FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. First impressions. Contributor Jillian Hamilton explains, “First impressions happen only once, and in the recruiting world, a good first impression can go a long way in putting you a step ahead of your competition. We all have off days. We all say stupid things. However, a little preparation and research can be a game changer when it comes to making a bold, first impression (sounds like the same advice we give candidates, doesn’t it?). A recruiter can say a lot about a company. Are you delivering the right message to candidates in the first meeting?”
2. Better hiring. Also from Jillian Hamilton, “If Obama says don’t discriminate against the unemployed, it seems logical to update federal hiring practices to make sure that practices follow policy. A recent report from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) showed that the federal government needs better hiring practices if it wants to attract the best applicants.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Sexual assault in the military. AP’s Lolita C. Baldor reports, “Reports of sexual assaults by members of the military rose 50 percent after the Pentagon began a vigorous campaign to get more victims to come forward, prompting defense officials to order a greater focus on prevention programs, including plans to review alcohol sales and policies. But officials are still unhappy with the low number of male victims who reported sexual assault, and they say there will be a greater emphasis in the months ahead on getting men to come forward and seek help.”
2. New DepSecDef Work. American Forces Press Service reports, “By voice vote late [Wednesday evening], the Senate confirmed Robert O. Work, a retired Marine Corps colonel, to be the next deputy secretary of defense. Christine H. Fox has been acting deputy secretary since former Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter stepped down in December. In a statement issued shortly after the Senate vote, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he welcomes Work’s confirmation.” See also, “Senate Confirms Work.”
3. Saudi ballistic missiles—aimed at Iran. DefenseOne.Com contributor Rachel Oswald reports, “Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first time displayed its medium-range ballistic missiles—a move that analysts interpreted as primarily aimed at Iran. . . . Saudi Arabia is worried that ongoing talks between world powers and Iran will fail to produce a deal that permanently ends Tehran’s potential to construct a nuclear weapon. A prominent Saudi prince recently urged other Arab Gulf nations to develop advanced atomic capabilities in order to create a ‘balance of forces’ against Iran.”
4. Russia sanctions—having an effect. Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “[E]conomic measures the United States and Europe have imposed on Russia – which hawks in Congress have called a ‘slap on the wrist’—are beginning to have an impact, according to the International Monetary Fund. The sanctions approved so far are causing investors to pull their money out of Russia. Russia saw net capital outflows of more than $60 billion in the first quarter of 2014, and that figure is expected to rise to $100 billion over the year, the IMF says.”
5. Report Card—Afghanistan. Khaama.Com reports, “The US Department of Defense in its congressionally mandated semiannual report said that the Afghan security forces did an outstanding job protecting their people during the April election. . . . ‘The Afghan national security forces and Afghan election institutions laid the groundwork for a successful election, registering millions of voters and securing thousands of polling sites, with minimal international assistance’ . . . . These preparations far surpassed Afghanistan’s efforts in the 2009 and 2010 elections.’ In the meantime, the report said that the Afghan security forces are still facing challenges as logistics and sustainment capabilities lag well behind the operational progress.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Navy’s record-setting contract. DefenseMediaNetwork.Com’s Steven Hoarn reports, “General Dynamics Electric Boat and the Huntington Ingalls Industries-subsidiary Newport News Shipbuilding were awarded the largest ever U.S. Navy shipbuilding contract on April 28. The nearly $18 billion deal is for the construction of 10 additional nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines. The addition of 10 more Virginia-class submarines will bring the class total to 28. The Navy currently operates 10 Virginia-class submarines, with the construction eight more under contract.”
2. Superseding sequestration. GovExec.Com’s Charles S. Clark reports, “At a time of sequestration and reduced contracting governmentwide, several agencies bucked the trend and awarded more in contracts, as disclosed earlier this month in the annual top 200 contractors listing compiled by Bloomberg Government. The departments that increased their contracting the most in fiscal 2013 were: Education (a 27 percent increase over fiscal 2012); Treasury (a 16.4 percent increase); and Housing and Urban Development (a 9.5 percent increase).”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Stepping down—DIA Director Lt. Gen. Flynn. DefenseNews.Com’s Amber Corrin reports, “Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and his deputy, David Shedd, will retire by early fall, DIA officials confirmed. The men announced their intentions in a joint email to agency personnel April 30. . . . Flynn has helmed DIA since July 2012, while Shedd joined as deputy director in August 2010.”
