FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Security clearance help. Editor Lindy Kyzer offers, “Will a seedy past affect your ability to obtain a security clearance? Not necessarily, but it does mean you may need assistance navigating the security clearance process. When you apply for a security clearance, time is money—literally. Delays in obtaining a security clearance may leave you benched, and unable work for the government or a defense contractor. Long term delays may lead to an offer being rescinded completely.”
2. Taking your clearance with you. Also from Editor Kyzer, “Because a security clearance is attached to a position and not a person, it doesn’t exactly ‘transfer,’ but your next company should be able to easily reinstate the clearance. The 13 adjudication guidelines are identical across federal agencies. Security clearance reciprocity has also been heavily emphasized in security clearance reform and cost-savings initiatives. The Office of Management and Budget provides reciprocity guidelines with the goal of ensuring new security clearance investigations are only conducted when they’re required.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Friendly fire in Afghanistan, five dead. Khaama.Com reports, “The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) following a statement said Tuesday that five ISAF service members died in southern Afghanistan on Monday. The statement further added, ‘The casualties occurred during a security operation when their unit came into contact with enemy forces. Tragically, there is the possibility that fratricide may have been involved. The incident is under investigation. . . .’” AP reports, “Five NATO service members were killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in southern Afghanistan . . . . Separately, a NATO statement said a service member had died on Monday as a result of a non-battle injury in eastern Afghanistan. The deaths bring to 36 the number of NATO soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, with eight service members killed in June.”
2. Attacks, again, in Karachi. Reuters’ Syed Raza Hassan reports from Karachi, “A security academy at Karachi’s airport came under attack on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan’s busiest airport that killed more than 30 people. . . . It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start of a broader offensive in the North Waziristan region where the al Qaeda-linked Taliban are based, or indeed if they had been carried out in retaliation for the airport attack.”
3. Sexual harassment in the C.I.A. AP’s Ken Dilanian reports, “Fifteen CIA employees were found to have committed sexual, racial or other types of harassment last year, including a supervisor who was removed from the job after engaging in ‘bullying, hostile behavior,’ and an operative who was sent home from an overseas post for inappropriately touching female colleagues . . . .”
4. Getting to Work. American Forces Press Service’s Jim Garamone reports, “The Defense Department formally welcomed Bob Work as the deputy secretary of defense [Monday] as the Pentagon’s new ‘chief operating officer’ took his ceremonial oath of office. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel welcomed Work, a retired Marine colonel who served as Navy undersecretary, saying there is no better partner to help him during such a time of change.”
5. War games on the Ukraine border. DefenseNews.Com reports, “ATO on Monday launched one of its largest military maneuvers in the Baltic states since tensions spiked with neighboring Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Around 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles from 10 countries including Britain, Canada and the United States are participating in the Sabre Strike exercises near the Latvian capital Riga. Russia has voiced its objections to the maneuvers, which move to neighboring Lithuania on Tuesday.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Navy building tech acquisition teams. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Edward H. Lundquist reports, “The 2014 Navy Opportunity Forum paired small businesses and researchers with potential partners, funding sources, acquisition professionals, and resource sponsors. Companies—small businesses in particular—were able to present their new materials, processes, and manufacturing techniques to prime contractors and U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps program managers. . . . More than 1,000 attendees heard directly from Navy leadership, saw new technology, and met and exchanged ideas with technology developers, members of the acquisition community, lead system integrators, and first- and second-tier suppliers. The forum helps generate partnerships that allow these technologies to become part of programs that transition to the fleet.”
2. GSA picks Lockheed Martin. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The General Services Administration awarded Lockheed Martin a task order June 9 to help update its Federal Acquisition Service’s business systems. The award covers application development and modernization as well as operations and maintenance of a wide array of applications, including personal property management, travel, fleet and purchase card services, according to an agency announcement.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Militarizing our police forces. New York Times’ Matt Apuzzo reports, “Police departments . . . are adding more firepower and military gear than ever. Some, especially in larger cities, have used federal grant money to buy armored cars and other tactical gear. And the free surplus program remains a favorite of many police chiefs who say they could otherwise not afford such equipment.
