Friday Finale & This Time Last Year: Women Rangers, Cyberwarfare RoE, Budget Battle
FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Cleared politics. From counsel Sean Bigley: “[T]he Supreme Court has held that security clearance determinations are entirely within the discretion of the Executive Branch – and absolute power corrupts absolutely. At least in theory, security clearance determinations are supposed to be made by non-partisan, career employees at the various federal agencies.”
Captivating cover letters. From Julie Mendez: “The meat of your message is crucial! You need to show them how you are the answer to their problem (if they did not have one, they would not be hiring!) How can you fulfill the company’s needs? You can do this many ways, but it is vital that you do so in a way that your message is clear and concise.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
China keeps flexing. Defence Talk reports, “China said on Thursday it was ‘normal’ to carry out ballistic missile launches, after a US media report accused Beijing of having test-fired an intercontinental weapon last week. . . . The report linked the tests to tensions between Washington and Beijing over the South China Sea, noting that it came three days before a visit by US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter.”
Shell games in Syria. Reuters’ Jonathan Landay & Phil Stewart report, “Russia’s latest military moves in Syria have sharpened divisions within the U.S. administration over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin genuinely backs a U.N.-led initiative to end the civil war or is using the negotiations to mask renewed military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.”
Pakistan Army shake-up. The New York Times’ Salman Masood reports, “The Pakistani Army’s top commander has dismissed six senior officers, including a three-star and a two-star general, for what Pakistani news accounts described on Thursday as smuggling and other corrupt acts. The dismissals . . . added to the pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose family’s hidden wealth has escalated into a political crisis.” See also, “Pakistan sacks 2 generals, 4 other officers for corruption.”
Zumwalt tests underway. Scout Warrior’s Kris Osborn reports, “The Navy’s new stealthy high-tech destroyer has begun ‘Acceptance Trials’ to assess, refine and further develop its many technologies including navigation, propulsion, auxiliary systems, fire protection and damage control capabilities . . . . Once operational, the Navy’s first high-tech Zumwalt-class DDG 1000 destroyer will pioneer a handful of yet-to-be seen destroyer ship technologies . . . .”
Scaparrotti and Robinson confirmed. Defense News’ Aaron Mehta reports, “The Obama administration’s picks as the next leaders of European Command and Northern Command appear poised to cruise through a nomination vote in the Senate after a friendly hearing Thursday.”
CONTRACT WATCH
Contracting best practices. Federal Times contributor Michael P. Fischetti writes, “The acquisition workforce faces the continued reality of a risk-averse culture encouraged by multiple levels of post-game quarterbacking; a political climate fixated on punishment; lack of or challenging hiring processes; the incredibly dispersed and uncertain nature of government budgets, oversight, and management execution; and several new Executive Orders affecting socioeconomic goals.”
DARPA takes on cyberattacks. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. military researchers have awarded contracts to two organizations for a cyber security project to develop fundamentally new defenses against distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber attacks on U.S. military data networks. . . . The DARPA XD3 program seeks to develop fundamentally new DDoS defenses that afford far greater resilience to these attacks, across a broader range of contexts, than existing approaches or evolutionary extensions can.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
NSA warns: infrastructure vulnerable. Army News Service’s David Vergun reports, “Strong dependence on industrial control systems, or ICS, is a serious vulnerability for industry, the National Security Agency’s deputy director said . . . . “There’s no doubt that Chinese military planners understand the importance of industrial control systems and the critical infrastructure they control,” Richard H. Ledgett Jr. said in his keynote address during a dinner at the Joint Service Academy Cyber Security Summit at the U.S. Military Academy.”
Extraditing CIA’s De Sousa. Washington Post’s Ian Shapira reports, “More than 13 years after an Egyptian cleric was kidnapped off the streets of Milan by CIA operatives, one former agency officer now living in Portugal faces extradition to Italy, where she was sentenced to four years in prison for the abduction.”
Railgun watch. National Interest’s Dave Majumdar reports, “Eventually, the Navy will have to test a full-up railgun. The trick will be to find a suitable range where the weapon can be fired at maximum range and velocity. But if the test program moves from Dahlgren, Virginia, to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, it won’t be able to conduct the at-sea demo onboard a fast transport.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Better than Boehner. “House Speaker Paul Ryan humble-bragged about himself as a leader Thursday, telling CNN he is a better unifier than his predecessor John Boehner was. ‘I think I do it better,’ Ryan said on New Day. ‘Not to knock John, but I spend more time with all of our members on a continual basis.’”
Biden Berns. “Vice President Joe Biden may think America is ready for its first female president, but in this Democratic presidential primary, he prefers some of Bernie Sanders’ messaging over Hillary Clinton’s. . . . ‘I don’t think any Democrat’s ever won saying, ‘We can’t think that big — we ought to really downsize here because it’s not realistic,’” Biden said. “C’mon man, this is the Democratic Party! I’m not part of the party that says, ‘Well, we can’t do it.’’”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Islamic State has erased the line between foreign and domestic policy.” Reuters contributor Nader Mousavizadeh reports, “Divorcing the values of modernity from the design of foreign and domestic policies in an age of migration and jihadist terror serves only to undermine economic stability and domestic security. Ultimately, aligning values with interests will get the West not just the right policies, but the right politics.”
“China’s Rise Is About The Art Of The Possible.” War on the Rocks contributor Dean Cheng argues, “If politics is about the art of the possible, I’d suggest that ‘never’ should be reserved for changes in laws of physics . . . .”
“Putin’s successful Syrian gambit.” The Chicago Tribune contributor Robert E. Shapiro argues, “Putin had some advantages the West did not have, such as, in the Assad regime, a clearly-identifiable proxy power to support. But it seems more Putin’s smarts and farsightedness, particularly in the face of the incoherence and smugness of American policy, allowed him to succeed.”
“Time to decouple European missile defense from Iran.” European Leadership Network contributor Tytti Erasto argues, “Although current tensions are not optimal for arms control, this must not inhibit us from long-term thinking. The reframing of the missile defense dispute could begin with a gradual change of US and European rhetoric, decoupling the Iranian threat from missile defence.”
