The United States government employs more than 2 million non-military personnel. That’s roughly the population of New Mexico. If you’re saying, “Wow, that’s a lot of folks,” you’d be right. Based on a report recently released by the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, as a tax-paying citizen you’d think that from a universe of that size they might be able to find a couple with a background in data center security, but apparently that isn’t the case. While a lack of security within any area of the government is disconcerting, when we’re talking about an open-door policy surrounding our country’s missile defense system, “disconcerting” is kicked up a few notches to deeply disturbing. Or as one analyst said, “scary and alarming.”
Unfortunately, for those of us who believe missile defense systems are supposed to, you know, defend, there is no one big security issue to be resolved to provide us with a missile shield of which we can be proud. As is so often the case in these government-related issues, it’s hard to discern where negligence leaves off and incompetence begins.