FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Stack your cleared HR deck. Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “Outside of sitting and waiting for the perfect candidate to come, you have one surefire way to increase your chances of having the right talent available when you need it – building your cleared talent pipeline by making great connections with candidates when you see them. . . . Build trust before you need to make a hire by adding candidates to your Cleared Network.”
Cleared in Hawaii. Also from Lindy Kyzer, “Hawaii’s defense reputation is shrouded in infamy – from Edward Snowden’s last stop before China and Russia, to the site of Pearl Harbor, the defense industry is often seen through narrow lenses. But real life in Hawaii is more ‘let’s hit the beach’ than ‘ripped from the headlines.’ . . . . There are inherent challenges to living on an island, but for professionals who make Hawaii home, the benefits often outweigh the negatives.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Contesting Kunduz. New York Times’ Alissa J. Rubin reports, “Kunduz residents and provincial officials said the city remained in Taliban hands on Thursday, despite claims from the Afghan government that it had retaken the city. . . . Afghan security forces had advanced as far as a roundabout near the city’s entrance.” See also, “Taliban in retreat,” “Afghan troops puncture Taliban’s grip on Kunduz” and “Afghan forces retake Kunduz city centre from Taliban.”
Face-off in Syria Politico’s Bryan Bender reports, “Russian airstrikes inside Syria on Wednesday were seen as an effort to prop up the embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad — its chief ally in the region — despite recent assurances from President Vladimir Putin that Russia’s military objective would be to also help defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant . . . . [I]f Moscow deliberately or accidentally kills members of the U.S.-backed New Syrian Force . . . it would put President Barack Obama and his national security team in a very dicey position.” See also, “Warplanes hit Islamic State,” “We’re targeting terrorists in Syria,” “Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels,” “Inside Syria’s death machine.”
AQ attacks Russia in Syria. Long War Journal’s Thomas Joscelyn reports, “Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ), a mainly Uzbek group that formally pledged allegiance to Al Nusrah Front on September 29, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the ‘Russian infidels’ in the Latakia province. The claim could not be independently verified. In a statement released on its official website, KTJ claims that its ‘rocket attacks’ caused ‘serious damage’ to Bashar al Assad’s regime and the ‘Russian infidels’ at the Hamim military airbase.”
Rag Tag warriors. New York Times´ Jennifer Percy reports, “Some fought in combat, but many did not. What followed were purposeless days, sleepless nights, and I sensed a bit of humiliation among them. Like Marlow on his way up the Congo, these men seemed to experience a disturbance in their Western consciousness. They had vastly overestimated their use. Their service was respected but insignificant.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Backpack SATCOM. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., announced a $100 million contract to AQYR Technologies last week for AN/PRS-12 Global Broadcast Service (GBS) rucksack portable receive suites for U.S. military forces. The Global Broadcast Service is a U.S. military system that provides a one-way fast wideband information link to forces garrisoned, deployed, or on the move.”
L3 settles with DoJ: $5 million. Federal Times’ Carten Cordell reports, “The Department of Justice announced that defense contractor L-3 will pay $4.63 million to settle allegations that it inflated labor hours. L-3; which collectively represents L-3 Communications Corporation, Vertex Aerospace LLC and L-3 Communications Integrated Systems LP; provided rotary aviation maintenance and support to the U.S. Army in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. The DOJ alleged that from 2006 to 2011, L-3 overbilled the Army for time contractors spent at Continental U.S. Replacement Centers in Fort Benning, Georgia,, and Fort Bliss, Texas.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Cyber kill chains. Venture Beat contributor Ayse Kaya Firat reports, “The cloud has significantly changed, and shortened, the cyber kill chain. It’s now easier than ever for a hacker to access the entire contact list of a single person, the organization they belong to, or even the entire supply/value chain of the organization. . . . the cloud has significantly changed and shortened the cyber kill chain from ‘recon, weaponize, deliver, exploit, install, command, act’ to just ‘recon, deliver, act,’ making it easier for hackers to access an entire supply/value chain of organizations assets.”
FIMSA non-compliance. FierceGovernmentIT’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports, “[A] new audit finds that FISMA implementation in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 by agencies was mixed. . . . According to the report, most agencies continue to struggle when it comes to managing access to computer resources, configuring software and hardware, governing computer-related roles and responsibilities within the workforce, planning for continuity of operations and identifying control deficiencies as part of an agency-wide IT security plan.”
Spies Anonymous. Wired’s Andy Greenberg reports, “On Monday, a group of Berlin-based anti-surveillance activists launched Intelexit, a campaign to encourage employees of the NSA and British spy agency GCHQ to reconsider the morality of their spy work and to persuade them to quit. They planned to kick the project off with a series of billboards strategically posted near intelligence agency buildings around the world.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Briar patch. “As far as the White House is concerned, President Obama has Russian President Vladimir Putin right where he wants him, mired in the Middle Eastern quagmire he’s worked to keep the United States out of. But the administration’s nonchalant response to news that Russian aircraft launched their first strikes in Syria on Wednesday has unnerved critics of Obama’s policy, who note that the president is letting Putin seize control of the global fight against the Islamic State for his own ends.”
Benghazied. “Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday evening linked the House Select Committee on Benghazi with Hillary Clinton’s dropping poll numbers. ‘Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee,’ McCarthy said . . . . ‘What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable’ . . . . ‘But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen,’ McCarthy said . . . making his pitch to become the next Speaker.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Carte Blanche to Spy on the World.” Electronic Frontier Foundation contributor Danny O’Brien argues, “By legalizing France’s own plans to spy on the rest of the world, France would take a step to establishing the NSA model as an acceptable global norm. Passing the law would undermine France’s already weak surveillance protections for its own citizens, including lawyers, journalists and judges. And it would make challenging the NSA’s practices far more difficult for France and other states.”
“Silicon Valley and the NSA.” Lawfare contributor Nicholas Weaver argues, “Silicon Valley lives in fear that the rest of the world realizes the truth: many of Silicon Valley’s products and services are unusable for almost anyone who is even remotely interesting to the NSA, be it government, trade, telecommunications, or industry. Namely, anyone who’s economically prosperous enough to be a good customer.”
“What do hackers want with fingerprints in a retina-scan world?” Reuters contributor Peter Van Buren argues, “It is entirely plausible the offices inside the American intelligence community which focus on altering or disguising fingerprints just saw their budgets increase, with a little note saying ‘With thanks to the Office of Personnel Management hack.’”
“In-person communication.” Fast Company contributor Laura Vanderkam argues, “The fact that people enjoy seeing colleagues doesn’t mean everyone needs to be in the office five days a week. Working remotely is often more productive. It’s also a great recruiting and retention tool for people who desire better work/life balance.”
