What makes ISIS work, Army’s armored vehicles weak point, and Navy’s move to stronger sailors – all in today’s defense headlines.
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Employer brands. Contributor Jillian Hamilton’s high five + one: “Brands that communicate a cloudy and inconsistent message give candidates the idea that the company is disorganized, directionless, or dishonest. The following are six things to consider when you’re working on improving your employer brand.”
2. Brand makeover. Also from Jillian Hamilton, “Finding niche skills or upper management positions may require recruiters to tap into the creative side of things. Usually, top talent is employed elsewhere. Here are five unique ways to grab a candidate’s attention . . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. ISIS study. Slate.Com’s Josh Keating reports, “Over the last two years, the group has shown impressive strategic acumen, growing into the world’s wealthiest terrorist group and something close to a viable theocratic state. It has achieved those aims via a strategy of gaining and consolidating control within Iraq and Syria—two of the world’s most unstable states—while, unlike al-Qaida, avoiding action that would provoke a major U.S. response.” See also, “In northeast Syria, Islamic State builds a government.”
2. Not to be intimidated. AP’s Julie Pace reports from Wales, “President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron declared that their nations would ‘not be cowed’ by extremists from the Islamic State group who have claimed responsibility for killing two American journalists. They also challenged NATO to not turn inward in the face of the threat.”
3. NATO Summit. DefenseNews.Com’s Julian Hale reports, “Russian aggression against Ukraine is a major concern for NATO, and the plan would include longer-term reassurance measures for Eastern Europe, such as military exercises and other naval and aerial activity. . . . Russia’s actions in Ukraine have underlined the need for the ability to respond not just to direct conventional warfare but hybrid warfare involving sophisticated information campaigns across mainstream media and social media, and tactics that included Russian operatives sent to Ukraine covertly to create instability . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Army makeover. DoDBuzz.Com’s Michael Hoffman reports, “The Army has had to cut a number of programs—notably the Ground Combat Vehicle—even as the service slashes end strength numbers to meet budget goals. Service officials remain committed to replacing the Bradley with the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, but that is a modernization program that remains in danger. Undersecretary Frank Kendall used the production of armored vehicles as an example of a weak point in a defense industry that he said sits as a major concern for the Defense Department.”
2. OASIS open for business. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “The General Services Administration’s OASIS contract is now open for agency business. GSA issued a notice to proceed on Sept. 3, which means agencies can begin purchasing professional services from 74 companies on the multibillion contract. OASIS is governmentwide acquisition contract that offers professional services, such as financial management and engineering, scientific and logistics services. OASIS also features separate contracts for small businesses and larger firms.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Special Ops’ exoskeleton. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “The military isn’t just researching exoskeletons for the military’s most hair-raising missions . . . . As a research project now underway in the U.S. Navy illustrates, military officials are considering ways they could help troops carry out more mundane skills ranging from moving boxes to welding pipes on ships.”
2. Home Depot hackers. VentureBeat.Com’s Richard Byrne Reilly reports, “Chief executive Frank Blake is apparently keeping a low profile and has made no public statements at this time. Incredibly, Home Depot, with a market cap of $122 billion, only learned of the massive cyber broadside when American and European banks noticed thousands of credit cards for sale on cyber criminal websites like Rescator.cc and traced them back to Home Depot.”
3. Robotic maids. Wired.Com’s Margaret Rhodes reports, “The Eye hinges on a 360-degree camera that views the room at a 45 degree angle and takes 30 pictures per second. Those photos become a live map of the room. To get started, the Eye undocks itself from a charging station affixed to the wall, near the floor. The robot triangulates its position in the room, finds the center, and starts spiraling outward. Once it has vacuumed 10 square feet, it relocates to clean a new patch.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Four Pinokes: “With the passage of eight months, the president’s ‘JV’ comment looks increasingly untenable, so we can understand why the White House spokesman would try to suggest that what is now known as the Islamic State was not the subject of the conversation. But in quoting from the transcript, Earnest provided a selective reading of the discussion.”
2. Sowing the seeds: “House Speaker John Boehner was highly critical President Obama’s foreign policy during an interview Tuesday, blaming the White House for sowing the seeds of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The Ohio Republican, speaking to his colleague, Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., who was guest-hosting Hugh Hewitt’s conservative talk radio program, suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have invaded Ukraine while George W. Bush was in the White House.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “In Search of a Strategy.” New Yorker’s Steve Coll argues, “”Leading a coalition of this character is hard, uncertain work. George H. W. Bush, the President whose foreign policy Obama seems to admire most, did it successfully in the runup to the Gulf War of 1991, by intensive personal engagement. Obama has more than two years left in the White House. To defeat ISIS, but also to reduce its source of strength, will require the President to risk his credibility on more than just air strikes.”
2. “At last, some good news in the fight against the Islamic State.” Quartz contributor Bobby Ghosh argues, “The murder of journalist Steven Sotloff is a reminder that, when cornered, the terrorists turn their bestial wrath on those unable to protect themselves. It underlines the urgent need to turn the small victories into big ones.”
3. “Russia-Ukraine conflict shows money isn’t the root of all war.” Reuters contributor Edward Hadas argues that “economics is a branch of politics, not the other way round. Leaders would do well to recognise its place.”
THE FUNNIES
1. A strategy.
2. Dominatrix.
