BRAC & Defense : Buzz

If you're looking for a job -- any kind of job -- and you haven't checked out the Fed's job database website, you should.

Here's an excerpt:

"A federal website, www.usajobs.gov, shows more than 300 open positions in Greater Baltimore, including one with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for a supervisory project scientist. The Fort George G. Meade-based job pays between $123,758 and $163,275, and involves developing new technology focused on national defense, homeland security and navigation.

Scientists at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, based in Laurel, MD, want to get into the minds of amputees who use prosthetic limbs. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded researchers a $34.5 million contract to begin testing a new prosthetic limb system controlled by the amputees' thoughts.

Here's an excerpt:

"APL scientists and engineers developed the underlying technology under DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program, an ambitious four-year effort to create a prosthetic arm that would by far eclipse the World War II era hook-and-cable device used by most amputees. The program has already produced two complex prototypes, each advancing the art of upper-arm prosthetics.

The final design -- the MPL -- offers 22 degrees of motion, including independent movement of each finger, in a package that weighs about nine pounds (the weight of a natural limb). Providing nearly as much dexterity as a natural limb, the MPL is capable of unprecedented mechanical agility and is designed to respond to a user's thoughts."

Read the entire article here.

Maryland's Federal Facilities Advisory Board, the officials who will pave the way for cooperation between federal, state, government and private companies meet last week to discuss the plans to bring the U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency move from Arlington.

Here's an excerpt:

"Everyone focuses on BRAC because that's the big animal, the 800-pound gorilla ... but growth at Fort Meade is a bigger issue than BRAC ... As we looked at this growth over a five- to seven-year time frame -- let's go out to 2013 -- we saw 5,695 [jobs] from BRAC; we estimated [another] 4,000 [new jobs] at NSA [National Security Agency] ... The magnitude of the growth is what really counts here ... At the beginning, this is going to be a mass assault on the transportation system around Fort Meade." -- Robert C. Leib, the Anne Arundel county executive's special assistant for BRAC and education"

Read the entire post here.

Close proximity to D.C. is a boon for several counties in Maryland. Not only do workers benefit from employment provided by the Feds, but also from businesses closely associated with the government, according to yet another Forbes list.

Here's an excerpt:

"The country's riches tend to trickle away from big cities. It's not major metro areas raking in the biggest salaries; rather, it's the tony suburbs just outside big-industry centers that soak up big-city money.

Glitzy Southern California and big oil states are largely absent from the list: 19 of the 25 richest counties in the country are on the East Coast. In part, that's because our list looks at the middle incomes, and counties in the East tend to be smaller, thereby allowing for less of a spread between the richest and poorest workers...The federal government generates a wealth of jobs, keeping unemployment in the D.C. metro area at a low 6.2% (the national average is still near 10%)...

Not far from D.C. lies another cluster of wealthy counties. Howard County, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, has a standout school system with standardized test scores that consistently beat out the national average, and median household incomes of $101,710. In nearby Montgomery County, where 59% of residents over 25 have an advanced degree, households bring in a median $93,999. Historic Calvert County, Md., has profited from its roots as a tobacco-rich farmland as well as its proximity to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and claims a median income of $89,049."

Read the entire article here. Or, cut to the chase and check out the stats on No. 13 Calvert County, No. 21 Charles County, No. 3 Howard County, and No. 10 Montgomery County.

For those interested in becoming an expert on the Fed's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in Maryland, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and the BRAC Subcabinet have released a detailed progress report on BRAC-related goings on in the state in 2009. At 120 pages, the report is nothing if not comprehensive.

Here's an excerpt:

"The Governor's BRAC Subcabinet developed a BRAC Action Plan in 2007 to ensure the State's preparedness for incoming
residents and jobs. Working in tandem with our county and local government partners and the DoD's planning phase for military
mission moves, the State of Maryland continued to move forward in 2009 with its programs and initiatives to meet the BRAC
federally mandated completion date of September 2011.

The BRAC Action Plan set forth initiatives, programs and other measures necessary to address the needs of incoming residents
and opportunities BRAC presents, while preserving the coveted quality of life enjoyed by Marylanders. As we continue towards
the September 2011 deadline, we look forward to working with our local, federal and private sector partners as we begin to realize
the steady upswing in jobs and population created by the military mission moves to DoD facilities in Maryland.

This year the Subcabinet interacted with regional, federal and local partners as well as military installation leaders to continue to
calibrate Subcabinet efforts with BRAC needs. The Lieutenant Governor and Subcabinet members met on numerous occasions
throughout the year with Senior Leadership of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (C4ISR), the organization relocating to Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey and
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) which is relocating to Fort George G. Meade from northern Virginia."

Read the entire report here.