Tuesday’s Tops

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Take your career to the next level. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “You may not be actively searching for a job, but you should always be managing your career. One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is getting ‘comfortable’ in a position. . . . Here are five tips for taking your career to the next level in 2015.”

2. Cleared jobs for SpecOps. Contributor David Brown explains, “The skills possessed by Special Forces go beyond kicking doors and raising indigenous armies. It’s really about leadership and commitment. The men who wear the green beret are peerless in that regard.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Degrading ISIS: “ingredients of a strategy”. Defense One’s Gordon Lubold reports, “Fresh from a nearly day-long discussion with top military and diplomatic officials here about the best way forward in Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters Monday he doesn’t think the administration’s current strategy needs a fundamental overhaul. But in remarks after the consultations, Carter spoke broadly about ways in which he thinks the strategy could be tightened or refined, leaving open the door for larger changes down the line.” See also, “Defeating ISIL Takes Diplomatic, Military Effort, Carter Says” and “French aircraft carrier deploys against IS fighters in Iraq.”

2. Kicking off Key Resolve and Foal Eagle in South Korea. Reuters reports from Seoul, “South Korea and the United States will begin eight weeks of joint military drills starting March 2, military officials said on Tuesday, an annual exercise that typically provokes heightened rhetoric and military threats from North Korea. North Korea regularly protests the annual exercises, which it says are a rehearsal for war, and has recently stepped up its own air, sea and ground military exercises, amid a period of increased tensions between the rival Koreas.”

3. Homeland security: protecting the mall. Christian Science Monitor’s Cristina Maza reports, “The siege of the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, 17 months ago by militants from the Al Shabab terrorist group left more than 60 people dead and much of the world in shock. On Saturday, the same group released a video calling for similar attacks against malls across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. No credible or imminent threats against malls have been confirmed, US officials say. But shoppers and security forces should remain alert, as malls could be prime targets for terrorist attacks.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. $3 billion in F-35 sales to Israel. DoD Buzz’s Michael Hoffman reports, “The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer announced Sunday that the U.S. would not yet sell F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Arabian Gulf region nations on the same day Israel confirmed it would buy 14 additional F-35s. In a deal worth about $3 billion, Israel said it would buy 14 additional fifth generation fighters built by Lockheed Martin Corp., which would bring the Israeli fleet to 33. The Israeli Defense Ministry bought 19 F-35s in 2010.”

2. $11 billion health record contract getting closer. Nextgov’s Frank Konkel reports, “The Defense Department has narrowed down the contenders competing for its massive Healthcare Management System Modernization contract, potentially worth up to $11 billion over a decade. According to a Feb. 19 presolicitation notice, DOD’s procurement team has established a ‘competitive range’ for the DHMSM contract, leaving only bids from three teams remaining.” Also from Frank Konkel, “Multiple Companies Protest $1.6 Billion Pentagon Contract.”

3. FedBid back in contract business. Government Executive’s Charles S. Clark reports, “The Air Force on Friday quietly ended its three-week suspension of the reverse-auction company FedBid, the contractor announced, removing a threat that the Vienna, Va., firm would face suspension and debarment. On Jan. 29, the Air Force had moved to place FedBid on the Excluded Parties List System in reaction to a September 2014 Veterans Affairs Department inspector general report finding that Susan Taylor, deputy chief procurement officer of the Veterans Health Administration Procurement and Logistics Office, had a conflict of interest in promoting the work of FedBid and sought to discredit a VA official during the 2010-2013 period.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Snowden: I am not a spy. The Moscow Times reports, “U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden has denied allegations that his life in Russia is controlled by the security services, saying he ‘wouldn’t play ball’ when he first came to Russia and continues to remain unscathed only because of his public profile. . . . Snowden did not rule out the possibility of being used as leverage in negotiations between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine crisis, saying: ‘It is very realistic that in the realpolitik of great powers, this kind of thing could happen. I don’t like to think that it would happen, but it certainly could.’”

2. Explosive detection goes micro. Wired’s Jordon Golson reports, “. . . GE Global Research is working on a new way to detect dangerous substances, one that costs about a nickel, can be deployed anywhere, and doesn’t need human supervision. The device is a tiny RFID tag that activates only when it detects certain explosives or oxidizing agents. In effect, it could replace gigantic explosive scanners with something a couple inches across.”

3. Hyperion malware detection goes public. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced that technology from its Cyber Security Division Transition to Practice (TTP) program has been licensed for market commercialization. This is S&T’s second technology that has successfully gone through the program to the commercial market. The technology, Hyperion, developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is a malware forensics detection and software assurance technology which has been licensed to R&K Cyber Solutions LLC, a Manassas, Virginia-based application development and cyber solution company.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Corner of Rock & Hard Place: “Divided Republicans are searching for a way out of an impasse over immigration that is threatening to shut down the Homeland Security Department within days. With the agency’s budget set to expire Friday at midnight without action by Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday he would split language overturning President Barack Obama’s contested immigration measures from the department’s funding bill.” See also, “GOP uncouples immigration fight from Homeland funding bill.”

2. Overstatement understatement: “Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has fired back at critics of his comments toward President Obama. ‘My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart,’ Giuliani wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Sunday evening. ‘My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “How to encircle Islamic State.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Over time, the world has become much less violent, not least because of those who create hope for a shared humanity through acts of love and forgiveness.”

2. “How much does it cost to watch a suspected militant? Lots.Reuters contributor David Wise argues, “Surveillance is a double-edged tool. Catching terrorists is vital to protect the country. But we also want to live in a society where liberty and security are balanced, and the government does not follow people around without good reason. From that perspective, the high cost and difficulty of maintaining a continuous surveillance on a suspect may not be entirely bad in a democracy.”

3. “Want Stability? Fund Nuke Triad Modernization.Breaking Defense contributor Peter Huessy argues, “The nuclear deterrent has prevented nuclear weapons from having been used, especially by the two largest nuclear armed adversaries, for some 70 years. This is an extraordinary record. Cutting the very backbone of our nuclear security is not the way forward to a safer world or safer America.”

THE FUNNIES

1. DHS funding conundrum.

2. One way of looking at it.

3. Hell’s kitchen.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.