FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Clearance watch. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “The White House achieved its goal of reducing the security-cleared population by 10 percent . . . . The FY 2016 budget makes no recommendations for future reductions in cleared personnel, or requirements for another round of desk audits. It does say that pilots of continuous monitoring will expand to be a Government-wide practice, but it sets no deadlines for completion.”
2. Military benefit changes. Contributor Jennifer Cary reports, “Last week, the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission released 15 recommendations that have the potential to save the Pentagon $12 billion a year. This equates to a much needed boost to a budget sagging under the weight of personnel expenses. The commission . . . has spent two years determining the best ways to modernize military compensation and retirement systems. Here’s a breakdown of their 15 recommendations. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Carter’s confirmation. Breaking Defense’s Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. reports, “McCain called him ‘one of America’s most experienced and respected defense professionals,’ Reed said he was ‘uniquely qualified,’ the conservative Sen. Roger Wicker immediately pledged his vote, and GOP star Kelly Ayotte addressed him as ‘Secretary Carter’ . . . . Despite Hagel’s service in the Senate and in Vietnam, he simply never had this kind of street cred in DC. Carter does, which will make him a much more powerful Secretary of Defense.” See also, “What does White House want from next Defense secretary?”
2. al-Sisi taking on extremists, with success. Reuters’ Jane Doe reports, “Since taking office in June 2014, Sisi has neutralised the Brotherhood, taken bold steps to repair the economy and announced a series of mega-projects designed to create jobs. He has also made a dramatic call for a ‘revolution’ in Islam, saying that Islamist militants are destroying the religion and harming its reputation. All those ambitions depend on maintaining national security and taming militants in Sinai, a remote but strategic part of Egypt located between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.”
3. NATO pooling resources. Defense News’ Paul McLeary reports, “The US State Department and the Pentagon’s office for selling military equipment to foreign allies announced on Wednesday that they are embarking on a program that will for the first time allow NATO members to acquire and share American military hardware among members of the alliance.” See also, “NATO Report Sets Stage for Defense Ministers Meeting” and “Kerry in Kiev amid calls to arm Ukraine.”
4. Falling stars. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “Capt. Mathew L. Golsteyn was leading a Special Forces team in Afghanistan in 2010 when an 80-man mission he assembled to hunt insurgent snipers went awry. . . . Golsteyn, already a decorated Green Beret officer, responded with calm resolve and braved enemy fire repeatedly that day, according to an Army summary of his actions. He received the Silver Star for valor for his actions during a 2011 ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C. Top Army officials later approved him for an upgrade to the prestigious Distinguished Service Cross . . . . Golsteyn, now a major, no longer has either award.”
5. Noxious networking. Also from the Washington Post, Craig Whitlock reports, “In late 2012, [Jill] Kelley’s talent as a Tampa hostess and her knack for charming men in uniform indirectly triggered one of the most embarrassing national security scandals of the past decade. Among other casualties, the fallout led to the forced resignation of CIA Director David H. Petraeus—a former four-star Army general—and the early retirement of Marine Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Contracting agility. Nextgov’s Jack Moore reports, “The Obama administration has ambitious plans to embed a full-scale digital-service team within each agency to help overhaul the way government delivers IT projects. But the teams won’t do it alone. Officials at the General Services Administration and its in-house digital shop 18F are now sending a message to the traditional contracting industry: We need your help, too.”
2. $11 billion ask for Pentagon’s CET&I. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. military electronics spending appears to be headed back up next after two years of modest funding levels. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is asking Congress for $11 billion in fiscal 2016 for procurement and research in military communications, electronics, telecommunications, and intelligence (CET&I) technologies. The Pentagon’s 2016 CET&I request is up 13.4 percent from the $9.7 billion that Congress allocated for these accounts for this year.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. End of his silk road. Wired’s Andy Greenberg reports, “Ross Ulbricht has been convicted of being the Dread Pirate Roberts, secret mastermind of the Silk Road online narcotics empire. On Wednesday, less than a month after his trial began in a downtown Manhattan courtroom, 30-year-old Ulbricht was convicted of all seven crimes he was charged with, including narcotics and money laundering conspiracies and a ‘kingpin’ charge usually reserved for mafia dons and drug cartel leaders. It took the jury only 3.5 hours to return a verdict.”
2. DIA warns of AQ resurgence in Syria. The Long War Journal’s Thomas Joscelyn reports, “The Islamic State’s advances in Iraq and Syria have understandably garnered most of the headlines since the middle of last year. But the Islamic State’s rivals in the Al Nusrah Front, an official branch of al Qaeda, have been gaining ground over the past several months. And the DIA is concerned that Al Nusrah will continue to advance inside Syria and elsewhere, while also enabling senior al Qaeda operatives to plan attacks against the West. The DIA expects Al Nusrah ‘will try to expand its territory in 2015 beyond its Syrian operating areas and enhance its operational capabilities in Lebanon, where it already conducts operations.’”
3. Cybersecurity and software defined networking. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Today’s company networks comprise hundreds of devices . . . . Such networks are extremely inflexible because every component, every router and every switch can carry out only the task it was manufactured for. If the network has to be expanded, the company has to integrate new routers, firewalls or switches and then program them by hand. This is why experts worldwide have been working on flexible networks of the future for the last five years or so, developing what is known as software-defined networking (SDN). It presents one disadvantage, however; it is susceptible to hacker attacks.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. That’s no fun. “The White House on Wednesday would not say whether Vice President Joe Biden plans to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in early March. . . . Typically, the vice president attends an address by a foreign head of state to a joint session of Congress. However, Netanyahu’s address in the first week of March was hardly welcomed by Obama. Obama has already said he won’t meet with the Israeli leader when he visits Washington, arguing it would be ‘inappropriate’ to host such a gathering so close to Israel’s elections.”
2. A house divided. “House and Senate Republicans have spent years training their ire on Sen. Harry Reid and President Barack Obama. But now they’re clashing with each other. And that poses a challenge for GOP senators’ initial strategy for escaping their immigration dilemma, which involves convincing their House counterparts that their aggressive attacks on Obama’s policies stand no chance of becoming law. House Republicans so far aren’t buying it, saying Republican senators need to fight harder.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “One (difficult) step to curbing extremism.” Reuters contributor Sarah Chayes argues, “If Western officials truly mean to curb the underlying drivers of extremism, corruption is a good—and remarkably overlooked—place to start.” See also, “Human rights violations led to ISIL.”
2. “A new king’s duty to young Saudis.” The Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Only an estimated 5 percent of Saudis sympathize with the goals of IS. But that is enough to keep a flow of fighters to the group. Drying up the flow requires that Arab leaders and others provide a stronger—and nonviolent—purpose to young Muslims.”
3. “It’s Time To Arm the Ukrainians.” Defense One contributor Representative Michael Turner argues, “The Obama administration must stop the handwringing that has characterized the president’s foreign policy and immediately provide lethal military assistance to Ukraine. After failing for nearly a year to change Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculus, the United States needs to finally take action.”
4. “A Better LCS—Or An All-New Frigate?” Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman argues, “There are few things more wasteful than the through-life cost of meeting a requirement that no longer matters.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Escalation.
