Re:Defense Contractor Left Sensitive Pentagon Files on Unpro...
by sevensor on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @04:50PM
(#14455807)
Good point about headcount. So the federal government hires contractors to handle classified data even though doing so makes it structurally impossible to secure classified data. And they do so over and over again because they're caught between headcount restrictions and mission requirements. And because, as noted elsewhere in the thread, Booz is a massive proposal-writing machine, they're well positioned to receive these contracts.
Re:Defense Contractor Left Sensitive Pentagon Files on Unpro...
by munin on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @06:13PM
(#14456348)
> So the federal government hires contractors to handle classified data even though doing so makes it structurally impossible to secure classified data.
Why? What's the difference between a contract employee and a government employee at this level? They all sign literally the same NDA, the same laws apply to both, the same polices apply to both. They both go through the same security screening process and they both pass the same (roughly) technical competency bar to do their jobs.
You probably see more contractor fuckups just because there are more contractors. There are also many government staff fuckups (sure, Snowden was a contractor but every big spy prior was a civillian or military).
Snowden was a consultant working on the client site. Booz Allen Hamilton's contract scope didn't include security policy. The only realistic way BAH could have enforced this policy is by having a manager follow each consultant around. This position would be added to the contract and increase the cost.
> What capabilities do they have that the government doesn't have or can't develop?
Absolutely nothing; permanent hires are deeply unpalatable by Congress, yet they encourage using contractors at higher cost to the government to perform the same work. One of the major pillars of the President's election platform was reducing the number of government employees. One of his first actions in office was to implement a hiring freeze for federal employees.