FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. FBI to hire 2,000 Cybers. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “The opportunities are there for cybersecurity professionals. If you go in with your eyes wide open. You will not be hacking President Putin’s emails, and your salary will fall behind the private sector. But if you have a passion for law enforcement and cyber skills, the FBI may offer the ideal career.”
2. Secret slow boat to China. Contributor Marko Hakamaa tells the story: “A General Services Administration (GSA) government employee with a Top Secret security clearance and Special Compartmented Information access was . . . traveling to China without notifying his agency, not reporting foreign contacts, falsifying a security clearance application, and hiding personal assets during the course of filing for bankruptcy.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Taliban seize Karachi airport. Reuters reports, “Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed Pakistan’s busiest airport on Sunday and at least 27 people were killed in a night-long battle at one of the country’s most high-profile targets. . . . The attack began just before midnight when 10 gunmen wearing military uniforms shot their way into the airport’s old terminal used mainly for charter and executive flights. Gun battles raged through the night until security forces regained control of the airport at dawn.” See also, “Deadly Airport Attack.”
2. The Taliban Trade—who the Five really are. Los Angeles Times’ Shashank Bengali and Hashmat Baktash report, “Obama critics have said the swap could endanger American lives, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling the five Taliban members ‘the hardest and toughest of all.’ A closer look at the former prisoners, however, indicates that not all were hard-core militants. Three held political positions in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and were considered relative moderates. A fourth was a mid-level police official, experts say. The fifth, however, has a darker past. . . .” See also, LongWarJournal.Org’s “Member of Taliban’s elite Supreme Shura among 5 transferred to Qatar” and “Clash of Values.”
3. The trials of Bergdahl. WaPo’s Karen DeYoung reports, “Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told his doctors and debriefers that he was repeatedly tortured by his Taliban captors and was kept in a cage for extended periods after twice trying to escape . . . . What does seem clear, from intelligence reports over the years and accounts in addition to Bergdahl’s own, is that he was frequently moved while in captivity and was traded among various groups of militants . . . .” [Is Bergdahl’s story beginning to sound suspiciously like another one?]
4. Defeating terrorism in Egypt. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has used his first speech as Egypt’s president to promise to ‘defeat terrorism’, saying that security is a priority and that he has no time for reconciliation with opponents. Hours after his inauguration on Sunday, the former army general said there would be a new era for all except those who ‘turn to crimes and violence’. ‘Defeating terrorism and achieving security is the top priority,’ said Sisi, adding there would be ‘no leniency and truce with those who resort to violence’.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Army Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) BAE’s “Bradley-based solution.” DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Scott R. Gourley reports, “The BAE Systems AMPV team includes DRS Technologies, responsible for power management, distribution, and integration; Northrop Grumman Corporation, responsible for mission command mission equipment package design and integration; Air Methods Corporation, responsible for the design and integration of medical evacuation and treatment subsystems; and the Red River Army Depot, Texas, responsible for vehicle teardown and component remanufacture. The company’s offering includes powertrain and drivetrain components from Cummins, L3 Communications, and LOC Performance.”
2. F-35s closer to Canada. GovConWire.Com reports, “Canadian officials will soon decide on whether to go ahead with its $8.22 billion order of F-35 fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of CF-18s . . . authorities had to revisit the initial decision to purchase 65 of the jets from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) following calls from various quarters for an independent review of the sole-sourcing process. . . . the 18-month study has concluded with a recommendation to proceed with the deal.” For more details, see Reuters’ “Canadian review will recommend buying Lockheed F-35 fighter jet.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. FedRAMP—beefing up cloud security. NextGov.Com’s Frank Konkel explains, “One day after the deadline for cloud service providers to assess their offerings against the government’s baseline cloud security standards, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, known as FedRAMP, released new security controls and templates for agencies and CSPs to follow as they navigate the initiative’s updated requirements.”
2. No-Snowden Zone. VentureBeat.Com’s Richard Byrne Reilly reports, “The National Security Agency is working overtime to make sure another Edward Snowden doesn’t happen again. But many of the methods are rubbing current NSA employees the wrong way. Two former NSA officials told VentureBeat that the agency, still reeling from the Snowden debacle, has unleashed even stricter guidelines to restrict access to sensitive data.”
3. Simple beauty for a drab Monday. Wired.Com’s Damon Lavrinc explains, “Convertibles were once denounced as death traps because of their potential hazard in rollovers. In the 1960s, US legislators even considered outlawing them. Hoping to stay ahead of such a ban, Porsche designed a safer pop-top, replacing the roof of the 911 coupe with a removable section between the windshield and a roll bar. The company called its new model the Targa, after Italy’s Targa Florio sports-car race. Some 50 years later, Porsche has updated the iconic design with a smarter roof—a sophisticated push-button system that keeps owners’ manicures intact.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Old razzle-dazzle: “It probably didn’t work out exactly as hoped, but the White House’s controversial trade of five hardened Taliban for a U.S. POW diverted the mainstream media’s attention away from the escalating Veterans Affairs Department scandal that threatened President Obama’s reputation with veterans. According to a new report from the Center for Media Research, the VA story that dominated the news prior to the prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was reduced to a mere 2 minutes and 16 seconds over all three networks over the last week, said the conservative media watchdog.”
2. Politics of impeachment: “Despite anger in many quarters of the nation over the president’s prisoner swap, Republicans are backing off impeachment threats because they fear it would rally President Obama’s Democratic base and kill the GOP’s chances to win the Senate, according to congressional insiders and sources. ‘150 days out from a general election is not a realistic time to begin such a solemn and Constitutionally important process . . . . That would have the opposite effect of what we are planning for in November. We are planning for fewer Democrats in the House and fewer Democrats in the Senate and less power for President Obama in January. Impeachment, which would never pass the Senate, and would rally Obama’s currently demoralized base, would limit, if not eliminate possible GOP gains in the House and Senate’ . . . .”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Terrorism and the Wages of Hostage Taking.” Reuters contributor and former hostage David Rhode argues, “The focus of our anger should be the kidnappers. They are the problem, not hostages, their families, or a government that meets a demand. We must unite in fighting the perpetrators of a craven crime—not each other.”
2. “Edward Snowden: Whistleblower or traitor?” Aljazeera.Com contributor argues, “What is clear is that Snowden pulled back the curtain on new reality of living within a fishbowl of constant surveillance. People clearly don’t like it, even if they don’t like Snowden. They are left however with the same sense of frustration and isolation when it comes to their government. Snowden stepped outside of a system that many Americans now view as impenetrable and unchanging. Whatever he may be, Snowden remains fascinating precisely because he proved to be the malfunctioning cog, the one who walked away.”
3. “In Russia, one legislator stands against the Putin agenda.” Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl explains, “’Putin can’t afford to suffer a defeat in Ukraine. The regime wouldn’t survive it,’ Ponomarev declares. That makes the ongoing struggle over Russia’s neighbor sound much more dangerous than most people in the West understand.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Hostages.
3. Bucket list.
