FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Cyber-job market. Contributor Charles Simmins writes, “The Federal Government is very open about its need for more cyber specialists in all its departments and agencies. Competition with the private sector for qualified applicants is intense and the government has a disadvantage. . . . The various agencies, however, are using new authority and new appropriations to try to fill these empty chairs.”
Company culture. Contributor Jennifer Cary advises, “While it may not seem as important as negotiating a salary or a short commute, company culture should be at the forefront of every job seeker’s checklist. . . . It may seem like a lot of extra work, but the potential pay-off is huge if you can find a company whose culture lines up with your personal desires. Follow these steps and you’re much more likely to enjoy your new job and your colleagues.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Ramadi reconstruction. AP’s Sinan Salaheddin reports, “Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes drove Islamic State militants out of the center of Ramadi on Monday and seized the main government complex there . . . insurgents are still dug into pockets of the city west of Baghdad. Ramadi, the provincial capital of the sprawling Anbar province, fell to IS in May, marking a major setback for Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led campaign.” See also, “Ramadi battle, a potential model for rolling back ISIS,” “Milestone in Fight For Ramadi,” and “Islamic State ruling aims to settle who can have sex with female slaves.”
Liberating Mosul. Reuters’ Maher Chmaytelli and Ahmed Rasheed report, “The Iraqi army will need Kurdish fighters’ help to retake Mosul, the largest city under the control of Islamic State, . . . with the planned offensive expected to be very challenging. Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, has been designated by the government as the next target for Iraq’s armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi. . . . Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that Islamic State would be defeated in 2016 with the army planning to move on Mosul. ‘We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh’ . . . .”
Belgium thwarts ISIS attack. AP’s John-Thor Dahlburg reports, “Two people have been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of planning attacks in Brussels during the holidays . . . . The investigation revealed ‘the threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays’ . . . .” See also, “European capitals on alert.”
Israel preps for ISIS. The Los Angeles Times’ Batsheva Sobelman reports, “Israel’s military trained last month for the possibility of an abduction of its soldiers by Islamic State forces. The exercise simulated a scenario in which Islamic State fighters launched an antitank missile attack on an Israeli tank along the border with Sinai, abducted several soldiers and pushed into Israel’s Negev desert.” See also, “Islamic State West Africa launches coordinated assaults in northeast Nigeria.”
Japan’s defense budget. The Diplomat contributor Franz-Stefan Gady reports, “The cabinet of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a record 5.05 trillion yen ($41.4 billion) defense budget for fiscal year 2016/2017 and slightly below the 5.09 trillion yen requested by Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) . . . . This marks the fourth consecutive rise in defense spending since Shinzo Abe assumed office in December 2012.” See also, “China Unveils Economic Strategy for 2016.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Global weapons supermarket. DoD Buzz’s Brendan McGarry reports, “The U.S. continues to dominate the global arms trade, with agreements totaling about $36 billion last year — more than half of the worldwide market, according to a new congressional report. In the Dec. 21 document, researchers at the Congressional Research Service, which provides nonpartisan policy analysis for members of Congress, concluded the U.S. ranked first in the overall sales last year, followed by Russia.”
Grumman building new spy drone. Zacks reports, “Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation won a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (‘DARPA’) for the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (Tern) program, Phase III, worth $93.1 million. . . . Northrop will manufacture a medium-altitude, full-scale demonstrator of a new unmanned spy drone with a flying wing having large counter-rotating propellers, which will be able to take off from and land on destroyers and frigates. Work is expected to be complete by Nov 2017.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
ISIS cyberwar. Politico’s Joseph Marks reports, “The Islamic State is seeking the ability to launch cyber attacks against U.S. government and civilian targets in a potentially dangerous expansion of the terror group’s Internet campaign. Though crippling attacks for now remain beyond the reach of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL, its hackers have tried to penetrate computers that regulate the nation’s electricity grid, U.S. officials say.”
ISIS spy story. The Daily Beast’s Michael Weiss tells the tale: “It took some convincing, but the man we’ll call Abu Khaled finally came to tell his story. Weeks of discussion over Skype and WhatsApp had established enough of his biography since last we’d encountered each other, in the early, more hopeful days of the Syrian revolution. He had since joined the ranks of the so-called Islamic State and served with its ‘state security’ branch, the Amn al-Dawla, training jihadist infantry and foreign operatives. Now, he said, he had left ISIS as a defector—making him a marked man.”
Forensic seismology. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “On 10 October 2006, a mortar round hit the ammunition supply depot at the U.S. Forward Operating Base Falcon south of Baghdad. The round started a smoldering fire punctuated by whizzing skyrockets, a rain of incandescent fragments, and massive explosions that bloomed into mushroom clouds. Soldiers who videotaped the ‘cook-off’ can be heard wondering what exactly was in the dump and how much longer the explosions would continue. But the soldiers were not the only ones recording the cook-off: a seismometer just four miles away was also registering every boom and shock.” See also, “Pairing seismic data, radionuclide fluid-flow models to detect underground nuclear tests.”
Rocket revolution: 3D printing. Government Executive contributor Kit Eaton reports, “NASA has been developing the technology to 3D-print an entire rocket engine, and it recently tested a collection of the parts it has already made. The successful rocket firing is a fiery proof of the future of this technology. . . . With more research, this sort of low-cost rocket technology could seriously boost the commercial space business and could result in powerful, reliable engines that could help us on the way to Mars.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Scandalous. “In a year marked by private email shenanigans and undercover videos, political scandals that might have shocked the public any other time seemed relatively tame. But public figures from all levels were up to no good in 2015, wasting taxpayer money and trying to cover their tracks at every turn.”
Peace in dearth. “The State Department is defending naming ‘bringing peace’ to Syria as one of its 2015 accomplishments. The claim was made in a Dec. 24 blog post written by John Kirby, the assistant secretary of State for the bureau of public affairs. Deputy spokesman Mark Toner on Monday called it a ‘truthful claim.’ ‘Now look, the operative word there is bringing, not brought, so we’re bringing peace and security to Syria,’ he told reporters, adding that it’s a ‘mistaken impression’ to think that Kirby is implying that the country’s multi-pronged conflict has been resolved.” dearth
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Virtually Unstoppable.” US News contributor Eric Schnurer argues, “As Western civilization becomes increasingly ubiquitous, fluid and virtual, so too will the ‘terrorism’ that defines itself in opposition to it, as Phillip Bobbitt argues. And that’s the ‘rough beast’ we really need to fear, whose ‘hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’”
“Tolkachev, Cold War Spycraft, and Modern Risks for China.” The Diplomat contributor Robert Farley argues, “Tolkachev could have the impact he did because he worked at the dawn of the era of digital knowledge. . . . We can certainly still imagine the possibility that a disgruntled Chinese PLA employee could download reams of data on a thumb drive and pass it to the CIA, but we would likely find the information less surprising, and less strategically useful, than we did in the 1980s.”
