FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Your public face. Contributor David Brown writes, “Your social media profiles are now fair game in the security clearance process. Congress and the president have declared that when performing a security review of cleared (or would-be cleared) individuals, security programs of agencies shall now be ‘enhanced’ to integrate ‘relevant and appropriate information from various sources, including government, publicly available and commercial data sources, consumer reporting agencies, social media and such other sources as determined by the Director of National Intelligence.’”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Syrian army advances. AP’s Syria’s state-run news agency and an opposition monitoring group say government troops have recaptured a town in Aleppo province from Islamic State militants. The victory is key for Syria’s military access to the provincial capital, Aleppo city. . . . The report says heavy fighting was ongoing to reopen the road to Aleppo city.”
Syria divided. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Secretary of State John Kerry said he would support a partition of Syria – what he called ‘Plan B’ – if the U.S.-Russian sponsored ceasefire, scheduled to start in the next few days, fails to materialize. Partition would also be an option, Kerry said, if a genuine shift to a transitional government does not take place in the next few months.”
China joins RIMPAC. Reuters reports, “China on Thursday confirmed it would send warships to join a major U.S.-hosted naval drill this summer, even as tension between the world’s two largest economies mounts over the South China Sea. The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world’s largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July. Critics of the Obama administration, including U.S. Senator John McCain, have said the U.S. should bar China from the drills . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
Faster FedRAMP. Nextgov’s Frank Konkel reports, “The director of the General Services Administration’s cloud-vetting program office is continuing to promise faster authorizations for cloud security packages, one of a number of changes initially laid out back in January. The changes will be reflected in a six-month update to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program to be released in the next week or so . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Hayden on cyber warfare. The Christian Science Monitor contributor Michael Hayden reports, “America hasn’t militarized the cyberdomain more than other nations. But we certainly threw plenty of resources into our efforts and our natural tendencies toward transparency – and how we talk about defending cyberspace – has opened us up to charges that we have indeed militarized the digital world.”
DoD’s cyberwarfare bump. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to increase spending for cyber security and cyber warfare operations next year by 15 percent — or nearly a billion dollars — over current-year levels, according to Pentagon budget documents.”
Better body armor. Army Times’ Kyle Jahner reports, “The Torso and Extremities Protection, or TEP, program cleared the engineering and development phases last summer, and will move into a few years of limited production and testing. During that time and beyond, technology advances may be integrated. Already, improved ballistics materials have allowed the Army to cut the weight of TEP . . . .”
USAF cyber budget. Nextgov’s Aliya Sternstein reports, “The branch wants to nearly quadruple the current $7.7 million purse for defending networked aircraft, launch systems, satellites and data — requesting $29.4 million next year. In the request, the Air Force has proposed doubling down on funding to disrupt foreign systems, asking for $25 million in 2017 for cyber offensives versus $12.9 million this year.”
