Security Executive Blog

Order your copies from www.redbikepublishing.com /itar A few years back I wrote an article referring to the practice random computer searches occurring as travelers returned to the United States from trips abroad. Now with technology improvements, time, and the shrinking of borders in this well-connected global economy, I thought it would be a great time to revisit the idea of, “what would an adversary with limited resources be able to exploit in our computers?” This is an important question to ask as cyber-attacks are becoming more common. Now an adversary on foreign lands can gather military or dual use technical information governed by the international Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and commercial information covered in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This cyber-attack activity should not be surprising to the well-educated security cleared employee. What may be surprising is the risk to protected sensitive information available on well-connected informatio...

What to protect; decisions, decisions. It seems that there are acronyms developed with the ingenuity and fluidity of American innovation. The same innovation that enhances our military capability also comes with a set of warnings and new titles and acronyms that demand increased attention. While new acronyms and technology protections are identified, reliance continues on fundamental protection measures that rarely change. More and more evident is the growing volume of U.S. defense information categories that demand protection and are not necessarily classified. If not identified and protected, unclassified U.S. defense information could be accessed by unauthorized persons. Unclassified defense information comes in many forms and acronyms includes military critical technology, proprietary information, intellectual property, company secrets, Export Administration Regulation (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) controlled technology, controlled unclassified informat...

Cover designed by Jeffrey W. Bennett. NISPOM available at Red Bike Publishing Why is the CLASSIFIED BY: Line so important? Let’s put it in perspective. Someone is responsible for classification decisions and that person may be accountable for their actions. This is also the person who can provide insight into security violation investigations and etc. The impact; this is the person to go to for research into the classification as well as who is accountable for classification decisions good or bad. Let’s face it; someone has to answer for their decisions. That’s why developing a process for deriving classified information is so important. So, we know the requirements in the BY line, all we now need is a tool or process to identify how to identify source documents for derivative classification. First, what tool do we have available to research derivative classification? According to DoD Security Clearance and Contracts guidebook, the NISPOM addresses the requirement to accoun...