Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Criminal records and clearances. Contributor Sean Bigley explains, “One of the most common and needless mistakes I see security clearance applicants make involves the listing (read: not listing) of sealed and expunged criminal records on their SF-86 forms. By the time the applicant comes to us for assistance, he or she is often fighting a preliminary security clearance denial based upon Guideline ‘E’ (Personal Conduct) for the allegedly intentional omission.”
Free cleared features. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “ClearanceJobs recently sat down with customers and asked them what their favorite Cleared Network features are. Here are a few of the top responses. Make sure these tools are part of your recruiting arsenal. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Aleppo offense. Reuters’ Mariam Karouny reports, “Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters launched an offensive south of Aleppo on Friday, expanding their counter-attack against rebels across western Syria with support from Russian air strikes. The assault means the army is now pressing insurgents on several fronts near Syria’s main cities in the west, control of which would secure President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power even if the east of the country is still held by Islamic State.”
Killing Bin Laden. New York Times’ Jonathan Mahler reports, “It’s hard to overstate the degree to which the killing of Osama bin Laden transformed American politics. From a purely practical standpoint, it enabled Obama to recast himself as a bold leader, as opposed to an overly cautious one, in advance of his 2012 re-election campaign. . . . Strategically, the death of bin Laden allowed Obama to declare victory over Al Qaeda, giving him the cover he needed to begin phasing U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. And it almost single-handedly redeemed the C.I.A., turning a decade-long failure of intelligence into one of the greatest triumphs in the history of the agency.” See also, “ The Killing of Osama bin Laden.”
Marine women and integration. Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe reports, “Seven sexual assaults were reported by service members in a unit established within the last year by the Marine Corps to research how to better integrate women into combat roles and unit, according to an analysis of the integration effort . . . . The unit was known as the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, and included about 300 men and 100 women. Its members spent about four months training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., before carrying out a simulated deployment to bases in California at Twentynine Palms and Bridgeport to perform combat skills ranging from shooting to hiking while under monitoring.” See also, “Marine Corps analysis of female integration.”
Army women and integration. Defense One contributor Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports, “A few doors down from the packed room at the U.S. Army’s annual national convention this week in which special operations and conventional Army senior leaders sat on a dais discussing doctrine, the new Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met with a group of military leaders gathered to discuss the importance of mentoring women, the power of high standards and, most notably, the final decisions to come on opening all combat roles to women.”
Diminishing returns to Afghanistan. Defense Media Activity’s Cheryl Pellerin reports, “President Barack Obama announced at the White House today that he will keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan through 2016 and a lesser number into 2017 to sustain coalition efforts to train and strengthen Afghan forces. . . . As part of a four-step plan that he said would best ensure lasting progress in Afghanistan, Obama said he would maintain the current posture of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016. Rather than reduce troop levels to a normal embassy presence in Kabul by the end of 2016, Obama said the United States will maintain 5,500 troops and a small number of bases, including at Bagram and Jalalabad in the east and Kandahar in the south. The mission in Afghanistan will not change, the president said.” See also, “Why Obama decided to break campaign pledge on Afghanistan.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Maritime magic. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Two of the nation’s largest defense contractors are joining a U.S. military research program to develop revolutionary underwater propulsion and drag-reduction technologies to enable manned and unmanned military undersea vehicles to move through the water faster and more energy-efficiently than ever before.”
Category management procurement. Federal Times’ Carten Cordell reports, “The Obama administration has laid out seven steps it has taken and is now building on to make category management part of the government’s procurement process, an element of a larger procurement reform effort. In a statement, officials emphasized the federal government’s place as ‘the single largest buyer in the world,’ spending nearly $450 billion a year on goods and services.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Russian death stick. Telegraph’s Madhumita Murgia reports, “A simple USB stick, created by a Russian security researcher known as ‘Dark Purple’ can instantly fry any machine it plugs into, including your laptop or TV. . . . The USB destroys laptops by sending 220 volts through the signal lines of the USB interface, rendering anything it is plugging into useless.”
Energy cybersecurity. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Cyber networks support many important functions within energy delivery systems, from sending data between a smart meter and utility to controlling oil or gas flow in a pipeline. However, they are vulnerable to disturbances. According to the ICS-CERT Monitor, a publication of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a third of the 245 reported cyber incidents in industrial control systems that happened in 2014 occurred in the energy sector.”
Back to basics: sextants and more. Quartz’ Steve Mollman reports, “Old school navigation pales in comparison to today’s high-tech systems. It’s both painfully difficult and far less precise. But it can get you where you need to go within about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers). That could be a matter of life and death in a scenario where modern technology has been compromised.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Goose cooking. “Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus fears the worst for his party in the event of a loss in 2016. . . . This is not the first time Priebus has hinted at the troubles facing the GOP on the national stage. In June, Priebus told radio host Laura Ingraham that a third straight presidential loss for the party would result in them relinquishing their spot as a national party.”
Fashionably late. “The family of Vice President Joe Biden would support his decision to run for president should he enter the race, although Biden has still not made a decision yet two days after the first Democratic debate. . . . That report came out just a day after many pundits started arguing that it might be too late for Biden to enter the race, after Hillary Clinton’s strong debate performance on Tuesday.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Obama’s Afghan Withdrawal Delay is Necessary But Not Sufficient.” Defense One contributor Michael Waltz argues, “True to form, the Obama administration is determined to fight its plan rather than the enemy and the situation on the ground.”
“We’re Not Leaving Afghanistan.” Slate contributor Josh Keating argues, “Obama can no longer portray himself credibly as an ender of wars. Like Bush before him, he’s going to be leaving several to his successor.”
“Endless Afghanistan war.” Washington Post contributor Paul Waldman argues, “[E]ven Republicans acknowledge that the fundamental problem there is less an enemy that needs to be defeated on the battlefield than a government that isn’t yet capable of governing.”
