FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Fourth and long: seize the moment. Contributor David Brown writes, “What problem exists at your company or agency that could be solved if only someone would do it? If the problem is even tangentially related to your job, seize the moment. Make a plan. Make it your mission to find the solution and go after it with every atom of your authority. Consider Huey Long, the colorful governor of Louisiana in the 1920’s and 1930’s. . . .”
Triplett play: shore-up OPM security. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “Acting Director Cobert recently announced the appointment of a new senior cyber and information technology advisor for OPM. Clifton Triplett comes to the agency from the private sector. A West Point graduate, Triplett served in the military for a decade before working civilian positions in a number of Fortune 200 companies. Triplett will work with the OPM CIO to ‘support the ongoing response to the recent incidents, complete development of OPM’s plan to mitigate future incidents, and recommend further improvements to best secure OPM’s IT architecture.’”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Cornering Abaaoud in France. AP’s Raphael Satter reports, “French authorities identified Abaaoud, the child of Moroccan immigrants who grew up in the Belgian capital’s multiethnic Molenbeek neighborhood, as the presumed mastermind of last Friday’s attacks that killed 129 people and wounded over 350. He also is believed to have links to earlier attacks that were thwarted: one against a Paris-bound high-speed train that was foiled by three young Americans in August, and the other against a church in the French capital’s suburbs.”
Russia strikes Raqqa. Defence Talk reports, “Russian warplanes battered the Islamic State stronghold of Raqa [sic] in Syria on Tuesday, after giving the United States a ‘professional’ warning of an imminent strike, US officials said. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said it was the first time Russia had shared information on ‘some of their operations’ since Moscow began its bombing campaign on September 30.”
Qods cozy with al Kaabi. The Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss report, “Qassem Soleimani, the commander Iran’s Qods Force, the external operations wing of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been photographed with Harakat al Nujaba leader Akram al Kaabi, a US-designated terrorist who fought against US troops in Iraq. . . . Kaabi’s hatred towards the US goes back at least a decade, when he was a commander in Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army. In 2008, the US government listed Kaabi as an individual who threatens the security of Iraq under Executive Order 13438. Also listed along with Kaabi was Abdul Reza Shahlai, a Qods [Force] commander.”
CONTRACT WATCH
USMC defense contract challenges. Federal Times’s Carten Cordell reports, “Marine Corps Systems Command is failing to adequately ensure small business contractors get access to defense contracts, according to an Inspector General’s report. The report found that the Quantico, Virginia-based command had not ensured small business contractors had opportunities to subcontract on 12 prime contracts valued at $221 million, offered no compliance tracking on four contracts, did not follow up on large businesses not meeting small business-goals and awarded contracts without subcontracting plans.”
Operational-level cybersecurity. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “The Cyber Situational Awareness Innovation Challenge project is sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, and Army Cyber Command and Second Army. The project seeks to develop a software-based prototype to evaluate the technical feasibility of a risk-based cyber situational awareness capability to help brigade commanders determine cyber threats to their units at echelon.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Spy stories: ISIS’ Abu Khaled. The Daily Beast’s Michael Weiss tells the tale: “In his first weeks with ISIS, Abu Khaled met Germans, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Venezuelans, Trinidadians, Americans, and Russians—all freshly arrived to ‘remain and expand,’ as the ISIS mantra goes, and to be custodians of the one true faith.” See also, “How ISIS Picks Its Suicide Bombers.”
DARPA’s memory chips: your brain on RAM. Quartz’s Mike Murphy reports, “DARPA has multiple brain-improvement projects in the works, but its Restoring Active Memory project (or RAM, an apparent play on the acronym for a type of computer memory) has a goal of restoring the memory functions of US soldiers returning from the battlefield with traumatic brain injuries.”
OPM to Congress: no thanks. Reuters’ Dustin Volz reports, “Officials from the U.S. government’s personnel agency unexpectedly refused on Tuesday to attend a closed-door congressional briefing on their handling of a massive computer breach that affected more than 22 million federal workers. . . . OPM, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget all declined to appear at the classified meeting due to concerns that the conversation would be transcribed . . . .” See also, “Three Federal Agencies Refuse To Testify About OPM Hack.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Offensive & hysterical. “The war of words between President Barack Obama and Republicans lawmakers and governors over the issue of letting Syrian refugees into the United States escalated yesterday, with the president describing the position of GOP governors who want to block the settlement o Syrian refugees in their states, and of lawmakers who want to block funds for the refugee resettlement program, as ‘offensive and hysterical.’”
Just sign it. “House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday signed the 2016 defense policy bill, which now heads to the president’s desk for his signature for the second time. Ryan hailed the bipartisan bill, which authorizes $607 billion for the Pentagon, as ‘the kind of legislation that gives our armed forces the tools they need to be agile, to be effective, to be ready.’ . . . The bill would impose tougher restrictions on Guantanamo Bay detainee transfers and continue to ban any transfers of detainees to the U.S. However, the White House has indicated the president will sign the bill anyway.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“The world’s determination to defeat Isil is a myth.” The Telegraph Middle East Editor argues, “A properly mounted, properly manned, and properly equipped western army probably could dispatch Isil’s caliphate reasonably quickly, if it were prepared to inflict and sustain the casualties normal in traditional warfare. But if France has that in mind, the evidence suggests it will be on its own.”
“A New War Against ISIS.” Slate contributor Fred Kaplan argues, “ISIS is weakening, but it won’t be defeated unless the powers all around it act together in ways that would be unnatural, even inimical to national or sectarian interests, in ordinary times. These are not ordinary times, and it’s the obligation of the major regional and global powers to act accordingly.”
“NATO should invade ISIS-held territory.” Homeland Security News Wire contributor Nicholas Grossman argues, “NATO should invade ISIS-held territory with the goal of creating two semiautonomous, predominantly Sunni Arab regions under restored Syrian and Iraqi sovereignty. This would be difficult and costly. But it is perhaps the only path to long-term solutions of both the Syrian refugee crisis and the threat of ISIS.”
“The clues Islamic State left behind in the Paris attacks will cost it dearly.” Reuters contributor John Prados argues, “As security services expand their investigations, they will become more precise and able to hone in on persons or elements that have a more direct connection, if not to the Paris attacks themselves, then to other jihadi activities.”
“It’s Time for a Frank Talk with Pakistan’s Army Chief.” Defense One contributor Daniel Markey argues, “The messy world disorder of late 2015 requires pragmatic cooperation between the United States and Pakistan wherever possible, even as they remain at odds over so much else.”
