FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Debt and clearances. Contributor William Loveridge concludes, “Although filing bankruptcy is a legal, responsible way to address indebtedness, an individual’s continued accumulation of delinquent and unpaid debt reflects an inability to manage their financial affairs and raises questions regarding their reliability, trustworthiness and ability to protect classified or sensitive information.”
Getting overseas. Contributor Jillian Hamilton suggests, “The experience of working overseas will stretch you, but the process of finding a position will stretch you too. It’s a great time to practice being flexible, since you will need that skill when you move overseas. Matching skills to a position as an outsider takes time and energy, and you have to be willing to wait patiently for others to make decisions or process paperwork. Try to enjoy your remaining time in the states while you wait for everything to line up.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Egypt’s back. AP’s Brian Rohan reports, “Egypt is to unveil a major extension of the Suez Canal on Thursday, a mega-project that has emerged as a cornerstone of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s efforts to restore national pride and revive the economy after years of unrest. . . . The government hopes for another historic moment Thursday, when it unveils an $8.5 billion extension of the waterway funded entirely by Egyptians, without foreign aid. The media and government supporters across the board have breathlessly repeated the same message – after four years of strife and the overthrow of two presidents, Egypt is back.”
Afghanistan unraveling. Reuters’ Jessica Donati reports, “Armed clashes were the leading cause of almost 5,000 civilian casualties recorded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2015, the United Nations said on Wednesday, as fighting intensified following the withdrawal of most foreign troops last year. The number was one percent higher than the number reported in the first half of 2014. In a worrying trend, more civilians were injured or killed by government forces than the Taliban during armed clashes, the U.N. said, although the insurgents remained responsible for the majority of casualties overall.”
Mil-to-mil with China. Defense One’s Kedar Pavgi reports, “There’s plenty of friction between the U.S. and China these days, but at least one aspect of the relationship hasn’t been this strong since the 20th century. Military-to-military contacts — from low-level exercises all the way up to presidential and four-star visits — have been shooting up since 2010, and are on pace to reach historic highs.”
Iran, Iraq, and the fate of American diplomacy. AP’s Julie Pace reports, “President Barack Obama is casting a looming congressional vote on the Iran nuclear deal as the nation’s most consequential foreign policy debate since the authorization of the Iraq war, a now unpopular decision that still reverberates through American politics. In a bid to discredit criticism of the deal, Obama will also argue in a speech Wednesday at American University that the people who supported the Iraq war now oppose the diplomatic deal with Iran.”
CONTRACT WATCH
OPM hack contract released. Nextgov’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “Vendors who win the job of protecting the identities of 21.5 million victims of the largest known federal data breach will have to let the government inside their own databases, according to new contracting papers. The obligation to give up some confidentiality follows allegations that a background check contractor hacked during a related incident stonewalled cyber forensics investigators.”
AWACS upgrade. Defense News’ Brian Everstine reports, “The Air Force has kicked off a $60 million overhaul of communications on its E-3 Sentry fleet to better track enemy aircraft. It is installing the AN/UPX-40 system, meant to eliminate ground clutter to better detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft, according to a news release on the system. The AWACS aircraft will use the information to send intercepting aircraft to enemy targets. . . . The Air Force in 2012 awarded a contract to Telephonics Corp., with first delivery happening this year, according to the Air Force.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Fight for Flake. “Two weeks ago, Flake found himself surrounded by Democrats on Air Force Once headed to Africa, having joined Obama for his first trip to the continent while in office. The in-flight entertainment was obvious from the moment the trip was announced: a long, laborious discussion of the Iran deal. Obama’s pursuit of Flake, a rock-ribbed fiscal conservative who’s broken with his party on foreign policy in the past, shows how far the president is willing to go to secure his legacy-defining nuclear agreement.”
Stuck on CISA. “The Senate is on the verge of punting again on a long-stalled cybersecurity bill that supporters say is needed to bolster the nation’s failing digital defenses. According to several people with knowledge of the negotiations, senators are struggling to reach a deal to restrict floor debate and swiftly move the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) — intended to boost the sharing of data on hackers between the public and private sectors — before the Senate’s month-long August recess.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“9 Reasons the Iran Deal Makes Sense.” Defense One contributor Graham Allison argues, “Iran’s nuclear ambitions will long remain a cardinal challenge for the United States and its allies—a challenge that will demand constant vigilance and a demonstrable readiness to do whatever is required to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The current agreement puts the United States in the best position to meet this challenge.”
“The U.S. picked the wrong ally in the fight against Islamic State.” Reuters contributor Blaise Misztal argues, “It might have been a miscalculation to bring Erdogan into this conflict. But if the United States could stick by its Kurdish partners and chastise Erdogan’s recklessness, he might realize that he is the one who has finally overplayed his hand.”
“The Lessons of Hiroshima: We Still Need Nuclear Weapons.” Breaking Defense contributors Blake McMahon and Adam Lowther argue, “Nuclear weapons will not deter every adversary in every situation. But they were never meant for this purpose. They do, however, deter those adversaries with the capability to pose an existential threat to the United States and its allies. Keeping these threats at bay is well worth the effort. The world is a safer and more peaceful place because of them.”
