FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Outsourcing your SF-86. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “The bottom line is that if you feel uncomfortable with the reporting instructions being provided to you by a recruiter or FSO, be sure to speak up and/or consult an attorney before your SF-86 is submitted to the government. Protecting your security clearance isn’t a responsibility to outsource. You are personally responsible for the information included, and should be absolutely certain you understand the document and your responses before you sign it.”
2. Life of a Linguist. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “A linguist will be expected to be highly proficient in a foreign language. Your proficiency will need to be near-native. In the cleared space, professionals speaking Farsi, Pashto and Dari, or African languages are most in-demand. But positions are frequently available for talented linguists with proficiency in languages from Spanish to Russian. The main duties of a linguist are translation, transcription and interpretation.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Nuclear negotiations Iran, ISIS, and uranium. Reuters’ Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau report, “Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like more flexibility on Iran’s uranium enrichment program in exchange, senior Iranian officials told Reuters. The comments from the officials . . . highlight how difficult it may be for the Western powers to keep the nuclear negotiations separate from other regional conflicts. Iran wields influence in the Syrian civil war and on the Iraqi government, which is fighting the advance of Islamic State fighters.”
2. Afghanistan’s new president: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Khaama.Com’s Mirwais Jalalzai reports, “US foreign minister [John] Kerry has hailed the latest agreement of the two Afghan leaders who inked a power-sharing agreement on Sunday. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was announced as the new president of Afghanistan following the agreement, replacing outgoing President Hamid Karzai. Meanwhile Abdullah Abdullah, the runner-up, will become chief executive of new government. ‘These two men have put the people of Afghanistan first, and they’ve ensured that the first peaceful democratic transition in the history of their country begins with national unity,’ Kerry said in a statement.” See also, “ISAF Chief Hails Agreement for Afghanistan Unity Government.”
3. Vickers on the rise of the drones. DefenseOne.Com’s Patrick Tucker reports, “One of the effects of the rise of the Islamic State, in addition to putting U.S. troops back in Iraq, may be a reversal in the military’s shrinking drone budget. . . . Michael Vickers said the rise of the Islamic State ‘has exposed, along with some of the instability in North Africa, shortfalls that we believe we now have in some capacity areas’—specifically, drone flights, or what the military calls intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. ‘We thought we could reduce the rate of growth for our fleet—some—in the years ahead and now we’re really, really looking at that . . . . We’ll probably wind up with a different ISR mix after the budget cycle than we would have a year ago because of the rise of ISIL and other challenges.’ His statement signals a clear shift in the department’s thinking on unmanned aerial vehicles since 2013.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $41 million for NCI’s cyber support. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “NCI Information Systems has nabbed a contract worth up to $41 million to support Army cyber network operations at a command that recently activated the service’s first-ever cyber protection brigade . . . . The Reston, Virginia-based contractor will work with the Network Enterprise Technology Command, or NETCOM, G-5 on an effort to strengthen and sync data operations in the Army and between partner troops.”
2. The Preventing Conflicts of Interest with Contractors Act. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “Federal background investigation contractors would no longer be able to perform a final review of their own work, under legislation passed by the Senate Sept. 18. The Preventing Conflicts of Interest with Contractors Act stems from contractor USIS, which improperly approved hundreds of thousands of its own investigations despite incomplete files, according to the government.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. An even greater Griffin. DoDBuzz.Com’s Kris Osborn reports, “Raytheon is testing a new extended range Griffin missile which triples the range of the existing weapon and adds infrared imaging guidance technology . . . . ‘We start off with a baseline Griffin and add an extended range rocket motor. This more than triples the range of the current Griffin and it has more than twice the range of the Hellfire . . . . The existing Griffin missile, which can be launched from the air, sea or land, uses GPS and laser guidance technology. The new variant now being tested allows infrared technology to work in tandem with laser designation, Smith explained.”
2. iPhone—want it? Do you need it? Wired.Com’s Mat Honan explains, “As you are surely aware, there is a new iPhone. There are two new iPhones, in fact. The early reviews are good, the specs are solid and the long lines are already thinning out to the point where you should be able to walk right in and pick one up. But should you buy one? It honestly isn’t for everyone. Let’s break it down based on just who you are.”
3. Big eye in the sky. AviationWeek.Com’s Frank Morring Jr. reports, “Engineers managing the International Space Station are preparing to kick off a new use for the orbiting outpost that has not been seriously considered for human spaceflight since the old U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory and Soviet Almaz military reconnaissance space stations were defunded in the 1960s and ’70s—monitoring the home planet.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Anybody home? “The Secret Service on Saturday launched a security review to learn how a man carrying a knife was able to get inside the front door of the White House on Friday night after jumping a fence and sprinting more than 70 yards across the North Lawn—the first time that has ever happened. Within seconds, the man who his public defender said served three tours in Iraq—and relatives said served as a sniper—got to the front double doors of the North Portico, turned the brass knob and stepped inside the vestibule. There he was grabbed and subdued by an officer standing post inside the door.”
2. Defending Debbie: “’There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious,’ Donna Brazile, a vice chairwoman of the DNC, said . . . . ‘What I didn’t like about the [Politico.Com] article, of course, was not just the timing but the nature of the attack. The personal attacks. Look, I’m vice chair of the party, and I turn the gavel over to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she’s done a phenomenal job of reducing the deficit. We have no deficit now. . . . Yes, there will be tensions, but you know, at the end of the day, Debbie’s job is to help Democrats,’ she said. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the White House uses Wasserman Shultz as a scapegoat for its issues. ‘She could leave with one phone call . . . . She serves at the president’s approval.’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “A New Plan: Make U.S. Foreign Policy Swifter, Stronger and More Agile.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Ronald Neumann, Dennis Blair, and Eric Olson argue, “The president, acting through the National Security Council and the interagency process (including Gen. John Allen in his new role as envoy to the crisis) must approve an overall strategy and plan for Iraq and monitor the successful implementation of that plan. But tight Washington tactical control of decisions in the field of the sort so beloved by bureaucratic Washington departments and power centers will cripple effective conduct of the policy and reaching American goals.”
2. “An ideological pendulum in the Arab world.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Sharif Nashashibi argues, “This is the general tragedy of the Arab world, that people seem to be stuck between nationalistic or religious fascism. The Arab Spring has highlighted this morbid choice, with ‘jihadism’ on the rise and dictators determined to cling to power at all cost.”
3. “Ukraine’s future lies with the West, but there is much suffering ahead.” Reuters contributor John Lloyd argues, “Russian President Vladimir Putin has ‘lost’ the country that he and many other Russians have long regarded sentimentally as a cross between a little brother and a buffer (‘Ukraine’ means a border) against the West. As retired General Wesley Clark, a former NATO commander, put it, telling people they better be your friend or else there’s trouble is no longer a winning strategy.”
