News in Review: Espionage, Career Advice, and Clearance Misconceptions

In intelligence we started out the week looking at the artificial intelligence race. Jack Butler compared it to the space race years ago. The balance with AI is to avoid misuse but still push us forward technologically. And with technology advancements come the necessary funding requests.

Christopher Burgess outlined Dickson Yeo’s use of the LinkedIn algorithms in order to track people that are in the Intelligence Community (IC). Yeo had a fake consulting shop setup called Resolute Consulting, in order to send information back to China. We have covered a bit with China this past week with the Houston consulate closure.

Our July Book club read ended with a Facebook Live discussion with Jeffrey Bennett and Lindy Kyzer to discuss Bennett’s The Insiders Guide to the Security Clearance. Bennett and Kyzer  covered the different processes and different misconceptions that candidates or clearance holders might have about either obtaining or keeping a security clearance. A key takeaway is to go after getting the skills, education, and certification you need and then worry about the clearance part second. Sometimes, you have to be flexible with your job until you’re granted a security clearance.

Katie Keller also provided three ways to get your foot in the door before you have a clearance. There are many options to sync up with companies in order to line up your skills with other open positions while you wait for classified work to begin. Most companies don’t have the money to pay your salary from the overhead budget while you wait to bill your hours to a cleared project, so it’s important to find alternate ways to support an organization in the waiting period.

Greg Stewart helped us think through the value of virtual conferences. The main takeaway is that conferences can offer a lot of value, and since it takes less time and money to attend virtually, conference goers have nothing to lose and everything to gain. With less of a time investment, the return on that investment is greater. It’s the same with Career Fairs right now. You don’t have to travel to the event, so why not just check things out? Don’t close the door before you try walking through it first.

And then after feeling impacted by the news of Regis Philbin’s death and reading about his long resume, I felt compelled to write about seven career lessons Philbin gives us. He was so kind, humble, and gracious in the way he interacted with others, and he worked until he was 80 years old. He was a Navy supply officer after graduating college in 1952. Most notable to me was the fact that his big break with Live with Regis and Kathy Lee didn’t come until almost 30 years after he graduated from college. He had a lot of stops and starts, and even after he got a break, he kept working hard.

ClearanceJobs surveyed employees during the covid-19 pandemic about what it’s been like to work in the national security industry. The responses represent a a variety of agencies and whether or not employees felt like their employers were keeping up with safety precautions. The results reinforce the fact that national threats do not stop because of a pandemic, as seen by 84% of people still working away in national security without any impact except doing a lot of work from home instead. This also means that it is still a good time to search for a cleared job, as contract awards and hiring needs remain stable. Most employees have felt cared for by their employers.