Your new Defense Information System for Security (DSIS). “The Defense Department recently announced the Defense Information System for Security (DISS) is ready for roll-out this July. The DISS project began in 2008 as a replacement for the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) – the current IT system that tracks DoD security clearance applicants and holders. DISS is designed to meet several requirements of security clearance reform efforts, including reciprocity, automated record checks, and continuous evaluation.” See also, “New Clearance Data System Ready for Roll-Out.”
Degree or no degree? That is the question. “With more than one million employees, 400 occupational specialties and 100 agencies and bureaus, the federal government is the nation’s largest employer. The government is also one of the leading employers keeping universities in business as many jobs do require at least a bachelor’s degree. But as the largest employer, it also means there are many government security clearance jobs that do not require a college degree.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
Russia’s Vyacheslav Trubnikov on meager American spycraft. “Twenty-nine years after he first became a spy, Trubnikov ascended to the top job. He ran Russia’s answer to the CIA, the SVR, or Foreign Intelligence Service, from 1996 to 2000. The SVR succeeded the KGB after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991. For a man who’s lived his life in the shadows, Trubnikov is surprisingly candid when asked, for example, about some of the U.S. officials he’s worked with.” (NPR)
Russian spies and the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Bill. “Congress is pushing the White House to revive a Cold War-era committee to crack down on Russian spies, underscoring just how uneasy Washington is about its adversaries in Moscow. In its 2017 Intelligence Authorization Bill, the Senate Intelligence Committee is asking the White House to reinstate a presidentially-appointed group to unmask Russian spies and uncover Russian-sponsored assassinations. . . . Along with spies and covert killings, the committee would also investigate the funding of front groups — or cover organizations for Russian operations — ‘covert broadcasting, media manipulation’ and secret funding.” (BuzzFeed)
Solving the cyber-coercion problem. “Given increases in the ability and willingness of various actors to target a nation’s critical infrastructure, David Gompert and Hans Binnendijk have argued that the United States should use cyber operations to ‘amp up the power to coerce.’ This is a reasonable objective, but it ignores the conventional wisdom about cyber coercion that says it doesn’t work. A major component of successful coercion is detailing the pain your enemy may endure. Communicating that capability in the cyber realm is likely to induce your enemy to ‘patch’ the vulnerability you were hoping to exploit. How can actors ever coerce targets with cyber weapons if threatening them effectively neutralizes their utility?” (War on the Rocks)
CONTRACT WATCH
Charles River Analytics providing malware defense technology. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded $500,000 to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Charles River Analytics Inc. to develop malware defense technology that will alert and empower information technology (IT) administrators to fend off an impending cyberattack. The technology can predict next-stage developments in malware evolution, making it possible for administrators to anticipate and block malware intrusions.” (Homeland Security News Wire)
Contracts of the century: Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business. “The Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business contracts collectively represent the largest IT opportunity of the decade, and both went out to bid June 24. The final requests for proposal were released by the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, with deadlines for submissions set for Aug. 29. Alliant 2 is the successor to the Alliant governmentwide contracting vehicle through which agencies have spent $24 billion on IT services.” (Nextgov)
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
SecDef lauds Fallujah win. “Defense Secretary Ash Carter today congratulated Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Iraqi people for freeing the city of Fallujah from the grip of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The operation in Fallujah was a significant challenge for the Iraqi security forces and for the multinational coalition, and it won’t be the last, the secretary said in a statement. . . . Hard fighting is ahead, the secretary added, as is the vital task of caring for the residents of Fallujah displaced by ISIL’s violence and beginning to rebuild the city so they can safely return.” (Defense Media Activity)
ISR UAVs in the Asia-Pacific. “[T]he United States should move to align export restrictions for both armed and stealthy unmanned systems with those of their manned counterparts, substantially broadening the number and types of platforms available to U.S. allies and partners, expanding opportunities for burden-sharing, and increasing interoperability in peacetime and wartime alike. . . . [T]he United States is likely to remain the primary security provider in the Asia-Pacific, with U.S. forward deployed ISR UAVs and, in particular, stealth assets, providing a significant contribution to regional stability as well as the reassurance of regional allies and partners.” (CNAS)
