Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Cyber-tenacity. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Keep building those skills. Many veterans are being sucked into the cybersecurity hype. For good reason – IT-security is an understaffed career category with six figure pay. The problem with that scenario? If you want a high-paying IT career you also need to have the skills to succeed. A cybersecurity certificate may be a start, but you’ll also need to move beyond a C+ certification and DoD 8570 compliance to succeed.”
2. 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.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Our next Chairman. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “For the last 30 years at the Pentagon, October has been a season of change. Every few autumns, the military’s top officer cycles out and retires, bringing in new leadership and ideas. President Obama is expected to announce his choice for the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff any day. And the selection could be a rarity: a Marine or Air Force general.” See also, “Announcement on New JCS Chairman Expected Soon.”
2. Russia’s next offensive. Reuters reports, “Russia’s military may be taking advantage of a recent lull in fighting in eastern Ukraine to lay the groundwork for a new military offensive, NATO’s top commander told the U.S. Congress on Thursday. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the NATO supreme allied commander, said Russian forces had been seeking to ‘reset and reposition’ while protecting battlefield gains, despite a fragile ceasefire agreed in February.”
3. Quiet in Kobani. AP’s Zeina Karam and Mohammed Rasoul report, “It was the Islamic State’s bloodiest defeat to date in Syria. But now, three months since Kobani was liberated, tens of thousands of its residents are still stranded in Turkey, reluctant to return to a wasteland of collapsed buildings and at a loss as to how and where to rebuild their lives. The Kurdish town on the Turkish-Syrian border is still a haunting, apocalyptic vista of hollowed out facades and streets littered with unexploded ordnance – a testimony to the massive price that came with the victory over IS.”
4. Women Ranges. Indeed. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “It is high praise for the women, who arrived at Ranger School amid criticism that has been quiet but steady: They can’t make the cut. They won’t fit in. They will lower the standards of the storied Rangers. One week into the 62-day course, none of these dire predictions has come to pass. The challenge for those who remain is stark, however.”
5. Mess with Texas: Jade Helm 15. Also from the Washington Post, Sarah Kaplan reports, “For a made-up military mission, Jade Helm 15 is impressively elaborate: The two-month simulation planned for this summer spans much of the Southwest, requiring special forces from four branches of the military to carry out covert operations amid ‘hostile’ territory in Texas, Utah and part of California. In at least one of those states, hostility toward the operation has begun a few months early. Online and at in-person meetings, many Texans have expressed suspicion and outright opposition to the project.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Contracting corruption. Reuters’ Stella Dawson reports, “Two thirds of the world’s major defence companies get a ‘fail grade’ for combating corruption in their business operations, despite improvements in industry practices in the past three years . . . . In its survey of 163 companies, Transparency International UK found that 107 showed limited, or no evidence of ethics and anti-corruption programmes. . . . Global military spending is roughly $1.6 trillion a year and any corruption in securing government contracts not only pushes up costs for taxpayers but also risks delivery of shoddy equipment that endangers citizens’ and soldiers’ lives . . . .”
2. Flexi-cable at 10 gigs-per-second: Cicoil Corp. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Cicoil Corp. in Valencia, Calif., is introducing is introducing lightweight and flexible Cat 6a cabling for aerospace and defense applications that require repeating flexing. The Cicoil flat, compact design provides reliability when flexed, twisted or routed through tight spaces. The proprietary Flexx-Sil rubber encased cable is designed to provide data transmission rates of as fast as 10 gigabits per second, frequencies of 500 MHz, and above average suppression of electromagnetic interference, especially in continuous flexing applications.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Brennan addresses INSA. INSA Online reports, “Brennan dedicated most of his remarks to outlining his comprehensive reorganization plan for CIA, which he initially announced March 6. The four ‘separate lines of effort’ include the establishment of a Talent Development Center of Excellence to promote and improve workforce development of incoming and current CIA employees; a new Directorate of Digital Innovation to strengthen expertise and understanding of digital and cyber capabilities; modernizing business practices; and integrating the agency’s capabilities through a structure of 10 mission centers – six focused on regional areas and four on functional areas.”
2. Shapeshifting technology. Quartz’s Adam Epstein reports, “NASA and the United States Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) have teamed up to develop a plane with wings that can change shape mid-flight. NASA has flown 22 research flights over the past six months using the technology, and it passed with flying colors. . . . There’s no timetable yet for when it could be implemented into military or commercial airplanes—and there’s still some more testing to be done—but NASA and the US Air Force are making steady progress on building a quieter, more fuel-efficient plane of the future.”
3. Direction shifting bullets: EXACTO. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “The Pentagon’s effort to develop sniper ammunition that can turn in mid-flight has passed a new milestone, with both expert marksmen and novice shooters hitting targets in a new test . . . . The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program completed in February its most recent live-fire tests to date . . . . Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency . . . . released [a] video . . . which depicts the ammunition adjusting to hit a target that is moving and accelerating.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Watering mouths. “Republicans believe a Supreme Court ruling against ObamaCare this summer would give them leverage to force President Obama to scrap the healthcare law’s central pillars. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who is leading the Senate GOP’s response to King v. Burwell, said Republicans will be willing to strike a deal with Obama to ensure that the 7.5 million people who stand to lose their subsidies are protected, at least until the 2016 elections. But in return, they would demand that Obama to do something he has long resisted: nix the employer and individual mandates for insurance coverage.”
2. Bipartisan leverage. “President Obama gained some bipartisan leverage in a showdown with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the extent of the nation’s spying capabilities, but it’s still unclear how far the president will muscle into the debate to shift the outcome. Obama backs significant changes to Section 215 of the Patriot Act that the U.S. government’s intelligence agencies have used to justify the bulk collection of Americans phone call data.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Russia building nuclear reactors – and influence – around the globe.” Reuters contributor Hannah Thoburn advises, “[C]ompeting against Russia and Rosatom has become increasingly difficult for Western corporations, which are steadily falling behind. . . . Sooner or later, Washington’s and Brussels’ instinct to ignore these challenges will not only seriously undermine Western businesses, it will also cede to Russia the international influence it so ardently seeks to purchase.”
2. “What Did Saudi Arabia Achieve in Yemen?” Defense One contributor Daniel Depetris suggests, “The Houthi movement, which took Sanaa in September without a fight from the forces nominally under Hadi’s command, appears as confident as ever of ultimate military victory.”
3. “About the visit of the Chinese premier [to Pakistan.]” Daily Times contributor Shaukat Qadir explains, “Chinese investment becomes almost the equivalent of aid for a cash-starved economy and the only lifeline to speedy economic recovery. And, for this, full marks to the Pakistan government.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Good advice.
3. Dry erase.
