The renowned French science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon in 1865. It told of a competition between a genius armor developer and his opposite number, a great cannon maker. They contested whether certain artillery shells could pierce dense armored targets on behalf of science. This scenario plays out everywhere today. Today, however, the stakes are astronomically higher.

Clearance holders dedicate their lives to preventing classified developments from falling into adversaries’ hands, or worse, being compromised by enemies secretly. We read extensively of new technical advances that challenge every parallel advance on the opposite shores. Maybe we aren’t contending with foreign governments at all, but criminals who will steal our materials to resell to the highest bidder. These crimes have so much more technology in play than in Verne’s day. Let’s look at some modern developments to see how things are changing.

Radios and Fishermen

We discover that unexpected radio interceptions reveal illegal fishing expeditions in national waters off Ecuador. The illegal fishermen turned off their beacons, which are required by international law. They were invisible to national customs officials. However, the customs officers employed a clever device made originally to intercept regular ship  radio transmissions. They were able to discover the presence of certain fishing vessels which  deliberately, illegally wandered into controlled areas. These criminal shipping ventures were discovered, despite their having turned off their radio beacons. Such an unexpected  national customs capability, which discovered illicit fishing even with their beacon turned off, surprised the criminals. We must know what capabilities are out there when we prepare our communications plans for our cleared programs.

Drones and Drugs

Sometimes existing communications devices can solve problems – at other times, it takes new technology to address new threats. Today drones carry illicit drugs over international borders. Concealed aboard these craft are tiny quantities of illegal cargo. Drugs  are dropped on a street corner in the next country and retrieved by secret confederates. What used to require ‘mules’, illegal border crossers, who took days of travel, now takes minutes. These drones are often secure from interception because their radio airwaves are drowned in major border towns. An illegal drone’s identity is lost in the mix. The city’s electronic background ‘noise’ protects the drones. Their electronics just become part of the mass of transmissions on the airwaves, and they are able to easily carry the illicit cargo, drop it off, and return. Surprise on the battlefield of criminal drug importation continues apace. Don’t let a surprise of this nature ruin your planning or defensive measures.

North Korea’s Criminal Enterprise

It can be contended the entire nation of North Korea is a criminal enterprise. Many wonder how they continue to purchase expensive components, fuel, and weapons abroad. Reality is theft through massive, constant computer hacking finances their purchases. A recent New Yorker magazine essay outlined how the North Korean kleptocracy retains power. Youth identified as potential computer or mathematical experts at an early age are removed from their bleak Korean existence. They are moved to lush, well-appointed and extravagant lifestyles in compounds reserved only for them. There they live out their lives, stealing money on the internet.

All of these initiatives in the criminal world are brought to your attention because threat assessments change often. Whereas in the past you could be content with the same assessments for years, today, an awareness of the changing technical environment is paramount. And it’s not enough to simply know your classified threat environment – lessons can be learned from the threats within the commercial sector, as well.

Questions to Ask to Keep Your Classified Programs Safe

Contact your government contract monitor. Ask how you can keep abreast of developments in your secret project’s threat environment. What agencies are available to advise and assist you? Review specifically what services can be provided across the government. Does your cleared staff travel? What can the State Department offer in terms of threat information from abroad for them? What threats from criminal, espionage, and terrorism exist in the nations they visit? Are your project tests in discreet locations subject to drone interference, or other observation? How can you plan around that? What monitoring devices exist to defeat your communications? Of course, we are becoming more and more aware of the countless threats posed by computers, but are there also common espionage methods known to be employed against processes like yours? We can identify arrests made of lowly security guards and deputy prime ministers due to their espionage on behalf of foreign countries. What do you know about events happening in the secret world, in the technological world, which might affect your program?

You are hoping your “immovable object” under development is not compromised, so that you can resist an adversarial “irresistible force.” The greatest fear of any commander is surprise on the battlefield. It is the security officer’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Related News

John William Davis was commissioned an artillery officer and served as a counterintelligence officer and linguist. Thereafter he was counterintelligence officer for Space and Missile Defense Command, instructing the threat portion of the Department of the Army's Operations Security Course. Upon retirement, he wrote of his experiences in Rainy Street Stories.