Humph Day Highlights & Stewart Leaving Daily Show
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. LinkedIn, roger out. Contributor Jillian Hamilton observes, “For the conventional, no career changes or no career pauses professional, or those willing to be defined by algorithms and fitting into what LinkedIn decides is okay, it can be a useful place to store a resume or search for someone. Just keep in mind what it’s good for (static connections), and what it isn’t (actual job hunting). Of course, there are more secure sites out there for cleared professionals…and you don’t have to look that hard to find one.”
2. Publicize your pedigree. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “If you’re searching for a cleared job, companies care who the issuing agency is. While clearance reciprocity has always been a topic of reform efforts, it’s still faster for a company looking to staff a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract to be able to find DHS-cleared professionals. Some of the most in-demand candidates are those with a DHS clearance.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Escalating the war on ISIS. Reuters’ Patricia Zengerle reports, “U.S. President Barack Obama will propose to Congress on Wednesday a new three-year authorization for the use of force against Islamic State with limits on U.S. combat troops’ involvement, lawmakers and congressional aides said. . . . An outline of that request, expected to be handed to Congress on Wednesday, could stir debate over how U.S. troops should be deployed and the extent of U.S. engagement in Iraq and Syria. The proposal would allow the use of special forces and advisors for defensive purposes but bar ‘enduring offensive ground forces,’ lawmakers and aides said. It would not, however, set geographic limits for the campaign against the group.” See also, “20,000 foreign fighters flock to Syria, Iraq,” “Pentagon Expresses Sorrow for Death of American Kayla Mueller” and from The Long War Journal, “Islamic State al-Khans’aa Brigade publishes manifesto for women.”
2. Yemen lost. Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy reports, “The US has shuttered its embassy in Yemen, a country that President Barack Obama hailed as a ‘model’ last year for US counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East. The coup by the Houthi movement, formalized last Friday, has now turned that model on its head and is raising questions about a continuing US role in trying to curtail the influence of Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the affiliate of Al Qaeda that has shown the most ability and willingness to carry out terrorist attacks in the West in recent years. US officials cited the chaotic security situation in the capital, Sanaa, for the move to close the embassy and said US training of Yemeni soldiers will continue.”
3. Coalition fighting Boko Haram grows. The New York Times’ Adam Nossiter reports, “With the regional war against the Boko Haram militant group widening, Niger’s Parliament has agreed to send troops across the border to join the fight. . . . Chad, Cameroon and Benin have also agreed to contribute troops to an 8,700-member force to fight Boko Haram. Attacks by the militant group . . . have increasingly spilled across borders in the region. Boko Haram militants have been attacking the city and terrorizing civilians in the towns around it. Nigeria’s war has spread to its smaller, poorer neighbor, Niger.”
4. Admirals censured. Defense News’ Christopher P. Cavas reports, “Three flag officers have become the highest-ranking officials thus far punished in the Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) bribery and corruption scandal, each receiving a letter of censure from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. . . . In a statement, the Navy said the three officers ‘were found to have improperly accepted gifts from a prohibited source, two were found to have improperly endorsed a commercial business, and one engaged in solicitation of gifts and services from a prohibited source . . . .’”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle bids are in. Defense News’ Joe Gould reports, “One of the US Army’s most important armored vehicle contests moved closer to resolution Tuesday when manufacturers AM General, Lockheed Martin and Oshkosh Defense delivered proposals for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The Army plans to make a Milestone C decision and award of a firm-fixed-price contract to a single vendor this year. The award period will cover three years of low-rate initial production and five years of full-rate production. The Army plans to buy approximately 50,000 JLTVs for the Army, and the Marine Corps would buy 5,500.”
