Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Veterans, Fed jobs, and retention. Contributor Jennifer Cary reports, “In FY2014, the percentage of veteran new hires within the federal government hit an all-time high of 33.2 percent. However, a report released last month shows that while agencies are getting better at hiring veterans, they aren’t necessarily keeping them. For the first time, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management included a side-by-side comparison of retention rates between veterans and non-veterans for each agency in their annual report. . . .” Read, “Employment of Veterans in the Federal Executive Branch.”
Transitions mastered. Editor Lindy Kyzer offers, “You used to be an adventurer, but now you’re a civilian – and happy about it. If going back overseas isn’t for you, here are a few cleared jobs for former special ops vets and overseas adventurers to consider. . . . Perhaps the best aspect of each of these careers? They command top salary (often over six figures), and they demand your leadership experience. It’s not the same as running a platoon in Iraq, but the pay-off is still high stakes and the responsibilities are significant. If you’re a veteran, you’re a born leader, and that’s what you should be doing – leading.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Trident Juncture 2015: NATO’s big battle drill. Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “NATO is preparing to hold its most complex military drills in decades — perhaps since the Cold War — as it readies allied troops for a range of hybrid combat scenarios that they might face in coming years. Tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of aircraft, ships and submarines are expected to participate in the October-November exercises in and around Spain, Portugal and Italy. The last time NATO assembled so many forces for a wargame was in 2002; this year’s event is considered even more complicated.”
After Koreas’ quasi-war. AP’s Hyung-Jin Kim reports, “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed top officials in the wake of a recent standoff with South Korea, state media reported Friday, a move that suggests the young leader holds them responsible for allowing the confrontation to nearly spin out of control. . . . It was not known if the dismissed North Korean officials received heavier punishment other than being removed from their party posts. Since taking over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has orchestrated a series of executions and purges in what foreign analysts say was an attempt to bolster this grip on power.” See also, “Ending standoff with North Korea boosts South’s President Park.”
China and North Korea. The Diplomat contributor Adam Cathcart reports, “Less than 24 hours after the ostensible end of ‘the August Crisis’ along the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Zhang Ming, one of China’s various vice-foreign ministers, revealed that the DPRK will send Choe Ryong-hae as its rather high-level representative to Beijing’s September 3 parade, bearing his Party titles. In spite of the borderline silly and solipsistic propaganda being produced about the parade by Chinese Communist Party media, the event itself and the activities around it promise to result in a high-stakes diplomatic event. Not least, South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s attendance at the parade is sure to prompt a wave of speculation about the prospects for yet more inter-Korean talks.”
ISIS kills top Iraqi GOs. The Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio reports, “The Islamic State killed two senior Iraqi generals in a coordinated suicide assault on a military headquarters in Anbar province. Six suicide bombers, including a German and a Tajik, executed the deadly attack. The Islamic State claimed credit for killing Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Raghif, the deputy commander for the Anbar Operations command, and Brigadier Safin Abdel Majid, the commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division, in an assault on ‘the main headquarters where the operations are managed’ . . . .”
GITMO detainees’ next stops. Vice News’ Jason Leopold reports, “In the coming weeks, the White House is expected to send Congress a final plan to ‘safely and responsibly’ move dozens of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay to military and, possibly, federal prisons in the United States. . . . There are 116 detainees still being held at Guantanamo, 52 of whom have been cleared for release or transfer. The remainder includes so-called ‘forever prisoners’ — those too dangerous to release, yet too difficult to prosecute before military commissions — and high-value detainees, like self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators, who have been targeted for prosecution for war crimes.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Cost flux: Long Range Strike Bomber. DoD Buzz’s Brendan McGarry reports, “The U.S. Air Force blamed mistaken cost estimates for the new bomber program — one of the most closely watched defense acquisition efforts underway — in part on ‘human error.’ . . . the service this year estimated the so-called Long Range Strike Bomber, or LRSB, would cost $58 billion over a decade, up from a previous estimate of just $33 billion — though the correct figure is closer to $42 billion.”
Army’s little navy: Maneuver Support Vessel (Light). Defense News’ Joe Gould reports, “In line with the Pentagon’s so-called Pacific pivot, the US Army wants to buy a new fleet of boats to replace its Vietnam-era ‘Mike Boat,’ the service’s first major watercraft procurement in 15 years, acquisitions officials said Tuesday. The Army plans to solicit proposals for roughly two dozen multipurpose landing craft called the Maneuver Support Vessel (Light), or MSV(L), according to Col. Steve George, transportation capabilities manager for Army Training and Doctrine Command. They would replace the Landing Craft Mechanized 8, known as the LCM-8 or Mike Boat.”
