FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Cybersecurity Recruiting Invitational. From Editor Lindy Kyzer: “If you have a TS/SCI with an active poly, register to attend ManTech’s invitation-only recruiting event on Thursday, April 28. The event will take place in Herndon Virginia. This event is invite only. Why? To ensure your time isn’t wasted, and that only qualified, interested applicants attend.”
Spy flicks. From David Brown: “The summer is upon us, which means it’s staycation season! . . . Here are the best TV shows on Netflix for a Secret Squirrel to while away those lovely listless hours.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
CINC in the Gulf. AP’s Kathleen Hennessey and Adam Schreck report, “President Barack Obama met Thursday with top officials from six Arab nations to discuss regional security issues in the Persian Gulf including the fight against the Islamic State militant group. The meetings in Riyadh are meant to build on a similar summit convened last year at Camp David, the American president’s Maryland retreat. They reflect an effort by the White House to reassure and coordinate with important but wary Mideast allies that harbor serious doubts about Obama’s outreach to Iran and U.S. policy toward the grinding civil war in Syria.” See also, “Low Expectations For Obama’s GCC Summit” and “Obama starts talks with Gulf leaders aimed at easing strains.”
ISIS retreats in Libya. The Long War Journal’s Thomas Joscelyn reports, “Fighters belonging to the Islamic State’s arm in Libya have reportedly withdrawn from their positions on the outskirts of the city of Derna. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s loyalists were opposed by rival jihadists inside the city. Airstrikes by the Libyan Army, the US and Egypt have also repeatedly hit the so-called ‘caliphate’s’ fighting positions in the area over the past year and a half.”
French interoperability. Vice News’ Pierre-Louis Caron reports, “On Wednesday, nine officers from France’s elite police units were cast as terrorists for the purpose of a training exercise that was staged at Montparnasse train station, in the southwest of Paris. Officers entered the station in the early hours of Wednesday, armed with guns and mock suicide vests. . . . the simulated terror attack was an opportunity for the government to test out its new plan to improve coordination across France’s various elite intervention squads.”
CONTRACT WATCH
RTN likes Ga(NO3)3. The National Interest’s Dan Goure reports, “Gallium nitride provides increased power and sensitivity for systems such as antennas while reducing their size and cost. The company began working in this area some fifteen years ago. Not only did it invest in learning how to design semiconductors and electronic parts using the new materials, but also how to fabricate them. Raytheon alone among the major U.S. defense electronics companies has its own foundry producing gallium nitride-based components.”
CyTech, OPM, and contracting conflicts. FCW’s Zach Noble reports, “On April 21, 2015, an IT contractor unexpectedly found himself at the center of what would become the biggest cybersecurity breach in U.S. government history – the massive breach of Office of Personnel Management databases. . . . ‘The whole thing was bungled from the beginning by OPM,’ Ben Cotton, CEO of the service-disabled veteran-owned small business CyTech Services [said].” See also, “OPM data breach solution: Sufficient or merely expensive smoke and mirrors?”
On order: LAIRCM missile-defense. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Missile-defense experts at Northrop Grumman Corp. will install LAIRCM laser-based missile-defense systems for large military aircraft under terms of a $87.2 million contract modification . . . . LAIRCM automatically detects a missile launch, determines if it is a threat, and activates a high-intensity laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
NSA’s Signaling System 7 (SS7)—what about it? Lawfare contributor Nicholas Weaver writes, “SS7 is the protocol phone companies use to talk to each other. It is an ‘out of band’ signaling protocol, a separate communication channel used to coordinate calls and other features. For example, SS7 is the protocol involved in cellular roaming, allowing a cellphone to work effectively anywhere on the planet. Unfortunately SS7 has a large amount of legacy, the biggest being a design concept dating back to the old Bell telephone days . . . .”
CIA, In-Q-Tell, and FOSS investments. Linux Journal’s James Darvell reports, “It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that the CIA is a big investor in tech development. After all, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from spy movies and TV, it’s that spies love their gadgets. But although the movies may show us scenes of secret underground laboratories, the truth is that developing technology from scratch is expensive. Just like any large organization, the CIA usually prefers to use an off-the-shelf solution when it’s available. But what does it do when the solution it needs isn’t ready to ship?”
DARPA’s Gremlins. Defense Update’s Tamir Eshel reports, “Named for the imaginary, mischievous imps that became the good luck charms of many British pilots during World War II, the program envisions launching groups of UASs from existing large aircraft such as bombers or transport aircraft . . . . When the gremlins complete their mission, a C-130 transport aircraft would retrieve them in the air and carry them home, where ground crews would prepare them for their next use within 24 hours.”
Cybersecurity and AI. The Christian Science Monitor’s Corey Fedde reports, “To keep up with cyber threats, the cybersecurity industry has turned to assistance from unsupervised artificial intelligence systems that operate independently from human analysts. But the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., in partnership with the machine-learning startup PatternEx, is offering a fresh approach. Their new program, AI2 , draws on what humans and machines each do best . . . .” See also, “System predicts 85 percent of cyber-attacks using input from human experts.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
I need a raise. “House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy chided President Obama’s request in the fiscal 2017 budget for an 18 percent increase in his post-White House salary. ‘This president is so out of touch,’ McCarthy told Fox News‘ Greta Van Susteren Tuesday, adding Congress would not approve his raise above the annual allotment of $199,700.”
Right is right. “Lawmakers are growing increasingly optimistic that the federal government will soon release 28 pages of secret documents rumored to tie Saudi Arabia to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The lawmakers say renewed scrutiny on the pages from the 2002 congressional report about 9/11 has given momentum to their argument that the documents should be released.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“America Can’t Do Much About ISIS.” The Atlantic contributors Stephen Biddle and Jacob Shapiro argue, “Humanitarian aid is not just an appropriate response to suffering—given the limits on what available military options can accomplish, aid may be one of our most important counter-terrorism tools, too.”
“Outnumbered, Outranged, and Outgunned: How Russia Defeats Nato.” War on the Rocks contributors David A. Shlapak and Michael W. Johnson argue, “A situation 20 years in the making will not be solved overnight, nor will solving it be politically simple or non-controversial for an alliance consisting of 29 members with different priorities and perceptions.”
“Why Vladimir Putin should rein in his ‘Top Guns.’” Reuters contributor Peter Apps argues, “No one expects Russian posturing to cease – indeed, many U.S. and Western officials concede it often makes sense from Moscow’s perspective. The shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, however, starkly underlines the risks of blurring lines of military responsibility too much. Russian President Vladimir Putin might wish to rein in his fighter jocks in. At least a touch.”
“Everything You Think You Know About Interruptions Is Wrong.” Fast Company contributor Jill Duffy writes, “What do you think happens to your productivity when your boss butts in to ask you questions, or when a coworker needs a file? Many people assume interruptions slow them down and hurt the quality of their work. But research shows it’s just not true.”
