FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
A career in intelligence. “If you’re going to be a ‘spy’ working for the United States of America it will be for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the independent U.S government organization that is responsible for providing national security intelligence to the President of the United States and other senior policy makers. In many cases the training that one goes through to work at the CIA is very much what one might expect, even if the job is quite different.”
Got clearance? “You might be asking yourself – what kind of idiot doesn’t know whether or not they have a security clearance? But this happens to be one of the more frequently asked questions we receive here at ClearanceJobs.com (due to the fact that an active federal security clearance is required to register as a candidate on the site). The best way I can explain the possibility of not knowing whether or not you have a security clearance is to tell you a little story . . . .”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
FBI’s secret ISIS fight stepping up. “The F.B.I. has significantly increased its use of stings in terrorism cases, employing agents and informants to pose as jihadists, bomb makers, gun dealers or online “friends” in hundreds of investigations into Americans suspected of supporting the Islamic State . . . . The increase in the number of these secret operations, which put operatives in the middle of purported plots, has come with little public or congressional scrutiny, and the stings rely on F.B.I. guidelines that predate the rise of the Islamic State.”
Snowden claims there’s still more. “Snowden has alleged there’s additional evidence that has not yet been made public. The former NSA contractor has long maintained that his 2013 leak of a trove of highly classified documents was a last resort after his efforts to sound the alarm about the agency’s secret spy programs went largely ignored. The NSA, meanwhile, has rejected Snowden’s narrative, insisting that the closest he got to raising concerns was sending a single email asking a question about the interpretation of legal authorities.” (Vice News) See also, “Snowden Tried to Tell NSA About Surveillance Concerns, Documents Reveal,” “Documents reveal feds’ effort to discredit Snowden, reveal CIA ties,” and “Snowden’s Leaks Have Damaged The NSA So Badly It’s Healthier Than Ever.”
CIA’s Sabrina de Sousa extradited to Italy. “A former CIA agent says she will be extradited to Italy to serve a prison sentence for her part in the U.S. extraordinary renditions program after Portugal’s Constitutional Court rejected her final appeal. . . . De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted for the 2003 kidnapping in Milan of terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr. She insists she wasn’t involved in the abduction.” (AP)
RoBattle leads the way: unmanned ground vehicles. “Designed for modern ground combat, RoBattle is built to operate independently or to support manned formations with the most dangerous, extreme tasks that soldiers had to do before. Performing armed scout and advance guard, ambush and attacks that ‘stimulate the area’, or penetrate deep into contested areas, including deception (acting as a decoy), RoBattle formations are also designed to gather intelligence and surveillance covertly, and assist convoy protection.” (Defense Update)
NATO girding for the cyberwar world. “NATO is dangling roughly 3 billion euros in funding for future cyber-based initiatives to match—and then surpass—the increasingly sophisticated attacks against its 28-member alliance. . . . Increased Russian aggression, instability in Europe’s south, the Syrian refugee crisis and evolving cyberthreats all have contributed toward new strategic realities, but also jockey for the same pot of limited financial resources—mobilizing the alliance to strengthen collaborations with industry for vital solutions.” (AFCEA)
CONTRACT WATCH
IARPA, deception, and cyber defense. “Intelligence work is often as much about gathering information as it is about disseminating misinformation. To that end, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is looking for innovative solutions around deceptive cyber defenses. In a request for information issued June 6, IARPA contracting officers put out the call to ‘identify existing capabilities and emerging methods’ for protecting data and systems by confusing and otherwise deceiving the adversary prior to and during a cyberattack.” (Federal Times)
Navy courts Raytheon’s Excalibur N5 round. “The Navy is seeking longer-range precision weapons for its deck-mounted ‘5-inch’ guns to better destroy enemy targets, defend maritime forces on the move in combat and support amphibious operations. . . . A new Raytheon-developed GPS-guided Excalibur N5 round, however, can pinpoint target out to about 26 nautical miles . . . . The new round, which recently destroyed a target in a test at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., is being offered in response to a 2014 Navy Request for Information to industry for precision-guided technology for the services’ 5-inch guns.” (Scout Warrior)
Check out Bloomberg’s top 20 defense contractors, courtesy of Federal Times.
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
Pyongyang producing plutonium, again. “North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel . . . showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions. The U.S. assessment came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had ‘indications’ that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover plutonium from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex. The latest developments suggest North Korea’s reclusive regime is working to ensure a steady supply of materials for its drive to build warheads, despite tightened international sanctions after its fourth nuclear test in January.” (Reuters)
Iraq acknowledges Qods Force support. “Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, serves as an official advisor to the Iraqi government, the foreign minister confirmed yesterday. Soleimani and Qods Force have provided advice and support for the Popular Mobilization Forces and its component militias. While hosting reporters in the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari defended Soleimani’s role in bolstering sectarian militias that have often acted outside of the law in Iraq as they battle the Islamic State.” (The Long War Journal)
Ending the war in Afghanistan “on terms Americans and Afghans can live with.” “The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, will soon complete an assessment that is expected to call for more U.S. troops than the Obama Administration has planned. . . . Nicholson is expected to favor slower U.S. drawdowns. If so, the general is right. But what’s needed isn’t a slower timetable for withdrawals – it’s the end of timetables altogether.” (Defense One)
Rivet Joint intercepted by Chinese J-10 fighter. “A Chinese fighter jet carried out an ‘unsafe’ intercept of a U.S. spy plane on routine patrol on Tuesday in international airspace over the East China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Command said, as China again demanded an end to U.S. surveillance flights. The intercept involved two Chinese J-10 fighter planes and a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane . . . . Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said such patrols seriously harmed China’s security, and repeated a demand they stop.” (Reuters) See also, “Flying Too Close to American Plane.”
Considering the Mediterranean context. “Today’s Mediterranean Sea provides a picture of what we should expect the oceans of tomorrow to look like. It is an opening to the rest of the world that provides coastal nations with economic opportunity and access to resources and trade. But it is also bounded by chokepoints in every direction and rimmed by diverse nations with competing interests. The Mediterranean is a buffer zone between great powers and a natural spillover zone for many conflicts. In the most extreme view, it is a scene of conflict, a source of threats, and a dividing line between the haves and have-nots of the world.” (War on the Rocks)
