Monday Mourning

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Tough times on the job. Contributor John Holst explains, “It’s very simple and tempting to take the easy route and react negatively to job loss.  I know my initial reaction wasn’t positive.  But, there are always better reasons to get the work done.  I couldn’t ignore the fact and impact of losing the job, but I did continue to focus on the things and people that matter.”

2. Cool jobs to consider. Contributor David Brown reports, “These businesses are interesting in their own right, but are especially important to you, the clearance-holding job hunter, because they represent a hidden job market lush with the kinds of opportunities more associated with nimble dot-com startups than the ‘traditional’ defense industry. And in this market you have the upper hand.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. War powers. DefenseOne.Com’s Molly O’Toole reports, “As the United States military’s intervention in Iraq intensifies, so does the debate between legislative and executive branch officials about President Barack Obama’s muscular use of war powers. . . . The U.S. operation in Iraq is likely to extend beyond the 60-day limit under the War Powers Resolution that triggers congressional approval, meaning Obama may need a different authority to continue the fight.” See also from DoDBuzz.Com, “Pentagon May Retool Budget for Iraq Airstrikes.”

2. ISIS—“a danger to Islam.” AP’s Sarah El Deeb reports from Cairo, “The top Islamic authority in Egypt, revered by many Muslims worldwide, launched an Internet-based campaign Sunday challenging an extremist group in Syria and Iraq by saying it should not be called an ‘Islamic State.’ . . . Its violent attacks, including mass shootings, destroying Shiite shrines, targeting minorities and beheadings including American journalist James Foley, have shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike.” See also from Aljazeera.Com, “Islamic State captures key Syrian air base” and from U.S. CENTCOM, “U.S. Military Conducts Airstrikes Near Irbil, Mosul Dam.”

3. Freed—an American journalist. Reuters reports, “al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria on Sunday freed an American writer missing since 2012 following what officials said were efforts by the Gulf Arab state of Qatar to win his release. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that Peter Theo Curtis had been held by Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official wing in Syria whose rivalry with militant group Islamic State has fueled war among the insurgents themselves.” See also from Christian Science Monitor, “After Foley murder, more jihadi threats to murder hostages” and from Washington Post, “The brutality of ‘Jihadi John,’ the Islamic State militant who decapitated James Foley.”

4. Bringing together Air Guard and active. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “e US Air Force’s top uniformed official expects to see the lines between the active, guard and reserve components continue to come down as the service looks for ways to operate effectively under limited budgets. ‘If we can become more efficient as an Air Force without losing operational capability, by putting more things in the air guard and reserve component, then why wouldn’t we?’ Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Saturday at the 136th General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS).”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Excelis’ $5 million IT contract. FederalTimes.Com’s Michael Peck reports, “Exelis has been awarded a $517 million IT contract to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The fixed-price contract, for one year plus four-one year options, calls for Exelis to provide enterprise information management support and IT support for the Corps of Engineers’ Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi.”

2. Air Force advancing commercial space. GovConWire.Com reports, “The U.S. Air Force has requested information on the availability of locally made rocket engines that the service can use for its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. AF is looking to utilize industry’s existing launch systems or alternative configurations to currently used boosters in EELV-class platforms . . . . The AF request for information says the branch is interested in strategies ‘that potentially could result in greater U.S. competitiveness in the commercial space arena.’ Industry can submit responses to the RFI until Sept. 19.”

3. Special Ops hand helds. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Air Force special forces needed hand-held radios to conduct combat control, pararescue, tactical air control, and other sensitive operations. They found their solution from the Harris Corp. RF Communications segment in Rochester, N.Y. Officials of the Battlefield Airmen branch of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $19.5 million contract to Harris RF . . . .”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Data compromise. Washington Post’s Jim Finkle and Mark Hosenball report, “A cyber attack at a firm that performs background checks for U.S. government employees compromised data of at least 25,000 workers, including some undercover investigators, and that number could rise, agency officials said on Friday. The breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based US Investigations Services (USIS) exposed highly personal information of workers at the Department of Homeland Security’s headquarters as well as its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection units . . . .”

2. Unprepared for the threat. VentureBeat.Com’s Bob Ackerman reports, “Cybersecurity made it onto the list of the top five concerns of U.S. electric utilities this year, according to a new Black & Veatch survey. And less than a third of respondents said they’re equipped to handle an attack. And it’s not just energy companies that are worried. Boards of hundreds of U.S.-based corporations are realizing they’re unprepared for the growing threats of cyber attacks as well.”

3. SpaceX goes boom. DefenseNews.Com’s Aaron Mehta reports, “A SpaceX rocket exploded Friday during a test launch outside of McGregor, Texas. The test flight was part of SpaceX’s experimentation with reusable boosters. The launch involved a Falcon 9 vehicle configured with three rocket engines. . . . While the explosion is unlikely to have a direct impact on SpaceX’s certification for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, it provides an opening for critics of the company. Competitor United Launch Alliance has argued that SpaceX has yet to prove reliability, an issue also raised by Air Force officials as a reason for the long, in-depth certification process.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Rethinking ISIS: “The Obama administration says the nation is facing a threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that, in the words of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, is ‘beyond anything we’ve seen.’ Earlier this year, however, President Obama was dismissing ISIS as the junior varsity of al Qaeda. The White House on Friday suggested that assessment is now moot because the group has ‘gained capacity in the last several months.’ A timeline of remarks this year from Obama and other administration officials show an evolution of thinking on ISIS—a change critics say has not come fast enough . . . .”

2. Freudian slip: “In this election cycle, as he has sought re-election and hit back against some insurgent outside groups, Sen. Mitch McConnell has adopted the motto, repeated often in interviews, ‘winners make policy and losers go home.’ But McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, put a new, inadvertent twist on that motto during a recent campaign stop in Kentucky. ‘Losers make policy, and winners go home,’ McConnell said.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “How Snowden Complicates the Prevention of Future Leaks.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Conor Friedersdorf argues, “I submit that a system that conducts mass surveillance on Americans, tortures abroad, destroys the lives of innocents in intramural competitions to accrue CIA assets, ponders using pornography to discredit non-terrorists, and passes the private information of Americans to foreign governments is particularly dangerous if staffed entirely by people who are not sufficiently troubled by all that to let the public know what is going on.”

2. “Americans are back on the war bandwagon.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Alastair Sloan argues, “You might argue that this mess was caused by the US, and so is theirs to clean up. Well, the US cannot. All the US has done in the last 30 years, and especially the last decade, is worsen its mess. It’s time to step back and think, and not give yet more fuel to the violence.”

3. “Rise of the Western jihadist.” Stars & Stripes contributor Alex Massie explains, “If Foley’s executioner were a rogue radical or ‘lone wolf,’ it would be easier to dismiss him as a lunatic extremist of the sort with which all countries are afflicted. But he is not a one-off. The jihadist who executed Foley is one of, it is estimated, at least 500 British citizens likely to be fighting with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.”

THE FUNNIES

1. Ice bucket.

2. Foreign policy.

3. Mess-in-potamia.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.