FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Finding cleared candidates quickly. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “Start by posting in the right place or give more weight to applicants responding from a cleared community. Using public sites like LinkedIn or Monster will certainly give you a broader audience, but it may not yield as many clearable candidates. Actively engage in the networks on cleared communities. Dealing with an already-cleared candidate is, of course, ideal.”
2. Finding federal jobs. Contributor Jillian Hamilton’s High Five for Fed job hunting: “This is a good time to check out the federal landscape. Budget cuts and employee morale are not ideal right now; however, with over 2 million federal employees and about a quarter of them eligible for retirement, the odds are in your favor. . . . Here are five tips for applying for a federal government job.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Omar al-Shishani—the face of ISIS. AP’s Bassem Mroue reports from Beirut, “A young, red-bearded ethnic Chechen has rapidly become one of the most prominent commanders in the breakaway al-Qaida group that has overrun swaths of Iraq and Syria, illustrating the international nature of the movement. Omar al-Shishani, one of hundreds of Chechens who have been among the toughest jihadi fighters in Syria, has emerged as the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS]. . . in contrast to the group’s Iraqi leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who remains deep in hiding and has hardly ever been photographed.” See also from Aljazeera.Com, “Iraq’s Baghdadi calls for ‘holy war,’”“Baghdadi’s vision of a new caliphate,” and “Militants try to tighten their grip.”
2. Fear of terrorism—a common denominator. Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor reports, “Pew Global Attitudes Project found that ‘concern about Islamic extremism is high among countries with substantial Muslim populations.’ . . . it underscores the growing fear and anger felt by many in Muslim-majority countries when facing a range of militant threats, from that of Boko Haram in Nigeria to ISIS to the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan. . . . Fear about terrorism has spiked in a host of countries, most conspicuously Lebanon, which has watched the spillover of Syria’s brutal civil war rekindle longstanding sectarian tensions at home.”
3. United States’ fight in Somalia. Reuters’ Phil Stewart reports, “U.S. military advisors have secretly operated in Somalia since around 2007 and Washington plans to deepen its security assistance to help the country fend off threats by Islamist militant group al Shabaab . . . . The deployments, consisting of up to 120 troops on the ground, go beyond the Pentagon’s January announcement that it had sent a handful of advisors in October. That was seen at the time as the first assignment of U.S. troops to Somalia since 1993 . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. A contract for writing contracts. FederalTimes.Com’s Steve Watkins reports, “The Army plans to issue a draft solicitation to industry in the next few months for a new contract writing system, according to Col. Patrick Burden, who is overseeing the program. The Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) is envisioned as a single enterprise contract writing and management system that will integrate with other Army enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and replace the existing Standard Procurement System (SPS)/Procurement Desktop-Defense (PD2) and Procurement Automated Data and Document System (PADDS). ACWS is expected to have about 8,000 users at 280 sites worldwide.”
2. $22 million to Boeing for Navy stealth. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Navy air combat experts are asking electro-optics engineers at the Boeing Co. to produce passive sensors for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighter-bomber to enable the aircraft to detect, track, and attack enemy aircraft in a stealthy way without making its presence known. . . . The system, which Boeing is buying from Lockheed Martin, uses infrared search and track technology to detect and provide weapon-quality track solutions fir potentially hostile aircraft . . . .” Remember, “Boeing, Lockheed-Martin to start full-scale development of infrared search sensor for F/A-18E/F combat aircraft.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Spy watch—Qassem Suleimani. Revisit New Yorker contributor Dexter Filkins’ “The Shadow Commander”: “Suleimani took command of the Quds Force fifteen years ago, and in that time he has sought to reshape the Middle East in Iran’s favor, working as a power broker and as a military force: assassinating rivals, arming allies, and, for most of a decade, directing a network of militant groups that killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Suleimani for his role in supporting the Assad regime, and for abetting terrorism. And yet he has remained mostly invisible to the outside world, even as he runs agents and directs operations.”
2. Emotional tipping points. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “If the idea of the government monitoring and even manipulating you on Facebook gives you a cold, creeping feeling, the bad news is that you can expect the intelligence community to spend a great deal more time and money researching sentiment and relationships via social networks like Facebook. In fact, defense contractors and high-level U.S. intelligence officials say that social network data has become one of the most important tools they use in the collecting intelligence.”
3. NSA gets two thumbs up. AP’s Ken Dilanian reports, “Endorsement of the NSA’s Internet surveillance programs by a bipartisan privacy board deeply disappointed civil liberties activists Wednesday while providing a measure of vindication for beleaguered U.S. intelligence officials. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, welcomed the conclusion by the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that the National Security Agency’s Internet spying on foreign targets in the U.S. has been legal, effective and subject to rigorous oversight to protect the rights of Americans.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. What about me! “Vice President Biden is doing everything he can to make sure people don’t forget that it’s not just Hillary Clinton who has an interest in the White House in 2016. He does too. After Clinton struggled to contain criticism of her lofty personal finances, there was Biden last week, highlighting his every-man status. ‘I don’t own a single stock or bond . . . . I have no savings account.” While numerous news reports later sought to disprove that fact— 2013 filings show Biden has a joint savings account with holdings ranging from $1,001 to $15,000—it showed he was looking for an opening, observers say. ‘It’s almost like he’s saying, or rather, screaming, ‘Don’t forget about me!’ said one former White House official. Or as Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons put it: ‘When a political opportunity presents itself, it’s really hard not to swing at that ball.’”
2. Stepping stone: “Julian Castro has both a blessing and a curse: He’s President Obama’s pick to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development, but most people are focused on what job he’ll take after HUD. When Obama nominated the 39-year-old San Antonio mayor, the universal footnote was that the soon-to-be youngest member of the president’s Cabinet was using the post as a stepping stone to a future presidential ticket. And Castro’s surrogates are hardly trying to lower expectations. Henry Cisneros, HUD secretary under President Bill Clinton—and Castro’s mentor—has been prepping the mayor for his ascension to Washington, framing the former lawyer’s ambitions in grand terms.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Israeli response to teen murders.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “The rise of civilization has come with the need to contain the impulse for revenge within the power of the state, rule of law, and a fair system of dispassionate justice run by a government. For Israelis and Palestinians to avoid revenge attacks, they need to agree on ways to accommodate each side’s demand for justice.”
2. “No peace in Palestine in 2014.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Daoud Kuttab argues, “The peace process was already on shaky ground when it began in September 2013 without consensus on two crucial issues: the general basis of the talks; and the need to suspend settlement activities in the occupied territories. A rowdy settler population and the absence of clear borders for Israel and Palestine has proved to be a formula for disaster.”
3. “Tragedy in Israel: It’s time to end aid to the Palestinian Authority.” National Review contributor Senator Rand Paul argues, “I call for all aid to the Palestinian Authority—every penny—to be cut off. Not one more U.S. taxpayer dollar should flow to Hamas or to the Palestinian Authority as long as it is allied with Hamas.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Cow smarts.
