Resumes & Profiles, Hyperloop, AFRICOM Violence, and Contracting App - Daily Intelligence

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1. Your resume – make the best first impression. Editor Lindy Kyzer with 5 steps to help you stand out: “The standard resume is no longer the key to hiring. And when it comes to standing out for hiring managers who scan dozens of resumes each day, visual elements are more important than ever. That’s why the new Cleared Network profile uses infographic features to display important information in an interesting way.”

2. Your virtual profile – see who they might think you are. Also by Kyzer from the vaults, some still-important steps to take to make sure you shape what prospective employers might see: “Perhaps the one community where social media isn’t fully embraced is intelligence. I mean, the FBI is tweeting but are most agents boasting their exploits via social sites? The answer to using social media as a security cleared worker is simple – set limits, know the rules, and you too can mix and mingle online.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Israel, Jordan, U.S., others, linked by increasingly common interests. American Forces Press Service’s Karen Parrish reports from Tel Aviv, CJCS Dempsey said that “’our ability to find common ground and common purpose with our regional partners is actually increasing . . . .’ Conflict in the Middle East moves in cycles, Dempsey said, noting, ‘Our adversaries will always migrate where we’re not . . . .’”

2. In Egypt, continued calm before any storm. Reuters’ Tom Perry in Cairo reports the interim government will likely move slowly: “security forces were likely to cordon off the Islamist protest camps rather than take a more forceful approach that could lead to bloodshed.” See related from Aljazeera.Com, “. . . the decision not to disperse the protesters on Monday came after there were some leaks to the media about the possible intervention of security forces and larger groups started to attend those pro- Morsi sit-ins.”

3. AFRICOM: Islamic militants kill 56 Nigerians – 2 days before the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission Meeting (BCM). AP’s Haruna Umar and Michelle Faul report from Maiduguri, Nigeria, “Suspected Islamic militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday. Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this West African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years.” Important to note, the attacks come only 2 days before the eighth annual BCM.

4. Afghanistan – world lithium leader. Khaama.Com’s Ghanizada reports, “Afghanistan’s natural resources are considered to be a silver lining for the economy of Afghanistan, as the NATO-led international coalition security forces are preparing to leave the country. . . . A classified Pentagon memo called Afghanistan the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium.’”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. Protesting the protests, the bane of the procurement process. DefenseOne.Com contributors William Keating and Peter McDonald explain, “The truth is, most government contractors file bid protests largely out of necessity and/or business strategy. With shrinking budgets and constrained resources, government contractors are competing for an ever-smaller slice of the pie. Moreover, many of these defense contractors have developed such a specialized service offering that they cannot readily offset decreasing government activities with commercial opportunities.”

2. Going mobile – government contracting. Hōrd is here. NextGov.Com’s Joseph Marks reports, “Hōrd was developed by the company GovTribe, founded by three former Deloitte consultants. The app allows users to search for federal contracting notices and awards using keywords. They can also search by a contractor’s name to keep tabs on what their competitors are up to. App users can also “hōrd” a particular notice to receive alerts every time it’s updated.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Hyperloop – faster your seat belts and enjoy the ride. BusinessWeek.Com’s Ashlee Vance with all the details on Elon Musk’s vision for the future of transportation: “In Musk’s vision, the Hyperloop would transport people via aluminum pods enclosed inside of steel tubes. . . . He describes the design as looking like a shotgun with the tubes running side by side for most of the journey and closing the loop at either end. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart, and the pods inside would travel up to 800 miles per hour.” Read the full SpaceX report.

2. Anonymous – in The Army. BuzzFeed.Com contributor Justine Sharrock reports that dissension is growing in the ranks, at least among a cloaked group that calls itself Anonymous in the Army: “An active-duty Army captain and member of Anonymous describes how the organization operates, his own involvement in the Arab Spring, how the crackdown on Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden has affected soldiers, and how more leaks are on the way. . . . ‘They are watching as the government comes down harder and harder. There is a growing sense of disdain and hatred because we are complicit in it. There are some secrets that need to be secrets but the stuff [the military] keeps secret just to protect the bottom line — you just feel like you are selling your soul every day. That is a lot of the motivation. Especially for people of the generation that believe that information should be free.’”

3. Mitigating Manning – the tables flip. TheGuardian.Com covers the mitigation phase of the Bradley Manning sentencing hearings: “Bradley Manning, the US soldier convicted of leaking a huge trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks, flipped a table and had to be restrained from grabbing a gun during counseling sessions at the time of the leaks, his attorney said on Monday. Manning’s main counsel, David Coombs, referred to the incidents as he opened the mitigation stage in the 25-year-old’s sentencing hearing, which began with the questioning on seven mostly senior officers who were in command of Manning.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Senate Intelligence Committee sidestep. Basically, the Intel Committee could hold the spy agencies to task, it just never has. McClatchyDC.Com reports, “Outspoken members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have said frequently that they wanted to warn the public about the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of telephone records but the program’s highly classified nature prevented them from making public reference to the programs. . . . The committee’s failure to make use of the provision even once, critics say, underscores a problem with congressional oversight: Congress has proved unwilling to openly question the intelligence agencies’ claims that something must remain secret.”

2. Keeping secrets from Congress – House Intelligence Committee. TheVerge.Com contributor Adi Robertson reports findings from some of Obama’s declassified documents: “A few members of the House Intelligence Committee kept basic information on the NSA’s surveillance program from the rest of the House of Representatives, says Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI). . . . Amash’s statement casts doubt on this, backing up claims that many Congressmen and women had only a vague understanding of American intelligence operations. It also places suspicion on a more unusual suspect: a small group of members in the House of Representatives itself.” See related, “Courting Congress while deceiving it,” “Obstacles limited oversight” and “Intelligence committee withheld key file before critical NSA vote.”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “How to fix The Army – Sack all the Generals.” Wired.Com’s Allen McDuffee covers Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis’ Armed Forces Journal proposal: “Davis argues that it’s high time to sack the Army’s senior leaders for what he sees as an institutionalized epidemic of astonishing failures that not only go unreported, but are typically rewarded. All of it, he says, is creating a self-perpetuating culture of abysmal performance that won’t go away until the generals do.” Read the Davis’ article.

2. A one-state solution between Israel-Palestine. Aljazeera.Com’s Michael Marder argues, “the evolving map will display a better fit to the one-state solution in the time to come. Outside the hopeless confines of a peace process, peace would then mean the acceptance of this vision of co-existence, which is already in effect now, unobstructed by any separation fences or Apartheid walls.”

3. Obama to U.S. on NSA – stop your whining. WaPo’s Eugene Robinson argues, “The modest reforms Obama proposed do not begin to address the fundamental question of whether we want the National Security Agency to log all of our phone calls and read at least some of our e-mails, relying on secret judicial orders from a secret court for permission. The president indicated he is willing to discuss how all this is done — but not whether.”