FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Social Media Now a (Possible) Part of Background Checks. “…unlike other countries, and even some employers, the government was not going to be asking security clearance applicants for their user names and passwords – an important distinction for privacy advocates. “We’re not going to be trying to break into password protected social media settings, and we’re not going to try to circumvent privacy settings…”
Prepping for your polygraph. “Number one, don’t spend time soul searching. It’s a bad idea to spend time thinking about what may be asked during the test. It’s also a bad idea to anticipate any questions. Also, don’t ask anyone who has taken one what theirs was like. Go in with an open mind and a blank slate. Overthinking (and over preparing) may cause you to fail the test) . . . .”
Tech jobs of tomorrow. “It’s fun to look at the changes afoot in technology and warfare today and try to predict the military jobs of tomorrow. Here are five future military occupation specialties, based on events now in the news. . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
ISIS attacks Taji gas plant. “The dawn attack on the gas plant began with a suicide car bombing at the facility’s main gate in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad. Several suicide bombers and militants then broke into the plant and clashed with security forces. The dead included six civilians and eight security forces; 27 troops were wounded. . . .” (New York Times) See also, “Islamic State Attacks Iraqi Gas Plant” and “Islamic State on the defensive.”
DoD’s aggravating report on China. “China is not happy about a new Pentagon report, and has condemned it as a deliberate distortion that exaggerates Chinese military activity and their ramped up activities in the hotly contested South China Sea. In its annual report to Congress on Chinese military activity, released Friday, the US Department of Defense said that China’s ‘investments in military and weaponry operations continue on a path to increase its power projection.’” (Vice News) See also, “US angers China as UN ruling looms” and “DoD Report: China’s Military Investments Continue.” Read Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2016.
What winning against terrorists looks like. “The lesson from the long and inconclusive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was that the United States could approach “winning” only so long as it kept large numbers of forces on the ground. But maintaining those troop levels involved unsustainable costs – economically, politically, and militarily.” (The Christian Science Monitor)
Hezbollah’s Mustafa Badreddine killed in Syria. “Hezbollah announced the death of Mustafa Badreddine, its notorious senior military commander, in Syria early Friday morning. Badreddine was the successor of his brother-in-law and cousin Imad Mughniyah to the post, its highest ranking military official behind the organization’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and his chief of intelligence. Badreddine was one of the terrorists responsible for the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut which killed 241 American servicemen, among a long and bloodstained career.” (The Long War Journal)
CONTRACT WATCH
Changing the acquisition process back. “In seeking to wipe out the office of the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer and divide its duties between two positions, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain is going back to the future. Analysts suggest McCain’s changes to the acquisitions structure, revealed Thursday as part of his committee’s National Defense Authorization Act markup, would send the Pentagon back to an older structure, to a time when the services’ handling of basic acquisition programs and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) was limited to looking at future innovations.” (Defense News)
Littoral lessons to learn. “From its inception, the Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, has been one of the Navy’s most controversial procurement programs. Questions have been continuously raised about its costs, survivability, lethality, and range limitations.” (Defense One)
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
How the CIA helped jail Nelson Mandela. “The events leading up the arrest of Nelson Mandela, on a dark night near Durban in 1962, have always been murky. In the era of Cold War politics, Mandela, then leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was considered a terrorist and a threat to the West. . . .” (BBC News) See also, “Former diplomat admits CIA involvement in Nelson Mandela arrest.”
Social media game for background checks. “Federal investigators may soon be authorized to search a job candidate’s social media postings when deciding whether to issue a security clearance. Director of Intelligence James Clapper signed a policy Thursday allowing background check investigators to scan public social media postings as part of their assessment.” (Nextgov)
Saudis and 9/11. “John F Lehman, who sat on the 9/11 Commission from 2003 to 2004 which investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has said that Saudi government officials supported the hijackers. There was an ‘awful lot of circumstantial evidence’ implicating several employees in the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Lehman claimed. ‘There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,’ he said. ‘Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.’” (Homeland Security News Wire)
New C-IED technology from Thales. “ECLIPSE, a new counter-IED system developed by Thales is soon to enter into service with the French armed forces. . . . ECLIPSE is built around a new-generation jammer that prevents improvised explosive devices from being detonated by remote control. The moment an IED is detected, ECLIPSE jams radio signals across a wide range of frequencies, without interfering with the radio communication systems used by friendly forces.” (Defense Update)
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
I can’t hear you. “The House Benghazi committee’s Republican chairman is ignoring statements by his own former lawyer indicating that the U.S. military acted properly on the night of the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Libya, the panel’s Democrats said. . . . Gowdy’s actions, coupled with delays that have pushed the 2-year-old inquiry into the heat of the 2016 presidential race, “have damaged the credibility of the Select Committee beyond repair,” Cummings and Smith wrote Sunday in a letter to Gowdy.” (AP)
Little red lines. “Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday President Obama should not have laid down his infamous ‘red line’ about chemical weapons use in Syria, especially since he didn’t maintain it. Commanders in chief ‘should be extraordinarily careful about issuing ultimatums or drawing red lines, because when a president of the United States does that, the rest of the world must know it is fatal to cross it — that when the United States makes a threat, it is not an empty threat,’ Gates said . . . .” (Washington Examiner)
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
“Advancing a Strategic Theory of Special Operations.” “Developing new hypotheses, examining ideas from different perspectives, countering ideas with different theories, criticism and counterpoints are all appropriate and necessary to continue to narrow the gap and achieve a more complete understanding of the interrelationship of all the factors that impact special operations.” (Small Wars Journal)
“Five Possible Futures for the US Navy.” “In the face of the rapid diffusion of technology across the globe, the only long-term competitive advantage America can hope for ultimately resides in the American human factor: building and sustaining a Navy made up of American sailors of agile mind, strong bodies, and resilient spirit, and an education and training system that enhances these qualities.” (Defense One)