Navy’s little army: iRobot 110 FirstLook. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) experts at iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass., have received a $4 million order from the U.S. Navy for the company’s model 110 FirstLook robots and accessories, company officials announced last week. . . . FirstLook can integrate third-party sensors for handling hazardous materials, chemical-biological-nuclear materials, and to accommodate thermal imagers . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
NSA’s big data. Forbes contributor Meta S. Brown explains, “Spies have always depended on communication surveillance to obtain information. Stealing documents, listening in on conversations and cracking the codes of secret messages are basics of the profession. Electronics have been part of the mix for decades: the British used an elaborate electronic surveillance system to listen in on captured German officers during the 1940s. What’s new is the volume and breadth of information gathered.”
CIA data dump. Newsweek’s Jeff Stein reports, “The Central Intelligence Agency is set to release 2,500 previously top-secret briefings it gave to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s . . . . The reports, customarily provided personally to the president each morning by a senior CIA officer, if not the director himself, will almost certainly show much of what the spy agency was telling Kennedy and Johnson about Vietnam, Cuba, the Soviet Union, China and conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. They may well also include the CIA’s private assessments of world leaders.”
Boeing’s drone defense laser. Wired’s Jordon Golson reports, “Boeing’s developed a laser cannon specifically designed to turn unmanned aircraft into flaming wreckage. The aerospace company’s new weapon system, which it publicly tested this week in a New Mexico industrial park, isn’t quite as cool as what you see in Star Wars—there’s no flying beams of light, no ‘pew! pew!’ sound effects. But it is nonetheless a working laser cannon, and it will take your drone down.”
Black Dart AAR. Breaking Defense’s Richard Whittle reports, “This year’s Black Dart included surrogate threat drones from the smallest of five categories the military uses to classify drones. ‘There were a lot of systems that we had there that were focusing on new and improved ways to detect them, and then also new and improved ways to discriminate them’ from birds and other objects. Jamming and other forms of electronic warfare are clearly part of the equation, too, but they are classified to keep adversaries from figuring out counter moves.”
Beyond bar codes. Reuters’ Emma Thomason reports, “Growing demand for more information about the products we buy could mean the end of the simple barcode – the blocks of black and white stripes that adorn most objects for sale and are scanned five billion times a day. First used on a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum in 1974 in a store in Ohio, barcodes have revolutionized the retail world, allowing cashiers to ring up products much faster and more accurately, while also streamlining logistics. But shoppers are now demanding far greater transparency about products, and store owners need more information to help with stock taking, product recalls and to fight fakes. The basic barcode is just not up to the job.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Biden time. “In ways both subtle and blunt, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign is sending a message to Vice President Joe Biden about his potential presidential campaign: This won’t be easy. . . . Donors who have publicly expressed support for a Biden run have been contacted by the Clinton team, according to donors and Democratic strategists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private conversations. Even Clinton herself has made a few calls, they said, to express her disappointment.” See also, “Obama donors flock to Biden with little Clinton crossover.”
Upping his game. “President Obama, on his sixth family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard island since taking office, is nearing his 250th round of golf, cementing him as one of the office’s top players of the presidential pastime. Today was his 244th round. ‘Motorcade arrived at Vineyard Golf Club at 1:05 p.m.,’ the White House press poll emailed Friday. On Wednesday, he played his 243rd round and could hit the 250 mark during his trip that ends in 10 days. . . . Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, golfed 24 times over eight years, cutting his playtime off after the 9/11 attacks, believing it unseemly to be seen enjoying himself at a time of war.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Who’s Leading the World’s ‘Counter Violent Extremism’ Efforts?” Defense One contributors Khalid Koser and Amy E. Cunningham argue, “While ongoing [countering violent extremism (CVE)] summitry and dialogue are important, effective on-the-ground actions still lag. CVE’s framework will only succeed if a more creative and integrated alliance between security and development sectors is forged.”
“Why Russia’s latest attempt at a land grab is a farce.” Reuters contributor Paul Stronski argues, “Instead of focusing on Russian posturing, the United States should concentrate on its major challenge — becoming a real Arctic state by first funding and building modern icebreakers. Otherwise, Russia’s claim will not matter. Because the United States will lack the basic ability to navigate the changing Arctic over the long term.”
“A Tale of Three Backdoors.” Lawfare contributor Nicholas Weaver argues, “We have a difficult enough time building secure systems without backdoors, and the presence of a backdoor must necessarily weaken the security of the system still further. With the dreadful history of backdoors, its little wonder most security professionals believe building backdoors right is practically impossible.”
“’That’s not my job.’” Fast Company contributor Alison Green argues, “[I]t’s reasonable to speak up when something would detract from bigger priorities. When your boss is the one doing the asking, that doesn’t mean totally declining to do it—but it does mean opening a conversation about tradeoffs and what path makes the most sense.”
