FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Help Wanted—the F.B.I. Contributor Charles Simmins reports, “The Bureau is currently looking for candidates with critical skills in a number of fields, but all candidates must have a BA or BS degree. Candidates with one or more critical skills will receive priority in the hiring process. Among the skills are foreign language proficiency, intelligence experience, military experience or tactical operations experience. Traditional FBI critical skills such as law or accounting are also on the list.”
2. Program Manager by any other name is still . . . . Editor Lindy Kyzer explains, “Veterans are often the perfect fit for a career in program management. Their military experience directly translates to the pressure of managing government dollars and personnel on the civilian side. Program managers work for both defense contractors, as well as directly for the federal government.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. The fight in Iraq—al Qaeda inspires. Aljazeera.Com reports, “Clashes between Iraqi government troops and al-Qaeda-inspired fighters have claimed the lives of tens across the country, where electoral fever is on the rise ahead of general elections scheduled for April 30. Forty fighters and an army officer were killed near Baghdad on Thursday . . . as attacks elsewhere in the country left five people dead.”
2. Afghanistan—run-up to elections. AP’s Kim Gamel reports from Kabul, “Afghanistan’s enduring poverty – and corruption – is making it easier for the Taliban to make inroads nearly 13 years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted them from power. The militants have vowed to disrupt Saturday’s nationwide elections with violence, and recent high-profile attacks in the heart of Kabul are clearly designed to show they are perfectly capable of doing just that.” Also in Afghanistan, “The leading Afghan Presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani renewed his commitment to sign the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington in a bid to pave the way for the presence of coalition forces in the country beyond 2014.”
3. Syria—training for terrorists. LongWarJournal.Org’s Bill Roggio reports, “Ibrahim Bin Shakaran, a Moroccan who spent more than three years at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility before being released to Moroccan custody, has been killed while leading a jihadist group that fights Syrian government forces. . . . Bin Shakaran led a jihadist group known as Sham al Islam . . . . Sham al Islam has been fighting alongside the al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, as well as Ahrar al Sham and the Army of the Emigrants and Supporters in an ongoing offensive in the coastal province of Latakia.”
4. North Korea—Sticks and stones . . . . Reuters reports from Seoul, “North Korea published comments on Friday attacking South Korean President Park Geun-hye, descending to unprecedented levels of personal insult by describing her as a ‘repulsive wench’ who had failed to marry or bear children. The brutal denunciation, going far beyond previous criticism in the reclusive authoritarian state’s media, was certain to deepen animosity amid growing tensions on the world’s most militarized border. . . . The KCNA news agency carried what it said were comments by a private citizen criticizing Park’s offer last week to help the impoverished North’s women and children as ‘foul-smelling vituperation uttered by human scum. Park Geun-hye is but an unseemly wench who has never had a chance to marry or bear a child,’ the citizen, Kim Un Kyong, was quoted as saying by KCNA.”
5. $36 billion short on defense. DefenseNews.Com’s Marcus Weisgerber reports, “The US military services have sent Congress wish lists that include $36 billion in priority items that were not included in the Pentagon’s 2015 budget proposal. But actual passage of the lists seems unlikely.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Textron—reborn: TRU Simulation + Training Inc. DefenseNews.Com’s Zachary Fryer-Biggs reports, “Following its late 2013 acquisitions of two simulations companies, Textron announced Tuesday that it was relaunching its consolidated simulations group under the banner TRU Simulation + Training Inc. The group, which includes parts of Textron’s prior business that was part of AAI, represents revenue of about $100 million and will be evenly split between military and civil, as well as domestic and international customers.”
2. $4 billion up for grabs—VA IT. FierceGovernmentIT.Com’s Molly Bernhart Walker reports, “House appropriators propose a $3.87 billion budget for information and technology systems at the Veterans Affairs Department. That amount, released April 2 in a draft . . . of the fiscal 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, includes $344 million for the department’s electronic health record. The White House requested $3.903 billion for the VA IT systems in fiscal 2015 – a $200 million increase from the estimated current year amount of $3.703 billion.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Torture files—Senate votes to declassify. DefenseOne.Com contributor Elahe Izadi reports, “In a closed hearing Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 11-3 to declassify portions of a CIA report detailing post-9/11 interrogation tactics. The lawmakers sent their request to the White House to declassify more than 500 pages of a 6,200-page report, including an executive summary, findings, and conclusions about an interrogation program involving more than 100 detainees.”
2. Agile workforces. GovExec.Com contributors Kris van Riper and Elisabeth Joyce explain, “Agile organizations are those that effectively manage change—proactively preparing their workforce to flex when needed. The ones that do this well embrace change by integrating three positive behaviors . . . .”
3. Cyberwarfare restraint—mice tight. FierceGovernmentIT.Com contributor David Perera reports, “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sought Friday to downplay the United States’ recently-earned reputation for aggressiveness in cyberspace, even as he acknowledged a rapid pace of personnel expansion within Cyber Command. The Defense Department, he said, ‘will maintain an approach of restraint to any cyber operations outside the U.S. government networks. We are urging other nations to do the same.’”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Right on top of things: “Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) accidentally sat in on the wrong hearing Wednesday and didn’t realize until after he asked a witness a lengthy question. ‘I just got a note saying I’m at the wrong hearing,’ Coats said more than an hour into it. It’s unclear when Coats arrived to the hearing, but he was not supposed to be at the one held by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on general government. On Thursday, Coats joked about his mistake on Twitter, and said he suspects Russians have been tampering with his schedule.”
2. Something we can all agree on: “Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday said there’s ‘no question’ that mentally ill people should be prevented from buying guns, a day after a soldier with a history of mental illness killed three people at Fort Hood in Texas. ‘There’s no question that those with mental health issues should be prevented from owning weapons or being able to purchase weapons,’ Boehner said at a Capitol event.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Afghanistan votes on its future.” Reuters contributor Anja Manuel argues, “The key to Afghanistan’s long-term stability will be a peaceful transfer of power to a new president selected by the electorate — and that president’s ability to work with the losers in the election to build a new Afghanistan. This is the moment for the international community to step back, be patient but engaged, and let Afghans decide their destiny.”
2. “The US-Russia ‘great game’ over Ukraine.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “Ukrainians will vote May 25 to restore their broken democracy with a government that speaks for their collective destiny and sovereignty. They are not pawns. They are citizens embracing universal values that transcend empires and ideologies.”
3. “Ten Years without Derrida.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Santiago Zabala argues that “deconstruction is not simply a theoretical affair, but rather a political matter that involves our social lives every time we are marginalised, ignored, or discredited. This is why Derrida in his last books . . . became particularly interested in a wide range of subjects related to social discrimination: Nelson Mandela, the death penalty, as well as the consequences of 9/11. For those of us with similar concerns, deconstruction might be a risky philosophical choice given its opponents, but its pursuit is worthwhile. And Derrida will be remembered for many decades to come.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Gun control.
3. Too weird.
