Pentagon faulted on U.S. industrial security

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should do more to prevent unauthorized foreign access to secret information through defense contractors, congressional investigators said in a report issued on Friday.

The Defense Security Service (DSS) "does not systematically ask for, collect or analyze data in a manner that helps it properly oversee contractors entrusted with U.S. classified information," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.

The DSS is meant to keep tabs on contractors for the Defense Department and 23 other federal departments. It was set up to make sure that contractors safeguard classified information in their possession while doing work for the U.S. government.
....
The Pentagon, in a response to the report, brushed off the criticism of the DSS.

"The report demonstrates a lack of understanding of the national policy governing access to classified information by our contractor population and the evaluation process used by DSS," Carol Haave, deputy undersecretary of defense for counterintelligence and security, wrote.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-07-16T003232Z_01_N15676536_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-SECURITY-USA-CONTRACTORS-DC.XML

[dxdem]

1. Hell,

I heard a U.S. Senator the other day who lacked any real understanding on classification, etc. Confusing a golden senatorial ticket to the deep dark bowels of gov't with the need to know granted to certain committees, etc...maybe i'm wrong, maybe he just sounded like an asshat...