Friday Finale & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Focused on IT success. Editor Lindy Kyzer writes, “while many defense firms are trying to quickly ramp up their IT security services, one company has been all about cybersecurity from the start. MindPoint Group LLC is quick to point out they have one focus – IT security. (Period.) It’s right on their home page, and when you talk with professionals in their company, you can see how that focus is critical to their success.”
Resume review. Contributor Julie Mendez advises, “Choose accomplishments that help define what you can do for an organization. Show the value that you have brought to the table in the past as examples of what you can do in the future. The ‘civilian’ world is very result-oriented. You must emphasize what’s in it for them if they hire you.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
The Queen’s ISIS problem. Telegraph’s Ben Farmer reports, “Islamic State terrorists are planning mass casualty attacks in Britain the head of MI5 has warned. Andrew Parker, director general of the security agency, said threats from homegrown jihadis who want to fight for the militant movement showed no sign of abating. He also publicly admitted for the first time that MI5 had to carry out computer hacking attacks against terror networks to crack their communications.”
Defense’s talent shortage. The Atlantic contributors David Barno and Nora Bensahel report, “The military services today are losing talent. Bright, capable young men and women—almost all combat veterans—are leaving the services in sizable numbers, shifting their lives from khaki and camouflage to chinos and corporate attire. They are entirely of the Millennial generation, those Americans born after 1980, and since 2001 they have only known a military at war. While the ebb and flow of young people into and out of the military is always a steady tide, the ongoing drain of experienced and bright young officers departing service today after five to 15 years in uniform is a concern.”
Arctic defenses. Defense One contributor Ronald Labrec reports, “The United States Coast Guard announced Friday the creation of a new international forum for cooperation in the Arctic. Signed at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, the new Arctic Coast Guard Forum will include coast guards or similar agencies from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States.” See also, “Army, Air Force Deploy Strykers North of the Arctic Circle.”
Gas! Gas! Gas! Reuters’ Anthony Deutsch reports, “Chemical weapons experts have determined that mustard gas was used in a Syrian town where Islamic State insurgents were battling another group, according to a report by an international watchdog . . . . Syria is supposed to have completely surrendered the toxic chemicals 18 months ago. Their use violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Directed energy drive. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Three U.S. research companies are finding ways to create and use new materials for directed-energy weapons, as well as to protect U.S. and allied weapon systems and warfighters from these same kinds of weapons. . . . The Air Force Research Lab on Friday announced a contract for the three companies to share as much as $121.1 million for materials research and survivability studies involving hardened materials, survivability, and photonic materials. The project involves materials to create and protect from electro-optical weapons and RF and microwave weapons.” See also, “Directed-energy weapons market to reach $24.31 billion over the next five years.”
USCIS records revamp. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Citizenship and Immigration Services awarded a $98.8 million contract to TWD and Associates to help with the agency’s software development, specifically for enhancements to its records system. Over the course of the 54-month task order, TWD and its subcontractors — Calibre Systems and General Dynamics Mission Systems — will assist USCIS’s agile development teams building software that works with the agency’s legacy systems.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Biosurveillance build-up. Defence Talk reports, “The Joint United States Forces Korea Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition, also known as JUPITR, a program led by the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, or JPEO-CBD, and supported by the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, or ECBC, will provide unique biological detection capabilities to address the demand for stronger biosurveillance capabilities on the Korean Peninsula.”
White House hacked. Govexec’s Adam Chandler reports, “U.S. officials say they believe the Obama administration was recently targeted in a cyberhack conducted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, an elite branch of the country’s military. . . . While the White House has refused to comment directly on the accusations, the report is the latest incident thought to reflect a push by Iran’s hardliners to weaken or scuttle the nuclear deal the country signed with the United States and other world powers earlier this year.”
War on encryption. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, “End-to-end user encryption refers to the ability of one person to share communications with another person over a digital interface, and only with that intended recipient. . . . End-to-end user encryption, correctly implemented, is encryption without secret defects that allow someone to intercept those supposedly secure message. And it’s growing in popularity among users.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Playing nice. “The White House is downplaying the significance of President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strained relationship ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting next week. Netanyahu is heading to Washington to mend fences with Obama following a heated public dispute over the Iran nuclear deal. The White House insisted that the differences between Obama and Netanyahu would have little bearing on their ability to strengthen U.S.-Israel ties.”
Words of the wise. “The gaffe-phobic script of modern American politics has been shredded, stomped on and set ablaze in 2016 – especially on the Republican side. The GOP base wants passion in its candidates, and the media has grown accustomed to the Trump treatment — contestants who call their foes nasty, dishonest, short, pathetic, fifth-rate losers with ugly scrunched-up faces. Yet the race doesn’t always (or ever, really) go to the loudest.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“An exemplary way to defeat Islamic State.” Christian Science Monitor’s editorial board argues, “The war against IS can’t be fought merely as a military or theological one. It must be won with living models for young Muslims – either individuals or entire communities and countries that provide purpose and belonging. The violent and illusory path offered by Islamic State would fade away.”
“Syrian Peace Prospects Now Hinge on Long-Time Foes Saudi Arabia and Iran.” Quartz contributor Daniel Depetris argues, “Like the barrel bombs that were dropped on Aleppo in Feb. 2014, the strikes on Douma are meant to send a message to the international community. Assad is telling the world loud and clear that he will continue to prosecute the war as he sees fit, regardless of what diplomats agree to halfway around the world.”
“War is decided on the battlefield. Why peace is decided in Berlin.” Reuters contributor Lucian Kim argues, “Everybody wants to talk to the Germans — about Syria, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and all the other trouble spots in the world. Without even trying, Berlin has become the ‘it’ capital of the Western world.”
