FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Security clearance help. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “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 Long term delays may lead to an offer being rescinded completely. . . . You wouldn’t think twice about calling in professional help with your tax return for Uncle Sam. Consider getting help when you’re applying for a job with him. The return could be worth the investment.”
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THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Iraq 301—a treatise “Iraq in Crisis.” MUST READ. Take the time to examine Anthony Cordesman’s study of a country crumbling down. See also from Aljazeera.Com, “Iraqi forces bolster defence of Baghdad.”
2. Captured—Benghazi’s mastermind. AP’s Lolita C. Baldor and Nancy Benac report, “U.S. officials said Ahmed Abu Khattala was being held on the USS New York, a Navy amphibious transport dock ship in the Mediterranean Sea. . . . Abu Khattala, who was captured Sunday on the outskirts of Benghazi by U.S. special forces, was headed to the United States to face what President Barack Obama called ‘the full weight of the American justice system.’” See also, “Pentagon Announces Capture of Key Figure in Benghazi Attacks.”
3. Terrorist fight in Pakistan. DefenseNews.Com’s Usman Ansari reports, “The military operation underway since Sunday in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, Operation Zarb-e-Azb . . . indicates Pakistan has finally lost patience with all terrorist groups and not just those opposed to the Pakistani state, say analysts. However, they acknowledge the struggle will be a long one. According to the military’s Inter Services Public Relations media arm, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif ‘emphasized that all terrorists along with their sanctuaries must be eliminated without any discrimination,’ and the operation is targeted at ‘terrorists who are holed up in the Agency and have picked up arms against the state of Pakistan.’”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Lockheed ditched—GPS satellites back up for bids. NextGov.Com’s Bob Brewin reports, “Faced with delays in delivery of next-generation GPS III satellites by Lockheed Martin, the Air Force has asked other vendors for proposals—due on Friday—to develop and build up to 22 satellites. The GPS III satellites will provide new and more secure signals for military users and new signals for civil use which promise enhanced accuracy for the location-based applications on smart phones and tablets.”
2. Lockheed picked—for counter-mortar fire. MilitaryAerospace.Com’s John Keller reports, “U.S. Army researchers are announcing plans to complete development of a hit-to-kill missile designed to destroy incoming rocket, artillery, and mortar rounds before they can do damage to U.S. and allied military forces. Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced their intention on Friday to award a five-year follow-on contract to the Lockheed Martin Corp. Missiles and Fire Control segment in Grand Prairie, Texas, for the Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) Integrated Demonstration (ID) program.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NSA-proofing—not gonna happen. DefenseOne.Com contributor Brendan Sasso explains, “The world’s largest Internet companies and thousands of average Internet users are trying to hide their private information from government snooping. The goal is to set up technological barriers to the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance programs. . . . But the truth is, efforts to improve online encryption and security can’t totally thwart the NSA. Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the chief technologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the idea of becoming ‘NSA-proof’ is ‘just silly.’”
2. Terrain analysis of cyberspace. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Several federal agencies are in the early stages of mapping out a realm that has no geography, in hopes of preempting breaches and successfully hacking adversaries. . . . T-Sciences technology meshes real-world geopolitical data, satellite imagery and videos—things one can see on a map—with analogous cyber activity. The mashup provides analysts with a 360 degree view of what is happening on computer systems and in the physical world.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. I’m with Stupid “The No. 2 House Democrat doesn’t anticipate a repeat of October’s partial government shutdown, saying Republicans ‘are not stupid’ to again demand spending cuts and other conditions that led to last year’s budget impasse. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said that despite deep ideological rifts among congressional Republicans, a scenario he said was highlighted by last week’s shocking primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia, he believes the GOP is ‘trying to heal some of their divisions as they look to’ the mid-term elections in November.’”
2. No process due: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday the captured Libyan militant suspected of carrying out the Benghazi attacks of 2012 should be ‘interrogated extensively’ and shouldn’t be given due process rights. He was asked if Ahmed Abu Khatallah should be tried in a U.S. court, as authorities intend on doing. ‘First I congratulate those who were involved in capturing this guy. I think that’s a significant step. He needs to be interrogated extensively. And I hope that will occur,’ McConnell said. ‘There has been a tendency in this administration, as you know, to treat this like a law enforcement matter. Read them their rights. Get them a lawyer. I hope they’re not doing that.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The Moral Argument for American Restraint in Iraq—and Beyond.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Noah Berlatsky argues, “Restraint, then, is not merely a practical necessity for the United States to improve its security. It’s also an ethical duty, and a specifically American ideal. Rather than fearing America’s ‘decline’ because we’re not able to undertake a land war in Ukraine or a third invasion of Iraq, we should welcome a world in which the U.S. does not try to solve other people’s problems by force.”
2. “What’s Bergdahl worth? Everything.” Reuters contributor Evangeline Morphos argues, “Captives of war are pawns of opposing political forces. They are traded not on the basis of their individual merits but on the basis of power dynamics. In both the fictional narrative of The Iliad and, sadly, the real case of Bergdahl, the captives are caught in the messiness of politics.”
3. “Iraq in turmoil: The rise of ‘Syraq.’” Aljazeera.Com contributor Ibrahim Al-Marashi argues, “Syraq is a reality today, but it is simply a zone that challenges Iraq’s sovereignty rather than resulting in its demise. The decisions the Iraqi leadership will make in the following weeks, will ultimately decide if disenfranchised Iraqis and Iraqi politicians will have the incentive to decouple Iraq from the Syrian conflict.”
THE FUNNIES
2. #Airstrikes.
3. Always resonates.