2. Subpoena—the other decryption tool. ArsTechnica.Com’s David Kravets explains, “The administrative subpoena, which does not require the Fourth Amendment standard of probable cause, comes as the number of so-called drop boxes from media organizations and other whistleblower groups is on the rise in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. The Washington Post and the Guardian were among the latest to deploy drop boxes on June 5. But no matter how securely encrypted the boxes might be, the subpoena is an old-school cracking tool that doesn’t require any electronic decryption methods.” See also, “VA Inspector General Issues Subpoena for POGO Whistleblower Records: POGO Says No.”
3. Another world through Google Glass. Slate.Com’s Jim Edwards offers, “Put simply, try to imagine the number of businesses that could use the ability to see something far away from a remote location, but would rather not fly their personnel there. If you’ve ever taken part in a conference call, using video or not, you’ll know that businesses have an ever-growing need for remote services. With Glass, there is no need to send anyone, anywhere. Just hire someone local who owns a pair of Glass. The oil-exploration industry has discovered this (apparently visual site inspections are a costly part of finding oil). Doctors are already distance-learning new surgical techniques via Glass. And deaf people can get sign language services on Glass when once they could not.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Money talks, and votes: “Rep. Vance McAllister (R-LA) openly acknowledged on Thursday that members of Congress expect to receive campaign contributions for voting a certain way on bills. During an event with the Northeast Chapter of Louisiana CPAs, the congressman shared an anecdote that illustrated how ‘money controls Washington,’ according to the Ouachita Citizen. He said that many approach their work in D.C. as a ‘steady cycle of voting for fundraising and money instead of voting for what is right.’ McAllister discussed a bill related to the Bureau of Land Management, which he voted against. McAllister told the crowd that an unnamed colleague told him on the House floor that if he voted ‘no’ on the bill, he would receive a contribution from Heritage, a conservative think tank.”
2. Narcissistic Looney Tunes: “In a case of silence speaking louder than words, Hillary Clinton did not deny dismissing Monica Lewinsky as a ‘narcissistic loony tune’ after Lewinsky’s affair with her husband went public. ‘I am not gonna comment on what I did or did not say back in the late 90s . . . .’ Lewinsky reemerged in the public spotlight this past month because of an essay she penned for Vanity Fair, in which she gave her side of the affair and the subsequent fallout. Some Republicans—most notably a potential 2016 opponent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul—have honed in on the affair as evidence of the Clintons’ ‘hypocrisy’ on women’s issues. But Clinton said she wasn’t fazed by Lewinsky’s return—that she’s ‘perfectly free to do that . . . but that’s not something that I spend a lot of time thinking about.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “On anniversary of Snowden’s NSA disclosure, a shocking realization.” Christian Science Monitor contributor Elizabeth Goitein argues, “It has been one year since the first public disclosure of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents leaked by Edward Snowden. He has said his aim was to start a debate over US government surveillance practices, and on that score, he succeeded spectacularly. Yet for all the debate, the only thing more striking than the changes that have resulted is how much has stayed the same.”
2. “Restoring Trust in VA Health Care.” New England Journal of Medicine contributor Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer argues, “To some observers, the VA’s problems confirm that government cannot manage health care. To others, they tell a simple story of insufficient funding: the VA needs more money to care for the large number of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for aging Vietnam veterans. Unfortunately, neither narrative adequately captures the challenges facing this organization or provides guidance on how we might address them.”
3. “N Korea: Tuning into the ‘hermit kingdom.’” Aljazeera.Com contributor Andrei Lankov argues, “The North Korean government has serious reasons to fear the spread of information about the prosperity of South Korea (and also China, albeit to a lesser extent). They do not want to follow East Germany’s fate. So, they do what they can to keep their population isolated and ignorant of what is going on in the outside world to ensure the survival of their regime.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Irony.
3. Bergdalhzi.
