FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
Identify theft and espionage. “For security clearance holders, the identity theft risk is less about credit or financial abuse and more related to espionage. In both cases, it’s important to know how you may now be susceptible. ‘They’re not really interested in opening up a credit card and buying $5,000 worth of sporting goods . . . . What they want to know is, one, who is susceptible so what can we learn about these people so maybe they can turn them and they can be spies for our country.”
Clearance expired! “The terms active, current and expired cause a lot of confusion. Your clearance is active as long as you’re in a job requiring access to classified information. The moment you leave that position or contract, your clearance is no longer active, it’s considered current – assuming your investigation hasn’t expired. Obtain another cleared position within two years, and your clearance can be reactivated without a new investigation.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
War in Iraq, whistleblowing, suicide, and vindication. “In July of 2003, four months after the fall of Baghdad, David Kelly walked a mile from his Oxfordshire home to a wooded area called Harrowdown Hill, and stabbed a pruning knife into his left wrist, severing a major artery. He was found dead the next morning. On Wednesday, a long-anticipated report on the decisions that brought a ‘coalition of the willing’ to war in Iraq was released, and laid waste to the intelligence relied upon by the United Kingdom and the United States to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. In doing so, the Iraq War Inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, offered vindication for Kelly . . . .” (Vice News)
Polygraphs, lies, spies, and FBI’s Most Wanted. “On August 9, 1990, two U.S. Embassy employees trying to enjoy a beer at the Mezhdunarodnaya Hotel in Moscow were interrupted by a stranger. One of the employees said the stranger was wearing a blazer and slacks and had untrimmed collar-length hair, according to an FBI report. Speaking perfect English, he bought a bottle of wine for them, paying with a $100 bill. The stranger inquired about their roles at the embassy. Neither divulged any information. He then claimed to know specifics about their employment — saying that he had worked at the embassy years before — and produced an official U.S. passport with the name ‘Edward Lee Howard.’” (Atlas Obscura)
Background checks and predictive analysis. “Think what companies know about you because you provided the info. Combine that with government records, and there’s a data picture that some say might predict behavior. At least one credit bureau, TransUnion, sees a way to help the government conduct background checks and even real-time analysis of whether federal employees are at risk for getting blackmailed or exhibiting other unwanted behavior. The federal security clearance background check system is transitioning from the Federal Investigative Services (FIS) to a new entity called the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB).” (Federal Times)
Threat Hunters: the cybersecurity offensive. “Cybersecurity today is less about stopping adversaries from breaching networks and more about damage control once they get in, an adjustment that has government and businesses embracing a new trend that merges security and big data. This confluence gives rise to a growing practice called threat hunting, the act of aggressively going after cyber adversaries rather than waiting to learn they have breached security perimeters. While growing in popularity, a recent survey of security experts notes that a significant portion of threat hunting is still being performed ad hoc, negating benefits of a repeatable processes and a waste of resources in trying unverified methods that provide minimal value.” (AFCEA)
Bomb-sniffing bugs. “Insects engineered to detect explosives sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but they may become a reality for the US military. Last week, the US Office of Naval Research awarded researchers at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Missouri $750,000 over three years to alter locusts to remotely sense bombs and other explosive devices. These locusts could detect chemical changes in areas with possible dangers, like land mines, with their antenna, and alert users sitting far away in safety.” (Defense One)
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
The Chilcot Report. “The much-anticipated release of the Chilcot report — the findings of a seven-year investigation into the British involvement in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq — interrupted an already frenzied British news cycle fixated on the country’s disentanglement from the European Union. Clocking in at some 2.6 million words, or five times the length of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ the report known formally as the Iraq Inquiry found serious problems in both the decisions to go to war and in the bungled occupation — planning for which, it deemed, was ‘wholly inadequate’ — that followed the ousting of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.” (Washington Post)
Poland secures its role in NATO. “The Polish capital once lent its name to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-led defense alliance that stood as a counterweight to NATO during the Cold War. This week, in a sign of how dramatically strategic alliances have shifted in Eastern Europe, Warsaw will host a two-day NATO summit, the first time that Poland has hosted a top-level meeting of the Western military alliance that it joined in 1999.” (The New York Times)
