Courageous Kurds and Casualties, Frozen Conflict in Ukraine, and The Stuxnet Story

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Dual citizenship dilemma. Contributor Sean Bigley advises, “If you haven’t yet obtained the dual citizenship, don’t go there if you’d like to obtain federal government employment or access to classified information. Although your ‘cool factor’ may suffer, save the dual citizenship until you are retired. You’ll save yourself the hassle and risk of security clearance denial now.”

2. Purpose of the polygraph. Also from Sean Bigley, “[T]he polygraph is more about getting scared people to admit what they would have otherwise omitted on their SF-86 than it is about actually digging up deception independently. Bearing that in mind, here is the reality: the scare tactic works subconsciously on many people. . . .”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. “Frozen conflict”: separatist vote in Ukraine. TheMoscowTimes.Com reports, “Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting of his security chiefs for Tuesday to discuss new ways of dealing with the separatist challenge in the east after rebel elections that were denounced by Kiev and the West. The rogue votes, which Kiev says Russia encouraged, could create a new ‘frozen conflict’ in post-Soviet Europe and further threaten the territorial unity of Ukraine . . . .” Christian Science Monitor’s Arthur Bright reports, “Ukraine rebels have declared two ‘incumbents’ as the winners of controversial elections held Sunday in two eastern regions under separatist control. The results, which Russia recognized and Kiev and the West denounced, threaten to add the east to the list of ‘frozen conflicts’ in former Soviet regions.”

2. Courageous Kurds and casualties. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Many fighters choose to wear simple headscarves rather than helmets . . . . ‘Every fighter sees themself [sic]as a martyr in progress’ . . . . In addition to their lack of medical training, YPG fighters and their female comrades, the YPJ, generally do not use any kind of body armour. ‘The main reason we don’t use it is because we have very limited resources. We just don’t have the means. In addition, we’re not a regular military. We rely on hit-and-run tactics’ . . . . Because of the rapidity of ISIL’s onslaught, Khalil added, the YPG did not have time to medically train its fighters.” Rudaw.Net’s Shamila Devi reports, “Revolt could trigger overthrow of ISIS.” See also from Christian Science Monitor, “Is the US-led war on Islamic State really helping Syria’s Assad?”

3. Europe needs more U.S. boots on the ground. DefenseNews.Com’s Paul McLeary reports, “In the face of sustained Russian incursions into Ukraine and the dozens of fighter and bomber flights that have skirted European airspace in recent weeks, the head of US European Command has come to the Pentagon to ask for more troops and equipment. . . . European allies have grown restless over the increasing number of Russian military flights skirting their airspace in recent months, including an unprecedented 19 Russian military flyovers in one day last week.” See related from The Moscow Times, “Russia is Using Airspace Breaches to Say It’s a ‘Great Power.’”

4. PZ clean for helos to Afghanistan. DoDBuzz.Com’s Bryant Jordan reports, “The last of 63 Russian Mi-17 transport helicopters that the Pentagon ordered for Afghanistan’s military were delivered in October, according to multiple reports. Additionally, the Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation said it would assist with future helicopter deliveries to the Afghan National Army and help maintain the aircraft already in service.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Acquisition innovation and risk. FederalTimes.Com’s Andy Medici reports, “Agencies that want to encourage innovation in the acquisition process need to show employees they won’t be hung out to dry if something goes wrong . . . . if employees want to experiment they must build a data-driven business plan that managers can support—even if it’s risky.”

2. NDA cuffs cyber-contractors. NextGov.Com’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Congress is expected to act on the closest thing to cybersecurity legislation it can pass without running into gridlock. . . . the House version of the bill would prejudice computer systems proposed for federal contracts that contain components from ‘a company suspected of being influenced by a foreign country, or a suspected affiliate of such a company.’ It also would disfavor contractors located near military facilities whose own private, internal networks contain such parts.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. The Stuxnet story. Wired.Com’s Kim Zetter explains, “A computer security firm in Belarus was called in to troubleshoot a series of computers in Iran that were crashing and rebooting repeatedly. Again, the cause of the problem was a mystery. That is, until the researchers found a handful of malicious files on one of the systems and discovered the world’s first digital weapon.”

2. NSA on trial. DefenseOne.Com’s Dustin Volz reports, “A federal Appeals Court this week will review the government’s controversial domestic spying program that collects the phone records of virtually all Americans, a once-secret practice that was publicly exposed last year by Edward Snowden. A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Tuesday considering the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone ‘metadata’ . . . .”

3. Homeland Security hack costs USIS hundreds of millions. AP’s Stephen Braun reports, “A cyberattack similar to previous hacker intrusions from China penetrated computer networks for months at USIS, the government’s leading security clearance contractor, before the company noticed . . . . The breach, first revealed by the company and government agencies in August, compromised the private records of at least 25,000 employees at the Homeland Security Department and cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost government contracts.”

4. Shedding light on Ground Panoramic Night Vision. DefenseOne.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber and Patrick Tucker explain, “However futuristic looking they are, the L-3 GPNVG-18s don’t actually represent the future of night vision. DARPA’s AWARE program (advanced wide field of view architectures for image reconstruction and exploitation) last year produced a thermal camera that can take thermal images at just five microns, which is half the size of the photons it detects.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. The importance of being Ernst: “Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Monday said he regretted commenting on Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst’s looks. ‘I shouldn’t have said those things, I know that . . . . I regret anytime someone feels offended by what I have said. But I am only human and I can make mistakes sometimes in how I say something. . . . During an event last week, Harking compared Ernst to pop star Taylor Swift while commenting on the race to fill his seat in the Senate. ‘You know, in this Senate race, I’ve been watching some of these ads . . . . And there’s sort of this sense that, ‘Well, I hear so much about Joni Ernst. She’s really attractive, and she sounds nice.’”

2. Ebola election: “Television ads mentioning Ebola aired an average of six times per hour last week in states with some of the tightest races of 2014, according to data from a media tracking firm. The number of times Ebola is mentioned in TV ads has spiked in the week before the election, with 734 mentions between Oct. 21 and Oct. 25 . . . . Ebola has been mentioned 1,218 times in TV ads since Aug. 22, shortly after Congress held its first hearing on the disease. Most of the Ebola ads are playing out in races most likely to determine control of the Senate: North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Arkansas and Iowa . . . .”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “Kobane is a gift to Assad.” Aljazeera.Com contributor James Denselow argues, “While there is no clear evidence of the Assad regime having direct command and control of groups operating on the ISIL-spectrum there is certainly anecdotal evidence that Damascus was happy to see the extremist contagion as splitting opposition against him and appealing to the West’s primary concern of global terrorism.”

2. “US Foreign Policy, Viewed from the Middle East.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Elliott Abrams argues, “I think the damage done by administration officials who savaged Prime Minister Netanyahu is deep, including among Arab leaders. Those remarks made a bad situation among our allies far worse. That’s not because they like Netanyahu, but because it suggests that administration officials are callow, undisciplined, and untrustworthy.”

3. “5 National Security Priorities for Congress.” USNews.Com contributor Mackenzie Eaglen argues, “The onslaught of cyber-espionage against U.S. firms and defense contractors, intelligence community reforms—including the National Security Agency—and a deal with Iran that bypasses Congress will all require robust oversight and action. There will be no shortage of pressing national security issues to address when Washington returns to business.”