FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Whistleblowers after the storm. Contributor David Brown writes, “We’ve come to associate the term with Edward Snowden, which is unfortunate—not because he is or is not a whistleblower–but because ordinary citizens who blow the whistle rarely make daring slips across the border before becoming celebrities. Instead, whistleblowers at the highest levels sometimes suffer prosaic consequences that can prove more devastating than mere exile. Here are five famous whistleblowers from the defense community, and what happened when they went public. . . .”
Footing the private school bill. Contributor Ron Kness writes, “Most veterans having served for three years or more after September 10, 2001 know the Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay 100 percent of their tuition costs if attending a public school. But what does it pay if they attend a private school? And the biggest question is: What costs remain uncovered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill?”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
CONPLAN 5015. Vice News’ William M. Arkin reports, “Every day at 0300 local time, US military and intelligence briefings start. The demilitarized zone is assessed, North Korean nuclear assets and missiles are fully accounted for, ground movements are logged, air and naval activity is tracked, special operations forces are located, and communications streams are measured and monitored — and the precise status and locations of individual civilian and military leaders are noted.”
Russia’s pull-out. Defense News’ Awad Mustafa reports, “Despite Gulf Cooperation Council states remaining silent about Russia’s unexpected drawdown from Syria, their staunch ally Jordan has stated that their government has known about President Putin’s plans. A Jordanian official said that his government was informed of the Russian withdrawal plans in January.”
Rift in Washington. Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe reports, “A senior American general has proposed resuming offensive strikes against the Taliban, exposing a rift between the military and senior administration officials over the U.S. role in the war in Afghanistan, according to military officials.” See also, “Survival will be an achievement for the Afghan unity govt.”
Jihadi scholarship. The Long War Journal’s Thomas Joscelyn reports, “Hisham Ali Ashmawi, a former Egyptian special forces officer who is openly loyal to al Qaeda, released an audio message earlier this month in which he called on scholars to support the jihadists’ cause. . . . Ashmawi argued that the mujahideen cannot be victorious unless the ‘ulema’ and sheikhs support them. The jihadists’ ‘battles…to settle the conflict between truth and falsehood will not continue, nor be successful,’ without the scholars’ help in mobilizing the people.”
The Maj. Mark Thompson story. Washington Post’s John Woodrow Cox tells the tale: “He’d been fighting to prove it ever since two young women accused the former history instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy of having sex with them while they were students. One of the women said the 2011 liaison — amid a drunken night of strip poker at his Annapolis home — was consensual and part of an ongoing relationship. The other called it rape. . . . The board saw no proof that Thompson had done anything wrong and concluded he should not have been found guilty.”
Afghan air force taking off. Khaama Press reports, “The Afghan Air Force flew more than 20,000 missions last year as the Afghan national security forces went through a significantly challenging year after assuming the full security responsibilities from the coalition forces. Hailing the Afghan forces for improving their capabilities, the NATO Secretary General said the Afghan security forces are ‘showing great courage and determination.’”
CONTRACT WATCH
CORE3D geospatiality. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. intelligence researchers are asking industry to develop core libraries of computer 3D models [that] represent manmade objects like buildings, roads, walls, bridges, towers, and dams to help with military mission planning based on satellite imagery. . . . The CORE3D program has two aims: automated ways to create timely 3D models that capitalize on spectral, textural, and dimensional information from satellite data; and automated ways to recognize and understand objects in satellite reconnaissance data.”
FedRAMP dashboard BPA. Federal Times’ Aaron Boyd reports, “Last year, the General Services Administration’s innovation team, 18F, built a set of pre-competed contracts for agile development vendors to give agencies help on quick-turnaround projects. Now, GSA’s cloud security authorizer, FedRAMP, is getting in on the game with a draft request for quotes off the agile blanket purchase agreement (BPA). The chosen vendors will build a public-facing beta site consisting of a dashboard showing the progress of pending FedRAMP authorizations and individual agency compliance with the certification program”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Cyber-vulnerable. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Damaging cyberattacks on a global scale continue to surface every day. Some nations are better prepared than others to deal with online threats from criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. Data-mining experts ranked the vulnerability of forty-four nations to cyberattacks. The United States ranked 11th safest, while several Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, and Finland) ranked the safest.”
CIA Hurd on FBI. The Intercept’s Jenna McLaughlin reports, “A former undercover CIA agent turned congressman says the FBI — by trying to force Apple to defeat its own security protocols — is barking up the wrong tree. . . . Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said Tuesday that the FBI request might be too intrusive. He said there’s a way to ‘protect our civil liberties, defend our digital information, and chase bad guys all at the same time.’”
Frigate foundations. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “The littoral combat ship was designed as a modular vessel to handle a wide variety of roles based on different equipment packages. These roles include counter-mine warfare, anti-aircraft warfare, anti-surface warfare, and anti-submarine warfare. There are two variants of the LCS — the Freedom class and Independence class. Navy leaders plan to base the future frigates on just one type of the littoral combat ship; they haven’t decided yet which one.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Hocus pocus. “Seven House Republicans proposed a resolution that recognizes magic as a ‘rare and valuable art form,’ and calls for efforts to make sure that magic is ‘preserved, understood and promulgated.’ It also calls magic a ‘national treasure.’ The resolution, led by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, says magic lets people ‘experience the impossible,’ and can help ‘inspire and bring wonder and happiness to others.’ Magic helps bind the different people of the country together, according to the resolution.”
Abracadabra. “U.S. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said Tuesday that the agency doesn’t play a role in determining which protesters are thrown out of Donald Trump’s political rallies or any other campaign events, and that the goal is to step in only when they see Trump or other principals threatened. ‘We don’t interfere with people’s First Amendment rights … people have a right to voice their opinions,’ Clancy told a House appropriations subcommittee Tuesday.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“The Strategy Behind Russia’s Moves in Syria.” National Interest contributor Nikolay Pakhomov argues, “Russia’s actions during the crises in Syria show both that the vigor and timing of these actions are effective and that the recipes of classical, realist diplomacy work in the twenty-first century. Announcing the withdrawal of Russian forces, President Putin has shown, again, that he still calls the shots.”
“Ways to View Putin’s Syrian Surprise.” National Interest contributor Nikolas K. Gvosdev argues, “[T]he Russian announcement suggests that Putin views the operation in Syria, not as an end in itself, but as part of its larger quest to restore its great power position in the world—and he may have concluded that it has run its course.”
“How Would We Fare Against China?” War on the Rocks contributor Robert Haddick argues, “Mobilization is a competition. But dominating a mobilization competition is not enough. A player still needs a complete strategy with a sound theory of success and operational concept in order to succeed.”
THE FUNNIES
