Katie Keller and Jill Hamilton are back highlighting the national security news that’s been happening lately. Everything from Edward Snowden supporting our nation’s bank account to the top movies that showcase the cleared life to lessons we can learn from Eddie Van Halen made the conversation.

Week in Review – ClearedCast Style

Intelligence Arena

While Edward Snowden is still in Russia, avoiding the implications of his actions, on September 29th, the federal court ruled that Snowden doesn’t get to enjoy the profits from his book due to violating nondisclosure agreements and not getting pre-publication review.  Christopher Burgess says “Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division at the Department of Justice, Jeffrey Bossert, summed up the government’s position nicely, “We will pursue those who take advantage of sensitive positions in government to profit from the classified information learned during their government service.” Basically, the publication isn’t going to be stopped – it just means that all proceeds go to the U.S. government to the tune of $5.2 million.”

On October 7th, Christopher Burgess reported on the ISIS terrorists who were extradited for the kidnap and murder of four U.S. citizens: James Wright Foley, Steven Joel Sotloff, Peter Edward Kassig, and Kayla Jean Mueller. Due to their British accents, they were known as “The Beatles.” If convicted, the two will face up to life imprisonment. This statement from the Attorney General William P. Barr in their press release sums it up: “These charges are the product of many years of hard work in pursuit of justice for our citizens slain by ISIS. Although we cannot bring them back, we can and will seek justice for them, their families, and for all Americans. Our message to other terrorists around the world is this — if you harm Americans, you will face American arms on the battlefield or American law in our courtrooms. Either way, you will be pursued to the ends of the earth until justice is done.”

Security Clearance World

As the world of national security work can be a serious business, it’s fun to look at the entertaining side of life too. Greg Stuart created his list of Top 5 Movies that Glorify the Security Clearance. While some of us maybe disagree with the list, it’s fun to debate which ones should have made the cut instead (cough, Jason Bourne, cough). What action movies with a taste of the cleared world are in your genre or are the inconsistencies too frustrating?

Speaking of inconsistencies – or misconceptions, ClearanceJobs chatted with Dan Bradley from DC Security Consultants, and he talked about the term ‘street adjudication’ or things that keep candidates that could be clearable away from supporting the mission. He has a lot of helpful takes on what to do when you find yourself in categories that some might consider not clearable. It’s important to make sure that if you fill out an SF-86 that it’s submitted to the government so that the process can take its course – rather than someone screening the application and making their own decision on whether or not a candidate is clearable.

Career Advice

Steve Leonard and Jason Howk brought some top career advice this week. While the takes are different from each other, both are relevant and necessary. These are serious times, and as we jump from one meeting to the next, we need a little bit of levity – and new skills to manage the meeting marathons. It’s hard to pick just one reason that they can be challenging. But Leonard has a lot of tips – you will laugh and be able to implement some humor into your next meeting that drags on forever. Leonard’s 3rd tip is especially humorous AND helpful, “Draw something on the whiteboard. Venn diagrams are always best, but timelines and graphs work well, too. Dinosaurs, not so much. Before you draw anything, stand up and say, “That’s interesting. Let me show you how I see this unfolding.” Then saunter over to the whiteboard and draw. When you’re finished, say something like “This is a very complex issue, and let’s make sure we’ve addressed all the relevant factors involved.””

Howk shared advice inspired by the life of Edward Van Halen after his passing. Howk says “Eddie and his brother moved to oh-so-cool California and didn’t speak the language. Not just SoCal surfer or Valley girl, but they struggled with English. Their father was Dutch and their mother was from what is now Indonesia. They didn’t look like the other kids, couldn’t speak like the other kids, and their parents were urging them to play piano—not the coolest of musical instruments in the 1960s and 70s. This could have all gone wrong for Eddie and Alex, but they found their own way. They turned towards music that would make them cool, learned the language, and when they weren’t accepted into other cool cliques, they made their own, gradually. This applies to so many people entering a new work force. There is always a new culture and language you have to adopt, adapt to, or struggle with. Find your own way in the crowd. If you don’t fit in, it just might mean the crowd should be following you.”

News to Look for This week

Look for our weekly recruiting articles where we highlight who is hiring or opportunities to watch, and each week, we serve up another round of recruiting tips – specifically looking at nightmares and horror stories this month. Keep your eye out for leadership insights, trivia, anonymous security clearance questions, and a dose of DOHA each week. And keep your eye out for more compensation news for clearance holders.

Make sure you subscribe to ClearedCast and be social with us on all our media channels. Have a security clearance career topic you’d like us to cover? Drop us a note in the comments, or you can send us any thoughts or questions at editor@clearancejobs.com.

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Jillian Hamilton has worked in a variety of Program Management roles for multiple Federal Government contractors. She has helped manage projects in training and IT. She received her Bachelors degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing from Penn State University and her MBA from the University of Phoenix.