Tuesday’s Top Ten & Blackhawks Win the Stanley Cup!
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
To tell the truth: SF-86. Contributor Sean Bigley advises, “As I have previously cautioned, it behooves security clearance applicants to think carefully before signing their SF-86 form. There can be serious penalties for lying. One Florida man allegedly just learned this the hard way – when he was indicted by a federal grand jury for false statements to the government. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Jeffrey F. Bohn sought a security clearance in June 2010 for an unknown position. He failed to disclose an alleged sexual relationship with a foreign national . . . .”
Cleared advantages. Contributor David Brown explains, “The spy world isn’t necessarily known for its emphasis on a healthy work-life balance, but agencies have made great strides in this area. All federal agencies provide Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), designed to help employees through issues that arise in work or life. EAPs provide licensed counselors and referrals to employees and their families to help with such issues as alcoholism or grieving. Some agencies have the resources to go beyond that. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
CIA kills Nasir al-Wuhayshi. Washington Post’s Greg Miller and Hugh Naylor report, “Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen confirmed early Tuesday that a CIA drone strike killed its leader last week in a blow to the terror group as its militants appear to be benefiting from the widening unrest in the Arabian Peninsula country. Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who pushed the group to engineer repeated terror plots against the United States, was targeted in the strike last week . . . . Wuhayshi’s death represents a substantial setback to an al-Qaeda affiliate that is regarded as the terrorist organization’s most dangerous franchise, with ties to several near-miss plots, including the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner in December 2009.”
Kurds control Tel Abyad. AP’s Zeina Karam reports, “Kurdish fighters took full control on Tuesday of the border town of Tal Abyad, dealing a major blow to the Islamic State group’s ability to wage war in Syria. . . . Kurdish units known as the YPG along with their allies from the Free Syrian Army were starting to clean up the town along the border with Turkey from booby traps and mines planted by the extremists so that residents can return. The militants had been in control of the key town for more than a year.
CONTRACT WATCH
UTC cuts Sikorsky load. Defense News’ Aaron Mehta reports, “United Technologies Corp. has formally announced it will divest itself of its helicopter-producing Sikorsky division, with a final decision on how that happens expected this year. The news, announced in a press release Monday, was not unexpected. UTC boss Greg Hayes said in March that the company was looking to split off Sikorsky, citing concerns that the helicopter giant does not fit in with the rest of the company. However, the announcement still throws a wrench into the helicopter market, as Sikorsky owns a significant chunk of the military rotorcraft customer base.”
Raytheon delivering Navy airborne radar. Military & Aerospace Electronics editor John Keller reports, “Radar experts at the Raytheon Co. will provide the U.S. Navy with 53 advanced airborne radar systems for the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol, surveillance, and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $152.9 million contract last week to the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems segment in McKinney, Texas, to provide AN/APY-10 radar systems for U.S. and Australian P-8A aircraft.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Feinstein’s fight with the CIA. New Yorker’s Connie Bruck reports, “In her office recently, she described how she broke with the C.I.A. over the detention and interrogation program that began in the days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. From the first time Feinstein was briefed about the program, she opposed it. . . . With the torture report, Feinstein abandoned her long-standing allies in the intelligence community. She defended her work by emphasizing its thoroughness; she has noted, with pride, that the Senate historian told her it was the longest report a committee had ever produced.”
Netwar. FierceGovernmentIT’s Stephanie Kanowitz reports, “While many government officials are focused on cyberwarfare following a spate of high-profile cyberattacks including the recent Office of Personnel Management data breach allegedly by Chinese hackers, a new paper states that another concept called ‘netwar’ – a psychological force that’s increasingly related to cyber – deserves more attention. The paper), released June 11 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, defines netwar as ‘intentional activities [meant] to influence the domain of human perception via either overt or hidden channels, in which one or more actors seeks to impose a desired change upon the perception of another actor, in order that this change facilitate second-and third order effects of benefit to them.’” Read Robert Brose’s “Cyberwar, Netwar, and the Future of Cyberdefense.”
HTTPS-Only. Venture Beat’s Paul Sawyers reports, “Microsoft has announced that it will start using the HTTPS protocol by default to encrypt all search traffic coming from Bing. Though Bing has given users an encryption option for more than a year, it was an opt-in feature requiring a user to tweak their settings — but from this summer, it will be switched on automatically. In terms of day-to-day browsing, you won’t notice too much difference — an extra ‘S’ at the end of ‘HTTP’ in the URL will be the most obvious sign that it’s on. For website owners, they will still be able to see whether a visitor has arrived via Bing, but data won’t include the search terms they used.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Shut her down! “Congress is slowly paddling toward a government shutdown. The fight over government spending that has dominated much of the decade, calmed for two years because of a bipartisan deal, is roaring back to life. Democrats are adamant that Republicans back off their plans to increase defense spending without doing the same for nondefense programs. They argue the GOP is using a budget gimmick to funnel more money to the Pentagon without raising spending limits on healthcare and social welfare programs. To try to force the party’s hand, Senate Democrats say they will block every annual spending bill unless Republicans agree to a budget summit. Republicans, for their part, say they have no intention of caving to Democratic demands.”
Fight for your right to party! “The White House on Monday defended a private concert it hosted over the weekend in which Prince and Stevie Wonder performed for just a few hundred people. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama is allowed to hold private events in his home, and said the gathering was paid for by the Obamas. ‘It was a private event paid for with their own money in their own home on a Saturday night,’ Earnest said about the concert, reportedly attended by about 500 people. ‘The president and first lady reserve the right to host private events at the White House,’ Earnest said.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Stop the Army’s Dangerous Game.” Defense One contributor Douglas MacGregor argues, “National militaries that are allowed to live in the past, that fail to shed outworn assumptions about warfighting, play catch-up when war comes. Catch-up always leads to an enormous loss of human life and, frequently, to total defeat. Given the mentality of the Army’s senior leaders, only determined oversight from the Senate and House Armed Services Committees can stop the U.S. Army from playing this dangerous game.”
“An American pattern: Seeking elusive enemies with unreliable allies.” Reuters contributor Tim Weiner explains, “The president’s popularity was plummeting. The endless war in Vietnam was the cause. The war’s toll was measured not only by hundreds of Americans who died each week, but in wounds of the mind: soldiers who became shell-shocked or heroin-addicted in Vietnam. They returned to find the war had come home with them, a battle within the American body politic.”
“Why Is Obama Abandoning 70 Years of U.S. Nonproliferation Policy?” Tablet contributor Matthew Kroenig argues, “A deal that allows Iran to keep a uranium enrichment program will not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Instead, it will make an Iranian bomb more likely. It also increases the risk of a nuclear arms race in the region.”
“A model of reconciliation for Myanmar.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “A better course for changing Myanmar, especially as it makes a transition to democracy, is to push for new leaders who seek to reconcile Buddhists and the country’s minority communities. A possible model can be found in Sri Lanka, another one of Asia’s largely Buddhist countries.”