2. Stepping up—NSA Director Michael Rogers. Politico.Com’s Shaun Waterman reports, “The NSA has lost the trust of the American people as a result of the Edward Snowden leaks, and needs to be more transparent to gain it back, the NSA’s new director said Wednesday in his first public comments since taking control of the embattled spy agency. ‘I tell the [NSA] workforce out there as the new guy, let’s be honest with each other, the nation has lost a measure of trust in us,’ Admiral Michael Rogers told a conference of the Women in Aerospace conference in Crystal City, Va.”
3. Black Hawk Drone. Wired.Com’s Allen McDuffee reports, “The Army’s most iconic helicopter is about to go pilotless. The U.S. Army and defense contractor Sikorsky Aircraft demonstrated hover and flight capability in an ‘optionally piloted’ version of the Black Hawk helicopter last month. It’s part of the Army’s effort to reduce troops and costs, in this case by letting the five-ton helicopter carry out autonomous expeditionary and resupply operations. Sikorsky has been working on the project since 2007 and convinced the Army’s research department to bankroll further development last year.”
4. IR Contacts. FederalTimes.Com’s Michael Peck reports, “University of Michigan researchers have developed an infrared sensor that can be inserted into a contact lens. . . . The sensor doesn’t require bulky cooling equipment. Instead it uses grapheme—a single layer of carbon atoms—which can sense visible and ultraviolet light. But until now, graphene hasn’t been viable for infrared detection because it can’t capture enough light to generate a detectable electrical signal, said Univ. of Michigan.”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Executive action: “The travel costs for vacations taken by the first family and the Bidens have reached over $40 million with the Air Force’s revelation that two golf outings by President Obama this year cost $2.9 million, according to the taxpayer watchdog group Judicial Watch. The group said that the Air Force provided documents and records that put the price of the first family’s trip to Key Largo, Fla., in March at $885,683 just for flying Air Force One. The travel costs to golf in Palm Springs, Calif., in February, where the president also met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, was $2,066,594, said the Air Force documents, according to Judicial Watch.”
2. Supreme blunder: “Justice Antonin Scalia’s factual error in a dissenting opinion Tuesday has become the talk of the legal community as experts puzzle over the extraordinary nature of the Reagan-appointed justice’s blunder, which the Supreme Court quietly corrected as of Wednesday morning. It’s common for the Supreme Court to make typographical corrections and insubstantial edits to a decision after its release. But it’s exceedingly rare to see a factual error that helps form the basis for an opinion. Legal experts say Scalia’s mistake appears to be wholly unprecedented in that it involves a justice flatly misstating core facts in one of his own prior opinions.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “Iraq elections: Will history repeat itself?” Aljazeera.Com contributor Firas Al-Atraqchi argues, “The success of the election itself cannot be measured by numbers of voters and percentage points but by the tangible socio-political changes it brings about. Iraq’s democratic process will be little more than a mirage if national reconciliation is not made the next government’s strategic priority.”
2. “Searching for the Obama Doctrine.” DefenseOne.Com contributor Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues, “It is a messy world no matter how much the president wants to move America off a ‘permanent war footing,’ as he outlined in January’s State of the Union address. And it’s a world that some who served Obama say the administration would do well to explain better and discuss more robustly with its public.”
3. “Let Nations, Not the World, Prosecute Corruption.” USNews.Com contributors Karen Alter and Juliet Sorenson argue, “The International Criminal Court needs to stay focused on the important task of prosecuting those most responsible for mass atrocities. Rather than put more resources into international criminal prosecution, the resources and energy of the international community should go towards bolstering national resources to investigate, prosecute, and deter public corruption.”
THE FUNNIES
2. Good form.
