Friday Finale (that was quick!)
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Tracking revoked clearances. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “Every year, a number of Federal employees and contractors have their security clearance revoked. As part of a campaign to examine ‘insider’ threats in the Department of Defense and in Homeland Security, the Government Accounting Office audited the records on revocations for those two departments. On Sept. 8, the GAO released the findings and it was not pretty. . . .”
2. Ins and outs of the clearance process. Also from Charles Simmins, “The majority of security-clearance holders work directly for the federal government. The official procedure for obtaining a clearance is identical to that for contractors but there may be a few important differences in process.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Arming Syrian Rebels. Reuters’ Patricia Zengerle and David Lawder report, “The U.S. Congress gave final approval on Thursday to President Barack Obama’s plan for training and arming moderate Syrian rebels to battle Islamic State, a major part of his military campaign to ‘degrade and destroy’ the militant group. The Senate voted 78-22, in a rare bipartisan show of support for one of Obama’s high-profile initiatives. With the House of Representatives approving the legislation on Wednesday, the measure now goes to Obama to sign into law. Ten Senate Democrats and 12 Republicans voted no. Obama thanked Congress for the speed in which it acted to back the plan, which he announced on Sept. 10, and said the strong bipartisan support showed Americans were united in the fight against Islamic State.”
2. Ebola shuts down Sierra Leone. AP’s Clarence Roy-Macaulay reports from Freetown, “In a desperate bid to slow West Africa’s accelerating Ebola outbreak, Sierra Leone ordered its 6 million people confined to their homes for three days starting Friday while volunteers conduct a house-to-house search for victims in hiding. At an emergency meeting, meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council unanimously called the crisis ‘a threat to international peace and security’ and urged all countries to provide experts, field hospitals and medical supplies. It was only the second time the council addressed a health emergency, the first being the AIDS epidemic.”
3. Intelligence on ISIS—could have been stronger. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “The nation’s top spies, including the head of the CIA, the NSA, the Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency took the stage Thursday at the Intelligence & National Security Summit to discuss how their respective agencies handled the most important geopolitical event of 2014 — the rise of the Islamic State. Adm. Michael Rogers, who oversees the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, said intelligence on the rise of the Islamic State could have been ‘stronger.’ . . . One of the biggest blind spots, according to the panelists, was the lack of good insight not only into the Islamic State, but into the readiness and state of the Iraqi security forces that the United States had been training and equipping for years.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Let’s talk contractor money. GovExec.Com’s Kellie Lunney reports, “Federal contractors would have to inform their employees of their right to openly discuss pay in the workplace without fear of retaliation under new proposed rules from the Labor Department. . . . ‘Simply allowing employees to discuss compensation may help bring illegal compensation practices to light and allow employees to obtain appropriate legal redress,’ the draft rule said. ‘Policies prohibiting employee conversations about compensation can also serve as a significant barrier to federal enforcement of the laws against compensation discrimination.’”
2. $28 million to Boeing for Chinook sparks. MilitaryAerospace.Com Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Army helicopter aviation experts are working with the Boeing Co. to improve the electrical system on the CH-47 Chinook medium-to-heavy-lift helicopter to incorporate additional on-board power. Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., awarded a $27.7 million contract modification to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Ridley Park, Pa., to design and test a modified electrical system for the CH-47 twin-rotor aircraft. The contract is for development, fabrication, testing and bench qualifying a modified electrical system that can be integrated into a twin engine, tandem rotor, which will result in an improved electrical system for the CH-47 aircraft, Army officials say.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. It’s not easy being green. FederalTimes.Com’s Amber Corrin reports, “The Army is pursuing a path to being more environmentally friendly, starting with its base at Fort Carson, Colorado, where the General Services Administration is lending a hand in the effort. Fort Carson is the Army’s flagship in its Net Zero Initiative, aimed at attaining net zero energy—meaning it generates as much energy as it consumes—for the entire base by 2020. The base is well on its way, according to new GSA report that evaluated the efforts at Fort Carson.”
2. Elusive cyber laws. NextGov.Com contributor Dr. Vincent Berk explains, “Physical laws are created for a particular territory, like a town or country. This is an iterative process that has taken us over 300 years to establish a set of laws by which we live today. The issue of governing the multidimensional virtual world is rather complex, as it is not easy to define the territory.”
3. Virtual reality—let’s hit the “beach”! Wired.Com’s Peter Rubin reports, “By any account, 2014 is a momentous year for virtual reality. . . . But part of the promise of VR always has been what it means for the rest of our lives. With the Teleporter, Marriott Hotels is trying to be the first to show the world…well, the world. The journey to that black sand beach may well be a first glimpse at an entirely new side of VR utility.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. No room for criticism: “House Democrats on Thursday criticized the GOP for shortening the schedule to go home and campaign. . . . Senate Democrats, who run that chamber, also plan to adjourn this week to campaign for the election, sparking outrage among Republicans, who say they should remain in session to pass important GOP-authored bills. . . . Democrats also complained that Boehner has refused to take up a Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill or legislation requiring stricter background checks on gun purchases. The House has instead taken up a series of measures aimed at increasing domestic energy production and reducing government regulations. Many of the bills were already passed earlier this year in the House but have died in the Democratically led Senate.”
2. Bridge to nowhere: “The U.S. Justice Department investigation into the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge has not yet linked New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to the traffic jam . . . . Investigators have not found evidence that Christie ordered or knew about plans to close the lanes on the bridge. Officials told NBC that the probe is still ongoing, however. . . . Christie said he was not surprised by the news. ‘Obviously we’ll wait to hear whatever the authorities have to say but this is a report that comes as no shock to me . . . . I don’t want to overreact to it, because I’m not surprised by it.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “A NATO ally stays on sidelines of fight against Islamic State.” Reuters contributor Andrew Finkel argues, “Turkish foreign policy is in trouble and, while the country might pride itself on being an unwilling partner in this war, it is also an unable one. That, of course, is scarce consolation for the United States. Maybe one day, Turkey will seek to regain the strategic significance it once had. After all, when Islamic State is your neighbor, ‘zero problems’ is hardly a sustainable policy. But America shouldn’t expect that day to come any time soon.”
2. “Confronting ISIL: Why bombing is doomed to fail.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Rachel Shabi argues, “For the ringleaders of this new coalition, it is as though ‘diplomacy’ simply means cherry-picking the people you find it easy to talk to, and ignoring everybody else. So there are different forms of intervention available, alternatives to repeated air strikes that end up devastating ordinary lives and causing long-term chaos. The question isn’t a handwringing: ‘What else can we do?’ The question is why we aren’t pursuing any options that don’t involve dropping more bombs on the Middle East.”
3. “War is Not the Word.” USNews.Com contributor Dick Hoffman argues, “While conditions in Syria remain so uncertain, the United States should concentrate on Iraq, create success there first, and then build from that success in Syria. Irregular warfare is slow and indecisive. It will be easy to criticize, as progress will depend on the capabilities of U.S. partners. However, with reasonable expectations, local forces in the lead, and regional alliances established, the conditions may be set for more resilient security.”
THE FUNNIES
1. As cold as ISIS.
