, by outlining best practices and recognized software engineering principals. The draft of ‘Systems Security Engineering: An Integrated Approach to Building Trustworthy Resilient Systems,’ or NIST Special Publication 800-160 is actually the first stage of a four-part process. NIST intends to publish a final and complete version of SP 800-160 by December 2014.” Read the draft.

2. UH-60 UAS—you have the controls. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “Sikorsky plans to launch an autonomous version of its Black Hawk helicopter, the company announced during this week’s Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International annual conference. The helicopter giant will take a UH-60A and turn it into a proof-of-concept development cargo carrier. The goal is to show the rotorcraft can take off, fly and land safely while under control of a computer.”

3. Google glass is back in the USA. AP reports, “Google is once again selling its Internet-connected eyewear to anyone in the U.S. as the company fine-tunes a device that has sparked intrigue and disdain for its potential to change the way people interact with technology. . . . Glass, which comes in five different colors, looks like a pair of spectacles except the Explorer edition doesn’t contain any actual glass in the frame. Instead, the device has a thumbnail-sized screen attached above the right eye so a user can check email, see Twitter posts or get directions without having to grope for a phone.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Slick Willy on Rove: “Former President Clinton said he was ‘dumbfounded’ at Karl Rove’s recent questioning about his wife and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s December 2013 hospital visit for a blood clot. ‘I got to give him credit, you know that embodies that old saying, ‘Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,’’ Clinton said at the 2014 Fiscal Summit hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in Washington. ‘First they say she faked her concussion, now they say she’s auditioning for a part on ‘The Walking Dead.’’ Clinton’s response drew laughter from the crowd of about 200 people.”

2. Rove is Right?: “The point about her health being a consideration in her decision making is almost a tautology. Most everyone assumes—not just evil Karl—that if she feels up for it, she’s a go. And that if she passes, her health is likely to be the reason. Even if you take at face value everything we’ve heard about Clinton’s condition in December 2012, it was frighteningly serious. The clot, according to The Washington Post, ‘can cause permanent brain damage, coma or death if not detected and treated in time.’ News accounts say it was caught early, and Clinton is performing as ably as ever. But politicians have a long history of lying through their teeth about their health—see Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy and Paul Tsongas, for example. So Clinton will have to provide a full accounting of the 2012 incident and her health in general.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “The Future of Federal Service Doesn’t Have to Be So Bleak.” GovExec.Com’s Jeffrey Neal argues, “We are not in a crisis today, but if we fail to modernize the civil service, we are likely to find the government unable to recruit and retain the caliber of talent it needs to protect our national security, borders and economic well-being. That would constitute a crisis and an outcome that should be unacceptable to anyone who cares about the future of America.”

2. Flashback: “When Do We Publish a Secret?” From July 2006, LA Times Editor Dean Baquet and NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller argue, “We understand that honorable people may disagree with any of these choices — to publish or not to publish. But making those decisions is the responsibility that falls to editors, a corollary to the great gift of our independence. It is not a responsibility we take lightly. And it is not one we can surrender to the government.”

3. “Tracking the Nigerian kidnappers.” Contributor Eliot Pence argues, “New technologies that can pull together wide-ranging sources of information may prove useful in untangling the region’s terrorist and criminal groups, which form a complex network of alliances and factions.”