#classified data

They keep claiming to be computer experts, but...

@upontheshelfreviews 

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@ifihadaworldofmyown

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Pentagon Ordered To Review Its New Practice Of Concealing Documents From The Public

“MILITARY.COM” By Travis Tritten “Withholding of a wide array of documents, such as press releases on vaccinations, has drawn scrutiny, with critics arguing that the “CUI/NOT FOR RELEASE.” designation is being used more to prevent embarrassment than protect national security. Now, the Pentagon is being forced to review the new practice, and prove it’s not abusing its power to conceal…

Image: “Aerospace America“

“AEROSPACE AMERICA“

“Aerospace engineers and others will be able to access classified networks from home.

Air Force Research Laboratory accelerated the rollout of a new way for aerospace engineers, intelligence analysts, research physicists and others to securely access classified networks remotely.“

_______________________________________________________…

“DEFENSE ONE“

‘It is really important to adjust and amend contracts so that contractors can continue to work with the government counterparts.’ If that’s teleworking, that’s teleworking, if it’s moving to a different location, it’s moving to a different location.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“As millions of Americans prepare to work from…

(Illustration: CJ Ostrosky / POGO)

“THE PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVER SIGHT (POGO)“

“The number of House employees with top secret clearances is not publicly available, but it is likely only several hundred. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million executive branch employees and contractors hold top secret clearances.

It’s likely that more than 100,000 executive branch employees and…

Sensitive Navy Information on Readiness Will No Longer Be Publicly Disclosed

Admiral John Richardson

“BREAKING DEFENSE”

“We can share that information with the Congress behind closed doors, but we don’t want to share that information with our competitors,”

Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, issued a March 1 memorandum urging all naval personnel “to ensure we are not giving away our competitive edge by sharing too much information publicly.In their…

Wasteland was where I first had to deal with honest-to-goodness classified stuff. 

Like everything else in the industry, classified information was compartmentalized as heck and very very specific. This was partly due to the fact that safeguarding classified stuff is expensive, time-consuming and a pain in the ass. So they'd want to save the effort for places where it would actually be worth it. 

Consider, as a totally made-up example, a new model of tank with a cosmic-ray antenna. The existence of the antenna, or its height would likely not be classified, at least not after the tank was deployed. It's made to be used on an open battlefield, where anyone with eyes can see it. Keeping the existence of the antenna classified would not be useful. If another country learned about the tank, nothing much would be at risk. 

However, the fact that it detects cosmic rays and the range it can detect is another story. If an enemy found out this, they'd be able to figure out how to avoid detection, or counteract it. This is the kind of thing that gets classified. But, the compartmentalization also goes the other way, for lack of a better analogy. Given the above scenario, a photo of the tank would not be considered classified, but a user manual detailing the use of the antenna would. And even though only a small part of the manual contained classified information, its presence would render the entire document classified, regardless of the content of the other pages. 

Another bit of background. In between NotRockets and Wasteland, I'd decided to go to grad school and get a MS. In defense (at least in AquVille), if all you have is a BS, your resume's just another one on the pile, and I figured it would help me find a job. At this point, I was still in classes. Wasteland was generally pretty cool about this. My schedule was pretty flexible and they either didn't know or didn't care that I was doing my programming homework on company computers.

So one day, I needed information from a particular document to finish a project. This document was classified, and as such, was kept in a safe. Although I had the required security clearance and need-to-know to see the doc, I didn't have access to the safe. That meant my boss had to get it out for me. It should be noted that this 40-someodd-page document only contained 2 pages of classified data, and the info I needed was on one of the unclassified pages. But, like the tank example above, those two pages rendered the entire document classified. I'd suggested only taking the pages I needed, or leaving the 2 classified ones in the safe, but that wasn't an option. 

I got the info I needed and finished my task, and then it was time to return the doc to the safe. But there was a problem. My boss had gone home, and I didn't have the safe combo. Further complicating things was the fact that I had a class to get to- and an exam that period (and to complete the cliche pile, it was an open-book exam and I'd left my book at home). I had to leave, and that meant I had to get that document out of my hands. 

Leaving it out and just leaving was out of the question- classified stuff must either be locked up or in someone's custody at all times. And since I couldn't split up the document, I still had those two classified pages. I had to leave and leave soon, and that meant I had to find somebody- anbody- to take this thing off my hands. 

Miraculously, I found someone, about 10 minutes before class started. I made it to my exam, only a little bit late.