Baker to Office of Net Assessment, Soldiers’ Stories, and Scary Robot Armies

Friday Finale, This Time Last Year and Farewell B.B. & Lucille

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Secret Seller Boasts on LinkedIn. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “There are two good ways to sabotage your plans to sell an email list to a foreign country. First, walk unsolicited into an embassy and offer up a ‘classified’ list of 1200 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) email addresses. Second, brag about your ‘Top Secret DoD Projects’ on LinkedIn.”

2. Make your profile work. Also from Editor Lindy Kyzer, “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. Koreas: North v. South. The Telegraph’s David Blair reports, “North Korea’s bloated armed forces outnumber those of its southern neighbour by huge margins. When it comes to soldiers and artillery pieces, North Korea enjoys a two-to-one advantage over its old enemy. Yet an abundance of soldiers carrying light arms does not translate into military dominance. North Korea’s armed forces might be immense, but their weapons and equipment are largely obsolete.”

2. No survivors: USMC Huey found. Reuters reports, “The wreckage of a U.S. military helicopter lost on an earthquake relief mission was found on Friday, high on a mountainside in Nepal, with three bodies recovered and the other five people on board feared dead. . . . Crash debris was found just 8 miles (13 km) north of the town of Charikot, said Army Major Dave Eastburn, spokesman for the U.S. military’s regional Pacific Command.” See also, “Rescuers find 3 bodies near crashed US Marine chopper.”

3. Balance of power: Middle East. Christian Science Monitor’s Taylor Luck reports, “The [Arab] public not only supports Saudi Arabia’s new war, but also its new role as Middle East ‘policeman,’ filling the void left by American reluctance to intervene in the region. . . . The nationalist pride recently on display is indicative of a bolder, more assertive Saudi Arabia as the desert kingdom tries to expand its geopolitical footprint in the Middle East and around the world.”

4. Soldiers’ stories. Defense Media Activity reports, “Army Sgt. William Shemin will receive the medal for his actions while serving as a rifleman for Company G, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, American Expeditionary Forces. He distinguished himself during combat operations in the vicinity of the Vesle River, Bazoches, France, on Aug. 7-9, 1918. . . . Army Pvt. Henry Johnson will receive the medal for his actions while serving as a member of Company C, 369th Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division, American Expeditionary Forces. Johnson distinguished himself during combat operations in the vicinity of the Tourbe and Aisne Rivers, northwest of Saint Menehoul, France, on May 15, 1918.” See also, “How One Woman Earned Her Way Onto the Special Ops Battlefield.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Air Force ask: hypersonic munitions. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Air Force researchers are moving forward with a program to develop a hypersonic munition able to attack and destroy targets quickly over long distances, and pose lethal threats to many different targets in many different locations all at the same time. Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., issued a broad agency announcement (BAA-AFRL-RWK-15-0003) on Wednesday for new enabling technologies to support the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) program.”

2. $6 billion acquisition accusations. Federal Times’ Michael Hardy reports, “VA has been spending at least $6 billion a year without adhering to federal contracting rules, according to the memo, written by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Logistics Jan Frye. ‘I can state without reservation that VA has and continues to waste millions of dollars by paying excessive prices for goods and services due to breaches of Federal laws,’ Frye wrote in the memo, addressed to VA Secretary Robert McDonald. Among the specific violations Frye reported . . . .” See also, “VA Put Vets at Risk by Spending Billions Unlawfully, Whistleblower Says.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Jim Baker to lead Office of Net Assessment. Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe reports, “There’s a new Yoda at the Pentagon. Jim Baker, a retired Air Force colonel, has been tapped to run the Pentagon’s legendary Office of Net Assessment, taking over from Andrew W. Marshall, who recently retired after four decades running the Pentagon’s internal think tank. Marshall was 93 years old when he stepped down late last year as the Pentagon’s top strategic guru.”

2. Senate on spying. Government Executive contributors Kaveh Waddell and Brendan Sasso report, “Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire June 1, and because of a scheduled recess, Congress has only until May 22 to reach a deal on the controversial post-9/11 surveillance law. . . . ‘We’re not taking up the House bill,’ Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, another defender of the NSA, told reporters . . . . ‘The program as designed is effective, and members are reluctant to change things that are effective just because of public opinion.’” See also, “What the End of Bulk Metadata Collection Would Mean for Intelligence Collection.”

3. Musk’s nightmare: robot armies. Washington Post’s Peter Holley reports, “Perhaps it’s not surprising that entrepreneur/futurist Elon Musk and Google CEO Larry Page are fast friends. . . . There’s just one nagging problem between the two men. Nothing serious, though, just a little tiff between old buds about the future of the universe, really. Musk thinks Page may be ‘building a fleet of artificial-intelligence-enhanced robots capable of destroying mankind’ . . . .” See also, “DARPA asks teens what a robot future looks like,” “Bomb squads compete at Sandia Labs’ Robot Rodeo” and “Researchers hack a teleoperated surgical robot, revealing security flaws.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Potomac mis-step. “Yesterday, two Saudi crown princes arrived to meet with President Obama at the Oval Office, after King Salman refused to meet Obama at the Gulf summit or at the White House. White House officials should have been careful to make sure everything with the two top Saudi officials went smoothly — but instead, Obama flubbed on the deputy crown prince’s name and the name of the king who forged America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. The prince sat stony-faced as Obama makes the error.”

2. I’ve built up a tolerance. “The Secret Service has placed one senior agent on leave and the other announced his retirement after an internal government watchdog concluded that the agents ‘more likely than not’ were alcohol-impaired when they drove their official car through a suspicious package investigation at the White House in early March. . . . the bar tab included eight glasses of scotch, two vodka drinks, three beers and a glass of wine. Both men said they were not drunk . . . .”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “The 3 Areas Where the Navy Is Adjusting Its Operating Strategy.” Defense One contributor Robert A. Newson argues, “The U.S. Navy is on the right course, but many adjustments are required to deter and defeat adaptable future enemies, including non-state violent extremists, rouge nations, and peer-competitors. However, the U.S. Navy’s innovation efforts, its pursuit of a balanced high-low mix of capabilities, and its focus on warfighting are operationalizing the new strategy. The strategy is not fluff: actions and spending are linked to the words.”

2. “Keeping critical mass against nuclear weapons.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Of all global gatherings in recent decades, perhaps none have contributed more to world order than those dubbed ‘the RevCon.’ These ‘review conferences,’ held every five years, have kept a bright spotlight on almost every country to abide by a treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.”

3. “Vladimir Putin calls Ukraine fascist and country’s new law helps make his case.” Reuters’ contributor Josh Cohen explains, “As Ukraine continues its battle against separatists, corruption and a collapsing economy, it has taken a dangerous step that could further tear the country apart: Ukraine’s parliament, the Supreme Rada, passed a draft law last month honoring organizations involved in mass ethnic cleansing during World War Two.”