Thursday, August 4, 2011
Medical: True Bionics, And Getting Back Into The Fight
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Jobs: Security/Patrol Officers, Puerto Rico And Kwajalein
Every once in awhile I like to post unique security jobs that you don’t hear about too much. Both of these jobs will put you in some tropical environments. Kwajalein is a little tiny island, and you will definitely be out in the sun and around water there.
Also be sure to check out the other jobs that Alutiiq is flying, like the Cleared American Guard positions. There are CAG jobs all over the world, and that is a very cool gig to get into if you want to travel and hang out at embassies doing security stuff. There are other FPS related jobs that the company is flying around the US, and if you are looking for CONUS work, this might be your thing. I am not the POC or recruiter for these jobs and please follow the links below if you want to apply. Good luck. –Matt
Security Officer
Open Until Filled
Thank you for your interest in Alutiiq and this position. Please apply online; resumes alone are not accepted. Once you’ve applied, the hiring manager or his/her designee will review your application with regard to job-related skills and qualifications. It is not necessary to follow-up your application by contacting Human Resources.?Shareholders interested in this position may apply as indicated below or directly with Shareholder Development.?Note: We participate in E-Verify: Federal law requires all employers to verify the?identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States.
Multiple Locations, Puerto Rico.
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DIY: Printable UAV’s, DIY Drones, And Dronepedia
This is a quick one, and falls under the Opensource Military Hardware concept. Imagine this–building a weaponized drone using open source maker’s sites like DIY Drones and Dronepedia and utilizing a 3D printer to make hundreds if not thousands of them? That is where all of this stuff is going, and the possibilities are endless.
The other reason why I wanted to bring this up is that this kind of thing is definitely competition for the defense industries that specialize in UAV sales. Why buy an expensive drone from a company when you can just print out a bunch of them? And because anyone can access the information on how to build these things, then now you have the ability to continuously improve your drone program based on the input of the crowds.
My last point to bring up with this is that as this technology becomes cheaper and more available, then the odds of these things being used by criminals or terrorists increase. The other day, a DIY crew made a drone that could hack into computers via Wifi, and it is only a matter of time until we see the bad guys use this stuff to do all sorts of interesting things. Or even today’s terrorists/enemies, and all of the possible deadly uses of drones. Cartels or pirates could also get into the game of making and using drones. Especially for pirates, because drones could help them to find vessels to take down. Perhaps having shotguns for site security will be a required weapon in the near future? Or some kind of grenade launcher outfitted with special rounds to counter drone attacks?
Now what I would be interested to see is a drone that could be launched by an RPG launcher, and either used for surveillance or as a flying missile. A drone that you could quickly get into the air and use it as a ‘bird of prey’ for a fire fight. Or something that you could launch and have it fly farther than any of your unit’s weapon’s effective ranges, and have the ability to locate and destroy an enemy across the canyon or up in the hills. Something like that could end one of these DShK cross canyon ambushes, and especially if you did not have CAS on deck to deal with the attackers. While everyone is returning fire, this drone could be launched and flown above enemy positions so precise targeting data could be collected, or targets of opportunity could be taken out by the drone itself. –Matt
Logistics: KBR Awarded $500 Million LOGCAP For DoS BLS In Iraq
Ms. Sparky first posted about this and now it is official. I remember first posting about BLS last year, and there was some speculation on how this was to be done. The mission in Iraq for DoS will require a ton of security, and it will require a fair amount of logistical support. –Matt
KBR Awarded Major Task Order Under Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) IV Contract in Iraq
August 2, 2011
KBR today announced it was awarded a task order by the U.S. Army Contracting Command under its current Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) IV contract to execute the LOGCAP IV Post 2011 Base Life Support (BLS) requirements for the U.S. Department of State’s mission in Iraq. The task order is valued at over $500 million with a Period of Performance of one base year plus one option year. This award is KBR’s third task order under the LOGCAP IV contract.
KBR will provide support to U.S. Embassy staff in Baghdad and services at other diplomatic posts throughout Iraq. Services will include facilities and utilities management, fire fighting, food service, laundry, shuttle bus services, retail fuel, postal service and air field operations.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Letter Of Marque: ASF 2011–Gen. Michael Hayden Talks About LoM And ‘Digital Blackwater’
Now this was a pleasant surprise. I am always on the lookout for any serious or interesting conversations about the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, and low and behold I stumbled on a good one at the Aspen Security Forum. General Michael Hayden, with his extensive intelligence background and experience, actually brought up the concept of the LoM (@ min. 30:04) when talking about private security in the cyber space realm. The ‘Digital Blackwater’ comment came up before the mention of the LoM. Pretty cool stuff, and it is great to see such important and highly influential folks have a conversation about the concept.
The other topic that came up that really grabbed my attention is the patent legislation that is coming up that is referred to as the ‘first to file’ law or the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Meaning, companies that ‘first’ file the patent, win the rights to it, as opposed to companies or individuals who actually thought it up and file for that patent. A law like this would make it very lucrative for digital pirates to steal valuable information and file it first–legally. Scary stuff, and this could ramp up the cyber piracy game big time. The Google Cloud security solution is what you can rely on to get help with securing your data.
The other statistic I was floored by was that the US businesses loses about a trillion dollars a year to cyber piracy and all of the money that companies have to spend on security. That is a stunning figure, and it kind of puts into perspective what is really being lost, and especially during such tough economic times. Something must be done to stop that, and you can see why concepts like digital PSC’s and LoM come up. It’s like these criminals and attackers are just walking into Fort Knox and taking whatever gold they want. The vulnerable OT networks is what one should make sure to protect from cyber attacks.
Finally they ended the conversation with cloud computing, which will probably be pretty popular for companies to get into. Reduced cost and increased security do to economy of scale (everyone is sharing everyone’s stuff, to include security measures) Although I tend to think that cloud computing will be attacked and exploited, just like anything else. Interesting stuff, and this is a great LoM resource for future discussions. –Matt