Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Cleared mental health. Contributor and counsel Sean Bigley advises, “The bottom line is this: if you need help, go get it. In most cases, your security clearance and your job will not suffer any adverse impacts. For the few cases where security clearance problems do arise, they can often be effectively addressed with professional assistance. And where they can’t, ask yourself which is more important in the long-run: your health or your security clearance?”
Editor Lindy Kyzer writes, “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.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Iran joins Russia in Syria. Vice News reports, “Hundreds of Iranian ground troops have reportedly arrived in Syria over the past 10 days to join an offensive supporting embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad . . . . This claim of Iranian ground troops comes a day after Russian warplanes began striking anti-Assad rebel locations in the west of Syria near Homs and Hama. The involvement of Russia, a longtime ally of the Assad regime, has further escalated Syria’s four-year civil war into a proxy battle with an ever-increasing number of players.” See also, “Why the West hopes Russia will avoid another Afghanistan,” “Iran troops to join Syria war,” “Protections for US-trained rebels,” and “Russia’s post-Soviet military engagements beyond its borders.”
Taliban reports . . . AP’s Mirwais Khanlynne O’Donnell reports, “The new leader of the Afghan Taliban said on Friday that the capture of the northern Afghan city of Kunduz was a ‘symbolic victory’ that showed the strength of the insurgency – even though the Taliban pulled out of the city after three days. Still, the three-day occupation of Kunduz was also ‘a historic event,’ which was ‘celebrated by the ordinary people of the city,’ said Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.” See also, “Taliban shadow governor for Kunduz denies reports of his death.”
Remember Ukraine? Christian Science Monitor’s Fred Weir reports, “Russia’s military involvement in Syria has generated great unease among Ukrainians who fear Western cooperation with Moscow could lead to a weakening in support for Ukraine. Others hope that a distracted Russia, fighting on two fronts, may be more inclined to compromise over the rebel-held regions in the country’s east.”
CONTRACT WATCH
DRS Laurel Technologies building Navy Common Processing System. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced a $17 million contract to DRS Laurel Technologies this week for the Common Processing System (CPS) Technology Insertion 16 production. CPS is a shock-resistant open-architecture computing system for Navy cruisers, destroyers, and other programs. CPS provides computer processing and memory, data storage and extraction, and I/O interfaces to support host software applications of Navy combat systems aboard Navy surface warships.”
DARPA teams with Zymergen Inc. Also from Military & Aerospace Electronics, “Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., announced their latest biotechnology contract on 23 Sept. 2015 to Zymergen Inc. in Emeryville, Calif., for the Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules program. Scientists from these organizations seek to create a revolutionary, biologically based technology platform to provide new materials, capabilities, and manufacturing paradigms for the U.S. military.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
CIA’s Directorate for Digital Innovation. FCW’s Sean Lyngaas reports, “The new directorate, the CIA’s first in a half century, is a milestone in the agency’s quest to modernize its IT systems and further operationalize its cyber capabilities. CIA Director John Brennan announced plans for the directorate, which includes the spy agency’s CIO shop . . . .” See also, “CIA unveils a radically new org chart” and “CIA announces first ‘digital’ directorate.”
Intel sharing slump. Nextgov’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “The Department of Homeland Security is congressionally mandated to convey secret tips on cyber threats across industry and government. President Barack Obama stood up a center for U.S. spies to transmit similar reports internally. And the Senate is debating a bill that would make it easier for companies to inform the government about its own run-ins with hackers. But this so-called information sharing is useless . . . .”
Cybersecurity defense and deterrence. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Defense and deterrence are two of the highest priorities for bolstering the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities, top officials from the Defense Department and the intelligence community told a Senate panel . . . . Clapper said that for the third year in a row, cyberthreats headed the list of threats reported in the annual National Intelligence Worldwide Threat Assessment.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Pelosi rising. “With House Republican leadership in turmoil and the GOP conference divided, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stands to wield significant power in the upcoming negotiations to pass a major budget deal in the coming weeks. Republicans control the majority in both the House and Senate, but Pelosi may matter the most in the budget talks, since Democrats will be needed to pass a budget deal that will almost certainly increase spending, and thus split Republicans sharply.”
Sadly, here we go again. “A visibly angry Obama blasted Congress for being unwilling to change the nations gun laws in response to a wave of mass shootings that have cast a cloud over his presidency. . . . Obama chided opponents of gun control legislation, including those who argue the country needs ‘more guns’ to prevent mass shootings. And he urged proponents of stricter gun laws to vote for political candidates who share their views.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Central Asia and the ISIS Phantom.” The Diplomat contributor Cholpon Orozobekova argues, “The roots of the problem lie not in ISIS, nor in the Caucasian recruitment network that has been luring labor migrants in Russia. The problem lies in Central Asia itself. Central Asian leaders and their governments need to reconsider and resolve the domestic problems that are the main driving forces for recruitment.”
“The war in Afghanistan has so far cost $33,000 per citizen. And will not end well.” Reuters contributor Peter Apps reports, “[I]f Afghan forces can’t hold, power will be transferred to the kind of warlords who preceded them, Taliban or otherwise.”
“The best answer to commercial cybertheft.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “The first instinct of a true discoverer is that one is capable of original thought. Perhaps Confucius said something like that. If so, Xi’s attempt to revive the teachings of Confucius to inspire young Chinese will go far to elevate original ideas in China.”
“Mentoring.” Fast Company contributor Gwen Moran explains, “The commitment is what makes mentoring relationships work on both sides . . . .”