2. DARPA soliciting for Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO). Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., have released a solicitation (DARPA-BAA-15-14) for the Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO) program to transform the energy efficiency of unattended sensors by eliminating their need for standby power. . . . The potential $30 million program should involve several contractors in an effort to design persistent-surveillance sensors that can remain dormant with near-zero power consumption, until awoken by an external trigger or stimulus.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Spying on the Senate. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf reports, “Now the public can read an extraordinary, recently released memo written by the unnamed CIA lawyer who led the effort to improperly monitor Senate overseers, outraging Senator Dianne Feinstein and prompting calls for a new CIA director. The document gives insight into the CIA’s tortured logic for its actions and it raises new questions about Brennan’s truthfulness in March of last year.” Read the memo. See also, “Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland Jr., former USASOC commander, moves to CIA” and “Why the CIA Killed Imad Mughniyeh.”
2. NSA’s cyber-espionage backfire. The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald reports, “A top secret National Security Agency document from April 2013 reveals that the U.S. intelligence community is worried that the West’s campaign of aggressive and sophisticated cyberattacks enabled Iran to improve its own capabilities by studying and then replicating those tactics. The NSA is specifically concerned that Iran’s cyberweapons will become increasingly potent and sophisticated by virtue of learning from the attacks that have been launched against that country.” Read the NSA document. See also, “Iran hack may have backfired” and “Did the NSA and the UK’s Spy Agency Launch a Joint Cyberattack on Iran?”
3. FBI, Stingray, spying, and Freedom of Information. Ars Technica’s Cyrus Farivar reports, “Relatively little is known about how, exactly, the stingrays are used by law enforcement agencies nationwide, although documents have surfaced showing how they have been purchased and used in some limited instances. . . . cops have lied to courts about the use of such technology. Just last month, two US senators made public the FBI’s position that the agency could use stingrays in public places without a warrant. The largest manufacturer of the devices, the Harris Corporation, has routinely been tight-lipped about its hardware capabilities.” See also, “FBI Tells Local Police To Keep Quiet About ‘Stingray’ Cellphone Trackers.”
4. Afghan Cyber Army on the offensive. Khaama Press reports, “A hacker group that call themselves Afghan Cyber Army (ACA) claims to have suspended ‘www.toorabora.net’, a Pro-Taliban website which was publishing news, articles and other materials of Taliban. The website is now not accessible.”
5. See Spot run, just for fun. Esquire’s John Hendrickson advises, “Watch this video, then go home and hug your real dog. Stroke your real dog, walk your real dog. Give your real dog real dog bones. Be thankful that your real dog is wagging its real tail the moment you walk in the door.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Can you hear me now? “President Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday to discuss the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine and to urge Putin to accept a peaceful solution during extended diplomatic talks this week with French and German leaders. Obama reiterated America’s support for the ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,’ underscored the rising human toll of the fighting, and stressed the importance of Putin seizing the opportunity presented by ongoing discussions between Russia, France and Germany, according to a White House read-out of the phone call.”
2. You first. “Senate and House Republicans are fighting over who should move first to break the stalemate over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday the House will have to pass a new bill because the Senate can’t pass the House’s initial legislation, which would overturn President Obama’s executive actions on immigration shielding millions from deportation. ‘The next move obviously is up to the House,’ he told reporters following a conference meeting. Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office pushed back, arguing there is ‘little point in additional House action.’ McConnell’s and Boehner’s offices both put the blame on Senate Democrats . . . .”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Time to end the authorization for endless war.” Reuters contributor Steve Vladeck argues, “President Barack Obama is about to ask Congress to authorize force against Islamic State, which he calls the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. This legislation is crucial. Congressional authorization for and oversight of military force is essential to American democracy.”
2. “An Alarming Transformation.” US News contributor Lawrence J. Haas argues, “Perhaps President Barack Obama and his team are less incompetent than purposeful. Perhaps they’re boldly and doggedly discarding long-held canons of U.S. policy, shedding friends and betting on adversaries.”
3. “Life is harsh under Islamic State. But what’s the alternative?” Reuters contributor Aki Peritz argues, “Whether the world has the stamina to see this new Middle Eastern conflict to the end, both militarily and then in the long postwar rebuilding period, remains to be seen. But if the West is serious about actually reversing Islamic State advances, it has to be ready to assist in the long, slow effort of building a new political structure that empowers locals and is strong enough to resist the fanatics who wish to undermine it. That tough, day-after-tomorrow conversation in Washington and elsewhere has not yet begun.”
