FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Celebrating science, from the moon to Mars. Contributor Ana Sherman talks with a Lockheed Martin rocket scientist about STEM, Space Day and more. “Space Day is here and rewarding careers in STEM – an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math – are taking off and climbing to new altitudes and atmospheres. Space Day launched in 1997 when Lockheed Martin decided every first Friday in May would be dedicated to encouraging youth to take greater interest in STEM subjects and professions…”
2. Make your profile work. Editor Lindy Kyzer advises, “You can have the most amazing resume out there, but if you’re failing to consider the four tips below, your great skills aren’t likely to get their due. The cleared talent pool is shrinking, which means more demand for professionals with an active federal security clearance. But you won’t be able to take advantage of those opportunities if your profile is getting passed over because of a few easy-to-fix mistakes. The four tips below take minutes . . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Dunford to be next CJCS. Reuters reports, “President Barack Obama [today] will nominate Marine General Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. officials said on Monday, in a widely expected pick likely to win swift Senate confirmation. Dunford, commandant of the Marine Corps, would replace Army General Martin Dempsey, who is expected to step down in September as the top military officer after a tumultuous four-year period that saw most U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan but thousands return to Iraq.” See also, “Marine Commandant, Air Force Cargo Pilot Tapped to Lead Pentagon” and “Dunford tapped for Joint Chiefs chairman, Selva for vice.”
2. DYNAMIC MONGOOSE: North Sea exercises. Reuters’ Balazs Koranyi reports from aboard the USS Vicksburg, “NATO launched one of its biggest-ever anti-submarine exercises in the North Sea on Monday, inviting non-member Sweden for the first time, amid increasing tensions between Russia and its northern neighbors. More than a dozen vessels from 11 countries are participating in the “Dynamic Mongoose” exercise. NATO will simulate detecting and attacking submarines in one of the most hostile seas, with rugged but shallow underwater canyons, rapid currents and unusually high sound pollution from freshwater pouring in from Norway’s fjords.”
3. China’s PLA – an assessment. Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Browne reports, “The PLA is not nearly as powerful as it’s often made out to be. Even as the U.S. military remains decades ahead of the PLA, America has never faced a potential rival quite like China. The Soviet Union had muscular armed forces but a flabby economy and was ultimately unable to keep up with U.S. arms spending. China competes on both counts. Since the early 1990s its military spending has increased by double digits almost every year. It’s America that’s now slowing.”
4. Poppies a’ plenty in Afghanistan. AP’s Mirwais Khan and Lynne O’Donnell report, “It’s the cash crop of the Taliban and the scourge of Afghanistan – the country’s intractable opium cultivation. This year, many Afghan poppy farmers are expecting a windfall as they get ready to harvest opium from a new variety of poppy seeds said to boost yield of the resin that produces heroin. The plants grow bigger, faster, use less water than seeds they’ve used before, and give up to double the amount of opium . . . .”
5. Anti-Americanism waning in Pakistan. The Washington Post’s Tim Craig reports, “Anti-American sentiment appears to be going out of style. The shift has come as Pakistanis appear to be looking closer to home for the causes of — and answers to — the country’s woes, according to interviews with residents, analysts, and current and former diplomats.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Boeing simulators to U.S. Navy and Aussies. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Simulation and training experts at the Boeing Co. will build and install several kinds of flight simulators for crews of the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash. Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, Fla., announced a $118 million contract modification Monday to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis to provide P-8A flight simulators for the U.S. Navy and for the government of Australia.”
2. Northrop Grumman beefing up Army’s Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System. Also from Military & Aerospace Electronics, “Command and control experts at Northrop Grumman Corp. are moving forward on an air battle management program to create a single, unambiguous view of the air battlespace to enable commanders to deal with uncertain information, short timelines.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. NASA’s ten engine transforming drone. Esquire’s Eric Limer reports, “Quadcopters beware. NASA is working on something that makes ordinary drones plane in comparison. This is Greased Lightning, a 10-engine electric craft that can hover like a drone and transform into a plane. Greased Lightning (also known as the GL-10) was designed by NASA researchers first as a demonstration of how drones can be efficient and capable. With its vertical takeoff, the GL-10 can launch anywhere a quadcopter can. But with its V-22 Osprey-inspired transforming tricks, the GL-10 is much more efficient than a helo once it’s in cruise mode.”
2. Merkel sanctions NSA. Reuters’ Erik Kirschbaum reports, “Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Germany’s BND intelligence agency on Monday against accusations it illegally helped the United States spy on officials and firms in Europe. . . . She ardently backed BND cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency in fighting terror even as Germany’s top public prosecutor launched an investigation. Spying on behalf of the NSA has upset many in Germany where surveillance is a sensitive issue due to abuses by the Nazis and East German Stasi.”
3. Patriot Act builds bipartisanship. Politico’s Lauren French and Kate Tummarello report, “With key provisions of the controversial post-9/11 law set to expire at the end of the month, including authority for the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records, critics in both parties are preparing to strike. Among those on hand for the meeting were Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, a card-carrying ACLU member from the liberal mecca of Madison, Wisconsin, and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, a tea party adherent from Kentucky.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. GOP’s anti-Hillary. “When Carly Fiorina launched her presidential bid Monday, she became the first — and likely only — woman in the crowded GOP field. But that’s not what makes her candidacy so distinctive. It’s her sharp-edged attacks on Hillary Clinton that stand out, and her willingness to be the tip of the Republican spear.”
2. Pump up the pay. “Democrats are doubling down on their push for a national minimum wage hike ahead of the 2016 presidential election, as they look to make a campaign issue of an effort that met a stinging legislative defeat last year. Party leaders are rallying behind new legislation that would raise the wage to $12 an hour, well beyond the $10.10 effort that failed to pass when Democrats controlled the Senate.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “CIA reorganizes — again. What could go wrong?” Miami Herald contributor Glenn Garvin argues, “The bottom line on this reorganization is that the people who are supposed to provide neutral intelligence to policy-makers will now be sharing desks with the guys who staged coups in Guatemala and Iran, invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and have carried out thousands of assassinations with drones in the Middle East. To think that’s going to work out well is truly the audacity of hope.”
2. “Afghanistan’s trial against fear.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “This trial, especially with police being among the accused, shows a new public willingness to challenge old beliefs and end impunity for those in power. Religious authorities, too, are trying to end the practice of selling amulets at mosques by those who claim they have magical powers.”
3. “In the battle between Ukraine and Russian separatists, shady private armies take the field.” Reuters contributor Josh Cohen argues, “Poroshenko’s effort to rein in Ukraine’s volunteer warriors — like his fight against corruption — may be a case of two steps forward, and one step back.”
4. “We Need a Full, Transparent Review of the US Targeted Killing Program.” Just Security contributor Sarah Knuckey and Hina Shamsi argue, “With less than two years left in office, the Obama Administration needs to take immediate steps to initiate a full review of its “targeted” killing program, in which the most fundamental of human rights is at stake.”
