FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Closing the gap—equal pay for equal work. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “While women do earn less than men in the federal government, the data from 1992 – 2012 shows that the gap is shrinking. The report does not rule out discrimination as a factor for the gap, but occupational distribution explains much of the gap. For GS employees, male candidates were more likely to secure a higher starting salary; however, female employees received out of step ‘quality’ increases for outstanding performances more frequently.”
2. Join the team—Army Ten Miler. Editor Lindy Kyzer reports, “Join the ClearanceJobs.com team! ClearanceJobs is proud to once-again sponsor this great race, and field a special running team of cleared professionals. The first ClearanceJobs team was 17 runners strong, last year’s team was 44 runners, and the goal for this year is a 75-person team! Help us get there by joining the race – and enjoy the perks . . . .”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Russia sanctions—next round. Reuters’ Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Grove report, “President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against some Russians on Monday in an attempt to stop President Vladimir Putin from fomenting the rebellion in eastern Ukraine, but held off from broad measures that would hit Russia’s economy. The new sanctions, to be outlined in detail later on Monday, will add more people and firms to a list announced last month of figures whose assets are frozen and who are denied visas to travel to the United States.”
2. Shoring up security in Asia. AP’s Darlene Superville and Jim Gomez report from Manila, “President Barack Obama said a 10-year agreement signed Monday to give the U.S military greater access to Philippine bases will help promote peace and stability in the region and that he hopes China’s dominant power will allow its neighbors to prosper on their own terms.” Related, 200 new American citizens in Seoul.
3. Syrian chemicals—remember them? Time’s David Stout reports, “The Syrian government has failed to meet a second deadline for ridding the country of deadly chemical weapons, as more than 7% of the regime’s illicit stockpile remains inside the country. President Bashar Assad’s regime had first agreed to rid the country of its chemical weapons by February, but this was later pushed back to April 27. However, experts believe the government could still be days away from completing the task.”
4. Fire and maneuver—Army basics. DefenseNews.Com’s Paul McLeary reports, “The new Paladin . . . brings back the electric gun drive system from the Non-Line of Sight cannon canceled in 2009 as part of the scrapped $20 billion Future Combat Systems program. NLOS replaces the old hydraulic firing system. . . . While weighing about 10,000 pounds heavier than its predecessor, the new Paladin — at 78,000 pounds — has been built with the capacity to grow to about 110,000 pounds while traveling at about 38 mph. That is actually faster than the previous model while being more maneuverable than the current Bradley . . . .”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. $11 billion—DoD’s healthcare contract. DefenseOne.Com contributor Frank Konkel reports, “Sometime in the coming months, the Defense Department will bid out its Healthcare Management Systems Modernization contract, an effort so large in monetary size and game-changing scope that it could significantly influence the future of health care in the U.S. The DHMSM contract’s estimated lifecycle value is approximately $11 billion and would include initial operating capabilities by 2017 and full functionality by 2023 . . . .”
2. Women-owned contracts—falling short. FederalTimes.Com’s Elissa Nadworny reports, “The federal government awards an average of $500 billion a year in federal contracts — 5 percent of which is set aside for woman-owned businesses, a standard set by the Small Business Administration’s Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting program in 2011. And yet, the federal government has never actually reached that threshold. Last year, $15.4 billion in federal contracts went to woman-owned businesses, about 4 percent of the total amount dished out by the government, according to the SBA.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Hacker heaven—huge security flaw in Microsoft’s Explorer. Reuters’s Jim Finkle reports, “Microsoft Corp is rushing to fix a bug in its widely used Internet Explorer web browser after a computer security firm disclosed the flaw over the weekend, saying hackers have already exploited it in attacks on some U.S. companies. PCs running Windows XP will not receive any updates fixing that bug when they are released, however, because Microsoft stopped supporting the 13-year-old operating system earlier this month. Security firms estimate that between 15 and 25 percent of the world’s PCs still run Windows XP.”
2. Space-X going green. AviationWeek.Com’s Guy Norris reports, “The test was another step toward SpaceX’s aim of fundamentally reducing launch costs by employing completely reusable rocket boosters that can be quickly refueled for another flight without rebuild or refurbishment. To achieve this target, which could see the first test flight of a reused booster as early as 2015, the company plans to guide a discarded first stage to a powered landing at a yet-to-be-determined site along the Florida coastline this year.”
3. Cybersecurity—Air Traffic Controls. FederalTimes.Com’s Amber Corrin reports, “Several government agencies are partnering with commercial organizations, including airplane manufacturers, in a new information-sharing program designed to help thwart potential cyber attacks against the air traffic control system . . . . Warnings of cyber threats to the U.S. air traffic control system are not new. It was a point President Barack Obama made in a national cybersecurity address in 2009. Computer problems that hampered Federal Aviation Administration operations that same year raised serious questions about cyber vulnerabilities. Making matters worse, the antiquated air traffic control network is not set for replacement until the Next Generation Air Transportation System is completed in 2025.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Hillary stock is up on GOP’s Wall Street: “The darkest secret in the big money world of the Republican coastal elite is that the most palatable alternative to a nominee such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky would be Clinton, a familiar face on Wall Street following her tenure as a New York senator with relatively moderate views on taxation and financial regulation.”
2. Privacy rights in the High Court: “The Supreme Court this week will address a pair of cases that will re-examine—and possibly redefine—privacy rights in the digital age. The debate centers on whether police need a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest, pitting law enforcement and the federal government against privacy advocates and defense lawyers. In each of the two cases the justices will address back-to-back Tuesday, criminal defendants were convicted and sentenced to prison partly because police obtained key evidence from their cellphones after a warrantless search.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Why Obama needs to take on cybersecurity like Kennedy took on the moon.” VentureBeat.Com contributor Bob Ackerman argues, “What we need is a comprehensive framework from our leaders, both in the U.S. and globally, for securing the foundation of our digital economy. Government is likely to be ‘a day late and a dollar short’ with overly prescriptive mandates – given the speed with which cyber threat evolve. But government can provide a roadmap that allows for sharing of expertise and threat intelligence, standards for security assurance, incentives for high risk groups that pursue aggressive initiatives to ensure cyber integrity, and suitable standards of accountability for those that don’t.”
2. “A three-part plan for Obama’s pivot to Asia.” Reuters contributor Ali Wyne argues, “Advancing the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific will be challenging, as crises in other parts of the world continue to demand U.S. attention. But if the United States places that region’s evolution at the heart of its foreign policy, it may have a greater opportunity to shape the world order than it has had in 25 years.”
3. “Washington and Havana: Closer, but no cigar.” Aljazeera.Com contributor Marwan Bishara argues, “Washington is already isolated in the Americas on the questions of Cuba and Venezuela. And it could be even more isolated as the countdown to the next Americas summit begins.”
THE FUNNIES
3. Lemmings.
