FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Time to find a new boss? Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “It’s January, the quintessential time to start a diet, quit smoking, check your horoscope and break-up with a boyfriend. It’s also a good time to make a career change. For cleared job seekers, this is particularly true. The defense industry is finally on the rebound and many cleared contractors say their bottom lines are moving up. . . .”
2. Cleared job watch: 8,500 hot cleared spots. Also from Lindy Kyzer: “ClearanceJobs is now home to nearly 8500 security cleared positions. With new jobs and opportunities added every day, there are positions in fields from finance to communications. But which industries offered the most opportunities in 2014? Here’s a round-up of the top job categories, as ranked by the number of positions listed. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Abandoning Yemen. Reuters’ Mark Hosenball and Matt Spetalnick report, “The United States has pulled more staff out of its embassy in Yemen, U.S. officials said on Thursday as Washington scrambled to cope with the collapse of a government that had been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda. The scaling down of its presence in Yemen is the first sign that the latest turmoil there will affect U.S operations in a country that President Barack Obama hailed just four months ago as a model for ‘successful’ counter-terrorism partnerships.”
2. ISIS battle damage assessment. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “The U.S.-led airstrikes campaign has ‘taken more than half’ of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) leadership, U.S. ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones said. Jones said the airstrikes were having a ‘devastating’ effect on ISIS. ‘We estimate that the airstrikes have now killed more than 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq,’ Jones said. He added that the airstrikes have ‘destroyed more than a thousand of ISIS vehicles inside Iraq.’” See also, “Hagel Says Thousands of ISIS Fighters Killed By Airstrikes.”
3. Submarine warfare deep-dive. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “Today’s submarines are in danger of becoming increasingly vulnerable as ‘game changers’ in undersea warfare make it easier to detect them . . . . Deep sea submarines have been a key part of the United States military’s offensive and defensive missions for decades, but a significant part of their utility lies in their ability to operate stealthily. To this end, the US military has invested huge amounts of money into making submarines—in particular, the Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear submarines—quieter. But rapid increases in computer processing power are offsetting these advances.”
4. Budget watch. Aviation Week’s Amy Butler reports, “Defense officials are hoping that sequestration—mandatory deep cuts dictated by Congress—are behind them. But it is still technically the law of the land. The Pentagon intends to submit its budget with the assumption that sequestration will not take effect in fiscal 2016 and beyond. Should it remain in effect, several programs will suffer in a major way. Against that backdrop, I have assembled a list of 10 programs I plan on watching closely on budget day and beyond . . . .” See also, “Hagel: Budget, Congressional Partnership Central to DoD Strength.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. DARPA’s call for drone revolution. Defense Systems’ Mark Pomerleau reports, “Faced with increasing shortfalls for operations involving existing unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, the military has called on industry experts to help overcome chinks in the current UAS operational armor. DARPA, the Defense Department’s research arm, has issued a special notice inviting interested and capable parties to participate in meetings aimed at ‘methodologies and approaches that are…focused on revolutionary approaches to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) autonomy, and collaborative operations.’”
2. Contracting failures. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “An Inspector General review of the original rollout of Healthcare.gov found the website was set up to fail from the beginning due to poor contract requirements and a lack of oversight. . . . The report notes CMS spent nearly $800 million across all contracts and relied heavily on vendors to plan and build the federal marketplace. Unfortunately, the agency did not ensure those contracts met the necessary requirements and didn’t take advantage of existing processes that would have identified problems earlier.” See also, “Acquisition Workforce Falling Behind on Training.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Transparent spying: buzz kill. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “To the average American, the term intelligence agency refers to a group of secret military types, locked in a windowless room in Virginia, furtively collecting data on bad guys, good guys, citizens, everybody. That data is delivered up the chain in manila envelopes marked ‘Top Secret.’ There’s still some truth to that stereotype (apparently, they get to have windows now) but Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, or NGA, is hoping to secure an unconventional legacy as a spy chief.”
2. Robot roll-up. Quartz’ Mike Murphy reports, “Elon Musk recently pledged $10 million to keep artificial intelligence from running amok, and physicist Stephen Hawking told the BBC in December: ‘The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.’ Musk and Hawking are backed by other scientists, professors, and security analysts who are worried about the rise of artificial intelligence that doesn’t do what humans ask. Even so, scientists continue to research more human-like robots, with more human-like intelligence and thought processes.”
3. Hologram roll-up. AP’s Brandon Bailey reports, “Microsoft didn’t use skydivers or stunt cyclists to introduce what it hopes will be the next big leap in computing technology. Instead, with its new HoloLens headset, the company is offering real-world examples to show how you might use three-dimensional digital images—or holograms—in daily life. And that might be what it takes to get people to buy a computer they wear on their face.”
4. Afghan intelligence infiltrating the enemy. Khaama Press reports, “The Afghan intelligence operatives have successfully infiltrated among the networks of the enemies of Afghanistan in a bid to put further pressure on the groups which are involved in insurgency activities in the country. While presenting his work plan as nominee to keep the position of National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief, Nabil said the Afghan intelligence has successfully maintained pressure on terrorist networks including Taliban, al Qaeda and Haqqani network by executing sophisticated and major operations.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Side step. “President Barack Obama will not meet Israel’s prime minister when he visits Washington in March, the White House said on Thursday, after being blindsided by the Republicans’ invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address the U.S. Congress on Iran. Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said Obama was withholding an invitation for Oval Office talks with Netanyahu because of Israel’s March 17 elections. . . . U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner announced the invitation to Netanyahu on Wednesday, a day after Obama pledged in his State of the Union address to veto new Iran sanctions legislation being developed in Congress.”
2. Except after C . . . . “Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) efforts to needle potential Republican presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush backfired Thursday due to an apparent spelling error. A photo posted to Paul’s Facebook and Twitter accounts referenced Common Core education standards, a sticking point for many conservatives, and suggested Romney gave the former Florida governor a Common Core friendship band during a ‘gift exchange’ at their meeting Thursday in Utah. ‘You misspelled friendship. Maybe there is something to be said for higher standards?’ Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell shot back in a tweet. The photo was deleted and later replaced with the correct spelling . . . .”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Shaping Europe’s reaction to terror.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “In both words and deeds, Germany may be guiding Europe in how to counter hateful acts of terror as well as hateful reactions to them.”
2. “Can Ash Carter Tame the Nuclear Weapons Budget?” Defense One contributor Tom Z. Collina argues, “Carter, if confirmed, and Obama have a choice to make. Do they want to leave office with a shiny trillion-dollar nuclear arsenal named after them? Or do they want to use the time left to bring the United States closer to the president’s vision of ‘a world without nuclear weapons’? They can’t do both.” See also, “Carter Hearing Set; Will Testify on Budget.”
3. “Don’t believe the U.S. military when it says it doesn’t keep body counts.” Reuters contributor David Axe argues, “With few exceptions since Vietnam, the Pentagon has shied away from boasting about enemy dead, lest the kill totals imply that the United States is winning its wars—making a promise the military can’t keep. In constantly tell[ing] themselves, in confidence, just how many of their opponents they believe they’ve slain, the armed forces seem to be reassuring themselves that the violence they inflict—and the violence the enemy inflicts in return—is definitely worth it.
THE FUNNIES
3. Retaliation
