Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Professional development – cybersecurity certification. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Since cybercrime extends to everything from data theft at the highest level of government, safekeeping of healthcare information, spying, and bank fraud to keeping your information secure when you use your credit card, It’s no wonder that the demand for qualified cybersecurity experts is so strong. . . . Now is the time to earn your Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity from Central Michigan University Online and be prepared to earn such preeminent industry certifications as . . . .”
2. Security clearance idiosyncrasies. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “[W]hen it comes to processing security clearance denial cases, DIA marches to their own drummer. In fact, recent cases at that agency have illuminated two interesting issues: (1) DIA has an unusually bureaucratic, cumbersome process when it comes to travel and foreign contact reporting, and (2) the agency has a bizarre adjudicative fixation on psychological issues. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. ISIS lines of communication unraveling. Washington Post’s Erin Cunningham reports, “For weeks, U.S.-backed forces have been fighting to oust the Islamic State from key areas of northern Iraq in a series of small-scale battles that could have an enormous impact on the group’s ‘caliphate.’ A major prize in the clashes is a highway that serves as a lifeline for the Islamic State. It runs from the group’s Iraq stronghold in Mosul to its enclaves in northeastern Syria, including its self-styled capital, Raqqa, 300 miles away.” See also, “Fierce fighting as ISIS strikes multiple fronts “ and “Today’s Top 7 Myths about Daesh/ ISIL.”
2. Ash Carter and best military advice. DoD Buzz’s Richard Sisk reports, “New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday that President Obama needs policy guidance from a military perspective on a range of issues and the Pentagon was prepared to provide it. . . . Carter did not refer directly to the frayed lines of communication between the White House and the Pentagon that reportedly were a factor in the resignation of former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, but he stressed that the White House must be open to guidance from Pentagon civilians as well as the military.” See also, “To Manage the Pentagon, Ash Carter Turned To Bloomberg, Cantor” and “Carter Greets Workforce, Outlines Priorities at All-hands Meeting.”
3. Countering radical Islam. Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Ford reports, “Through sermons and online advertising, from TV studios to family kitchens to psychiatrists’ couches, Muslims and non-Muslims alike are scrambling to stem the tide of young Europeans volunteering to fight with Islamic State (known as both IS and ISIS) in Syria and Iraq, or to wreak havoc at home.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Navy seeks multi-sensor gimbaled electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) stabilized targeting systems. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) division in Crane, Ind., issued a source-sought notice this week (N0016415SNB28) for the Long Range Multi-Sensor EO/IR Stabilized Gimbal with Multi-Function Laser Designator/Rangefinder/Illuminator, High-Definition Full-Motion Infrared and Visible Video and High-Accuracy Target Location Systems project. . . . The sensor package also should be able to handle fire-control for the U.S. Special Operations Command precision-strike package for the AC-130 gunship, which consists of sensors, a 30-millimeter gun, standoff precision-guided munitions, a mission operator console, a communications suite, and flight deck hardware.”
2. Ramping up FedRamp. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Federal officials and vendors will be getting more advice about the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) in the form of a new website, new training modules and procurement guidance to help them incorporate security authorizations in cloud contracts. . . . The new FedRAMP.gov website will be launching next month, incorporating a new design that will make it easier for interested parties to find the information they need.”
3. Beating sequestration. In a Defense News interview, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord explains, “’This budget in a way is very consistent with the path that we’ve laid out, the path we told Congress and the public in our budget last year that we would be pursuing for this year. It is certainly more than we’ve had the last three years, and our leadership is united in saying that was not enough. We’ve been taking risks and underfunding modernization in a way that can’t continue . . . .’”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Snowden’s latest spy story: SIM thieves. The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill and Josh Begley report, “American and British spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data.” See also, “NSA helped British steal cell phone codes.”
2. Contemplating cybersecurity disaster. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “ Mark Spoonauer reports, “Cybersecurity experts often contemplate how U.S. security agencies would react to a cyber-9/11 or a digital Pearl Harbor, in which a computer attack would unplug the power grid, disable communications lines, empty bank accounts, and result in loss of life. ‘Ultimately, it absolutely could happen,’ says one expert. ‘Yeah, that thought keeps me up at night, in terms of what portion of our critical infrastructure could be really brought to its knees.’”
3. Under surveillance. Wired’s Andy Greenberg reports, “Smartphone users might balk at letting a random app like Candy Crush or Shazam track their every move via GPS. But researchers have found that Android phones reveal information about your location to every app on your device through a different, unlikely data leak: the phone’s power consumption. Researchers at Stanford University and Israel’s defense research group Rafael have created a technique they call PowerSpy, which they say can gather information about an Android phone’s geolocation merely by tracking its power use over time.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Take it back! (Take it back?)“Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office offered to change her position on medical marijuana if a major Florida donor recanted his withering criticism of her . . . . The proposal to Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan was straightforward: retract critical statements he made to a reporter in return for Wasserman Schultz publicly backing his cannabis initiative that she had trashed just months earlier. Morgan declined the offer with a sharp email reply sent to a go-between, who described the congresswoman as being in a ‘tizzy.’”
2. Netanyah-tool. “A group of 23 liberal House Democrats urged Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday to delay Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress next month. In the letter spearheaded by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the lawmakers argued that Netanyahu was being used as a ‘political tool’ against President Obama. . . .”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “The cracks in Islamic State’s business plan are starting to show.” Reuters contributor Ora Szekely argues, “The strategy that it has relied on so far to fuel its expansion is becoming increasingly untenable. If Islamic State is going to hold on to its recent gains, it has some policy changes to make.”
2. “Is America at War With Radical Islam?” The Atlantic’s Peter Beinart argues, “Obviously, the United States need not be ideologically agnostic. American presidents should say they believe liberal democracy is morally superior to Islamic theocracy, just as it was preferable to fascism and communism. But that’s a far cry from declaring war on every regime based upon an we don’t like.”
3. “Post-Cold War Order Is Breaking Down.” The Moscow Times contributor Fyodor Lukyanov argues, “The sovereign nation-state has ceased to be the de facto determining factor in the system that seems to have emerged after the Cold War, which was considered a sure sign of historical progress. But this rejection of the fundamental element of world order has, of course, shattered the entire model developed during preceding centuries.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Congress.
2. David.
3. Congrats, Snoopy.
