Friday the 13th & This Time Last Year
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
The Veteran advantage. . . Editor Lindy Kyzer writes, “Veteran hiring isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a passion for most recruiters. For defense industry and government contracting companies, it’s not just about passion, however, it’s about results. Veteran hires are great hires for many reasons. ClearanceJobs surveyed just a few customers, and they all had one thing in common – military hiring is a priority for dozens of reasons. Here are the top five. . . .”
. . . and the STEM factor. Contributor Peter Suciu writes, “There is . . . great demand for qualified professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) where according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there has been a sharp increase in related positions over the past 15 years. From 2000 to 2015 there was a jump from 10 million to 18 million positions, while the number of STEM employees is expected to increase 55 percent faster than non-STEM jobs over the next 10 years.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
MoH: Captain Florent Groberg. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “He charged the suspect, shoving him away from the patrol. That’s when he felt the suicide vest. He and another US military comrade grabbed the suspect again and tried to drive him even further from the patrol, shoving him down to the ground on his chest. That’s when the suicide vest detonated, an explosion that caused a second suicide bomber’s vest to detonate as well.”
KILLED: Jihadi John. Reuters’ Phil Stewart and Mark Hosenball report, “The United States on Thursday carried out an air strike in Syria targeting the Islamic State militant known as ‘Jihadi John,’ who participated in gruesome videos showing the killings of American and British hostages . . . . If his death is confirmed, it would be an important milestone in the U.S.-led campaign against the group and would come more than a year after U.S. President Barack Obama promised justice after the deaths of American hostages.” See also, “US airstrike targets ‘Jihadi John.’”
FIRED: Ash Carter’s Lt. Gen John Lewis. Defense News’ Andrew Tilghman reports, “The three-star general who has been serving as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Ash Carter was abruptly fired Thursday amid allegations of misconduct. Army Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis was removed from his post Thursday morning after Carter learned of the allegations Tuesday night . . . .”
Kurds in Sinjar. AP’s Susannah George reports, “Iraqi Kurdish militias battling to take back Sinjar from Islamic State militants raised a Kurdish flag and fired off celebratory gunfire in the center of town Friday, though U.S. and Kurdish officials cautioned that it was too soon to declare victory in a major offensive to retake the strategic community. The Kurdish forces encountered little resistance, at least initially, suggesting that many of the IS fighters may have pulled back in anticipation of Friday’s advance.” See also, “Islamic State ‘Defeated and On the Run’ From Sinjar.”
Poised for coup in Iraq. Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss report, “Akram al Kaabi, the leader of the Iranian-supported Harakat al Nujaba militia that is based in Iraq and is an integral part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, has said that he would and could depose the Iraqi government if ordered to do so by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. He also said that he and his group take political and religious guidance from Khamenei, and not Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric.”
ISIS in Libya: a learning organization. Reuters’ Patrick Markey and Ahmed Elumami report, “The attack bore all the traits of Islamic State in Iraq. A small unit of militants, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and suicide belts, hit the Tripoli prison just before sunrise. . . . The prison break failed. But it was another illustration of the tactics employed by an Islamic State front determined to emulate the success of the group’s founders in Iraq and Syria.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Nuke detectors. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) awarded a multimillion dollar contract which will equip U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) frontline personnel with a new capability to detect and interdict radiological or nuclear threats. The award is for small, wearable radiation detector devices – called Human Portable Tripwire (HPT) — which passively monitor the environment and alert the user when nuclear or other radioactive material is present.”
France buying C-130s. Defense Talk reports, “The United States has given the go-ahead for its ally France to buy four Lockheed Martin C-130J military aircraft, a rival to the French-built Airbus A400M. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the contract for two C-130J transports and two KC-130J fuel tankers would come to $650 million . . . .”
Hack contract faults. Nextgov’s Jack Moore reports, “The inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management says a $20 million contract to offer identity theft protection to millions of hacked federal employees ran afoul of contracting regulations. Officials in OPM’s Office of Procurement Operations violated the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the agency’s own policies in awarding a $20.7 million contract to provide credit monitoring and ID theft services . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Spymasters. Politico’s Chris Whipple reports, “The CIA’s famous Presidential Daily Brief, presented to George W. Bush on August 6, 2001, has always been Exhibit A in the case that his administration shrugged off warnings of an Al Qaeda attack. But months earlier, starting in the spring of 2001, the CIA repeatedly and urgently began to warn the White House that an attack was coming. By May of 2001, says Cofer Black, then chief of the CIA’s counterterrorism center, ‘it was very evident that we were going to be struck, we were gonna be struck hard and lots of Americans were going to die.’”
1,000 cyber-spots. FierceGovernmentIT’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports, “The Office of Personnel Management is permitting the Homeland Security Department to hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity professionals, according to a Nov. 10 notice in the Federal Register. DHS has until regulations in the Border Patrol Agency Pay Reform Act of 2014 become effective or until June 30, 2016 to hire employees at the General Schedule 9-15 levels. The notice says personnel may take on a variety of roles including cyber risk and strategic analysis, cyber vulnerability detection and assessment, network and systems engineering, and investigative analysis.”
2019: China’s FC-31 stealth arrives. DefenseTech’s Brendan McGarry reports, “A year after unveiling the FC-31 stealth fighter, Chinese officials say a production version of the fifth-generation aircraft — the country’s answer to the American-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — will fly by 2019, according to multiple news reports. Li Yuhai, deputy general manager at China’s Aviation Industry Corp., known as Avic, and Lin Peng, the FC-31’s chief designer, were on hand at the Dubai Airshow this week to talk about the program.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Limits of power. “President Obama would be stretching the limits of the Constitution if he moved unilaterally to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, experts say. The White House has not ruled out executive action to empty the prison camp, now that Republicans in Congress are poised to reject a plan from the Defense Department for moving detainees to the United States.”
Stumped. “Senate Republicans are divided over how far to go with an ObamaCare repeal bill they plan to send to the president’s desk by year’s end. Senate GOP leaders have told their members they will repeal as much of the 2010 healthcare reform law as possible, but some Republicans are balking at a proposal to repeal the expansion of Medicaid.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Cybersecurity treaties may be nice, but it’s really every country for itself.” Reuters contributor Robert Litwak and Meg King argue, “The goal is to make what one cyber expert calls the Internet ‘Wild West’ less wild. . . . Their effectiveness is likely to be limited, however, because of the challenging character of the cyber domain — in which non-state actors increasingly exercise power and influence rivaling that of major states.”
“How Much Defense Spending is Enough for GOP?” Defense One contributor Miriam Pemberton argues, “When hard-nosed budget hawks go soft in the face of the military’s wish lists, the consequences are felt in investments we aren’t making in such things as an educated populace and the infrastructure of a modern economy.”
Personal development myths. Fast Company contributor Lisa Evans offers, “While mind hacks may give you some small improvements in your life, they keep your life pretty much as it is. True personal development, however, enables you to identify your lifelong dreams and pursue them. That’s a huge shift that is anything but smooth.”
