$400 million network upgrade for the Pentagon

Thu Aug 15 19:58:20 UTC 2002

At 7:10 PM -0700 2002/08/14, Scott Granados wrote:

>  Actually, yes you do block all cell phones and transmissions in these
>  facilities.

	Are you talking about a SCIF -- Secure Compartmented Information 
Facility?  The sort of place where they basically Tempest-shield the 
entire building?

	Yes, those are huge Faraday cages, and they do completely block 
all signals going in and coming out.  However, while there are SCIFs 
inside the Pentagon (including the National Military Command Center, 
or NMCC), the entire Pentagon itself is not a SCIF.

>                                Classified environments are very different
>  and have an entirely different set of requirements.

	Indeed.  The scariest thing I saw inside the NMCC was their 
complete lack of regard for internal security.  They assumed that if 
you made it past the guards, you obviously had clearance, so they 
didn't bother locking up classified material when they were done with 
it (just at the end of the day), they didn't bother covering 
classified material while it was on their desk but they weren't using 
it precisely at that moment, etc....


	It's pretty damned entertaining to take your parents through the 
NMCC on a private tour, and watch everyone scramble like hell when 
they figure out that these two middle-aged tourists don't have a lick 
of clearance.  ;-)

	Oh, and yes -- I did take them to see the Crisis Action Center, 
including the DEFCON board.  However, the DEFCON status for the 
Unified & Specified Commands had been blanked, because I told the 
officer on duty that I wanted to show them the room from the viewing 
balcony above.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E W+++(--) N+ !w---
O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)