FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Your Official Personnel File. Contributor and in-house counsel Sean Bigley advises, “Former federal employees and members of the Armed Forces are often unaware that they can easily obtain a copy of their Official Personnel File (OPF) or military service records. These documents are helpful in a variety of situations: when later filling out a new SF-86 as a federal contractor; when attempting to determine what derogatory information your background investigator will actually see; and, in applying for preference eligible positions. In some cases, it is simply a matter of curiosity.”
2. High-end IT jobs. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “A recent Windows IT Pro survey of tech professionals (68 percent of whom are based in the United States) found that the top paid IT pros work in IT architecture, cloud computing and IT security, with each of these professions commanding more than $100,000. Not surprisingly, respondents noted a skills gap in these of each areas, with projects delayed and work unfulfilled due to a lack of qualified workers in these areas.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Women Rangers passing (at rates that exceed the men). Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “The first-ever Army Ranger School with female students opened Monday with 16 of 19 female soldiers passing the initial physical fitness test, as the Pentagon continues to assess which new combat roles women should have. The class includes 380 men and 19 women, said Gary Jones, an Army spokesman. Of those, 78 men (20.5 percent) and three women (15.7 percent) failed the initial fitness test, he said. Twenty women had qualified to attend by first completing a 17-day preparatory course at Fort Benning, but one of them withdrew.” See also, “Army Shows Women No Slack at Elite Army Ranger Qualifiers.”
2. Special Ops abrading terrorist networks. Defense Media Activity’s Terri Moon Cronk reports, “U.S. special operations forces are successfully taking direct action against multiple global terrorist organizations while building U.S. partner capacity . . . . Deployed around the world, special operations forces work closely with U.S. allies and partners to leverage the nation’s respective strengths and capabilities against common threats . . . . By making thousands of strikes against ISIL leadership and its forces, special operations forces weakened the enemy’s ability to exert external territorial control and challenged the foundation of its propaganda . . . .”
3. Defense budget battle. Breaking Defense’s Mackenzie Eaglen reports, “This week, the Republican Congress is expected to unveil its fiscal year 2016 budget resolution just as House defense authorizers start marking up their annual bill. What will that mean for the US military? Bottom line, the Pentagon should realistically expect no more than $569 billion from Congress in the final, enacted 2016 budget between base and wartime spending—well under the $585 billion the president requested for defense. Here’s how we will get there. . . .”
4. Taliban Spring Break. Reuters reports from Kabul, “The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday announced the start of its annual spring offensive, warning it would ramp up attacks on foreign embassies and government officials, as well as military targets, starting on Friday. . . . ‘If the foreign occupiers really want to relieve themselves from this nuisance of fighting, they should immediately withdraw,’ the Taliban said in a statement. . . . This year’s offensive has been dubbed ‘Azm’ or ‘Resolution’, similar to the name chosen for the NATO-led coalition’s two year ‘Resolute Support’ mission that started in January.” See also, “Afghan deportees from Iran return to a home they barely know.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Poland picks the Patriot. Defense News’ Aaron Mehta and Pierre Tran report, “Poland has selected the US Patriot system and the Airbus Caracal helicopter as the European nation faces an increasingly aggressive Russia. . . . Developed by Raytheon, the Patriot is used by the US Army along with fifteen partner nations. That includes Poland’s NATO partners Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany. That NATO relationship appears to have given Patriot as boost in the competition, at least based on the embassy statement announcing the news.”
2. Raytheon expands cybersecurity capacity. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Cyber security experts at the Raytheon Co. announced plans this week to buy a majority stake in Websense Inc. in Austin, Texas, which specializes in protecting organizations from advanced cyber attacks and data theft. The $1.57 billion transaction will enable Raytheon to form a new cyber security company by combining Websense with Raytheon Cyber Products, a business unit of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS) segment in Aurora, Colo. Raytheon also has launched new cyber security tools.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Cyberwarfare Rules of Engagement. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “The Pentagon keeps its rapidly expanding cyber arsenal almost entirely secret, which helps keep U.S. capabilities potent but also hinders the public’s ability to meaningfully discuss their use and costs. . . . [US Cyber Command and NSA Director Michael] Rogers framed the development of cyber weapons as simply the next evolutionary step in warfare, replete with all the ethical concerns that accompanied other milestones in weapons development.”
2. Transformers: shape-shifting robots. Quartz’s Adam Pasick reports, “Four years after an earthquake and tsunami destroyed Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is still at work trying to clean up the scene. This month TEPCO sent two specially-designed shape-shifting robots into the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor to assess the damage. The first of the unnamed snake-like 60 cm (24 in) robots—which use wheels to roll along in a ‘C’ shape and convert to an ‘I’ shape to shimmy through pipes—got stuck after moving about 10 meters into the reactor’s ruins on April 10, and was abandoned. The second robot, which took a different route yesterday, completed its mission, but was also abandoned after it suffered damage to its camera from the high radiation levels.”
3. Jet hacking. Wired’s Kim Zetter reports, “In response to reports last week that passenger Wi-Fi networks make some planes vulnerable to hacking, the FBI and TSA have issued an alert to airlines advising them to be on the lookout for evidence of tampering or network intrusions. The FBI and TSA note that they currently have no information to support claims that an attacker could commandeer a plane’s navigation system through the passenger Wi-Fi or IFE (In Flight Entertainment) networks, but they are taking the claims seriously.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Cruz news. “Sen. Ted Cruz now claims he ‘misspoke’ when he told potential New Hampshire voters that he has been ‘pressing’ Sen. John McCain to hold hearings on whether service members can carry concealed weapons on military bases. ‘Now, I will acknowledge, I may have misspoken in New Hampshire when I said that I had been pressing John McCain, and what I had been pressing was the Armed Services Committee,’ Cruz said . . . . Cruz called McCain’s response ‘voluble’ and said the Arizona senator ‘can always be counted on for a good quote.’” See also, “McCain, Cruz feud boils over.”
2. Media silence. “Walker shot to the top of the polls in January with a fiery speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit. But in the weeks that followed, he found himself buried under a spate of negative media reports on his awkward public comments. . . . Walker then seemed to wall off national media, despite making another trip to Europe in April and planning one to Israel in May. Other than a 15-minute speech, Walker held no press conferences or public events during his European tour. The Wall Street Journal reported . . . he won’t be doing any in Israel, either.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “It’s time to reevaluate standards for women in the military.” Washington Post contributor Dave Kelm argues, “Available medical research and the experiences of other countries cannot explain why American women are so woefully under-qualified for service in combat specialties. Nor can critics explain why women are found at construction sites, on police forces, or in any occupation where a bigger, stronger man can better perform the physical aspect of the job. Re-evaluate the standard, publish the standard, and hold the standard. For everyone.”
2. “Pak-China Dosti Zindabad.” Pakistan’s Daily Times contributor and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping observes, “This will be my first trip to Pakistan, but I feel as if I am going to visit the home of my own brother. Over the years, thanks to the nurturing of generations of leaders and people from all sectors of both countries, China-Pakistan friendship has flourished like a tree growing tall and strong.” See also, “China’s rise inspires awe.”
3. “Chlorine attacks in Syria: Time to reassert a global ban.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “President Obama has cited the barrel bomb attacks as a ‘core interest’ of the US. As with the nuclear talks with Iran, he seeks to reinforce current treaties on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Such treaties aim to protect innocent civilians from such weapons, a standard now widely shared by much of humanity. Perhaps marking the 100th anniversary of the first major wartime use of chlorine can help raise that standard even higher.”
THE FUNNIES
3. Awkward texting.
