Beyond the Email Scandal

How To Properly Design and Construct

a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF)

I don’t know your political affiliation and honestly, I don’t care.  But one thing I do care about is, the way some political beings believe they are above the rules or beyond the approach of the rules.  The recent incident with Hilary and her emails highlights this phenomenon.  Even though I don’t have any “insider” information I can almost assuredly bet that several procedural and policy protocols were circumvented.

Since, there seems to be a common thread throughout the investigation that emails that were not classified upon further examination should have been.  So that’s the first issue.  Correct classification.

Second, I question how, were those emails physically stored.  Rumor has it there was a secure server.  If that’s the case, where was the server located and when dealing with classified was it done at the kitchen table or within a secured space that had been authorized for the handling of classified or, at least, sensitive material?

Almost certainly, there were printed copies of those emails, where were they physically stored? Due to her position I’m sure she had a SCI type clearance.  If that’s the case, did the space where she worked and stored the classified meet technical specifications of IDC/IDS-705 and other pertinent, guidelines?

Like I said, I don’t know for sure but I’d speculate they didn’t since there seems to have been a lackadaisical approach to the classification portion of the process; I would suspect the rest of the approach was “short” too.

We discuss the proper design and construction of a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) which meets official government requirements for a secure area where classified information is handled. The stringent physical security requirements; such as, access control systems, thickness of doors, the strength of concrete and the use of alarms, and acoustical controls which prevent eavesdropping, information exposure or “jamming”, and surveillance prevention will be discussed.  The use of electronic media within the facility will also be explored during a 3-day workshop, held at Willow Grove Air National Guard Base (Horsham, PA), 24-26 May. 

Find out more about other physical security engineering workshops and our Physical Security Engineering Training and Certification Program at https://www.hainessecuritysolutions.com