Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Pentagon Seen Softening Its Stance on Use of Wireless Technology

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 21:16:38 -0500

Pentagon Seen Softening Its Stance on Use of Wireless Technology

In new rules under consideration, the Department of Defense seems to be
taking a more moderate view on the use of wireless technology. Instead of
outright prohibitions on some uses of wireless technology by the military, the
Pentagon seems to be looking to strike a balance between security and the
benefits of increased mobility. The new rules are expected to be finalized by
July.

Pentagon seen backing off hard-line
wireless stance

By Ellen Messmer
Network World, 02/10/03

FT. MEADE, MD. - The Pentagon, which last
fall issued sweeping prohibitions against the military
using certain wireless network technologies, appears
to be softening its stance by striking a balance
between security and the benefits of increased
mobility.

Government officials are expected to finalize new
wireless rules, outlined in the "DoD Overarching Wireless Policy," by July.
The policy will be based on technical input from the National Security
Agency (NSA), the nation's high-tech spy agency.

The policy would set
a baseline for
security measures,
such as encryption in
wireless LANs and
personal handheld
devices, to protect
everything from
top-secret data to
unclassified material.
Currently under
review by Pentagon
officials, including
Department of
Defense CIO John
Stenbit, the draft
document contains a
provision requesting that agencies check a private NSA database of
vulnerabilities associated with commercial wireless products before
buying.

"This policy will put responsibility on the shoulders of the person making
the decision to buy wireless," says Timothy Havighurst, NSA program
manager for secure wireless products. "We will tell them, 'These are your
risks. You'll have to report all wireless equipment, including laptops which
you know are wireless.'"

But there will be room for judgment calls.

"A wireless LAN in a building is different than a wireless LAN on a
submarine," Havighurst says.

The tone of the new policy differs from that of the mandate handed
down in September through an Office of the Secretary of Defense memo.
It included restrictions against use of commercially available PDAs for
classified use and connecting wireless information systems to classified
military networks.

"September 11 prompted a lot of wireless worries, and wireless LANs fell
under intense scrutiny," Havighurst says.

Also coming into play were questions about the effectiveness of
the Wired Equivalent Privacy encryption mechanism used in many wireless
LANs and the ability of intruders to sniff wireless LAN data from as far
away as 1,000 feet.

The new regulations on wireless will apply to roughly one million military
personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and myriad other
agencies, such as the Defense Intelligence Agency, that are in the
Defense Department realm. Also affected will be agencies with close ties
to the military, such as NASA and the Air Force Rome Labs.

At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Pentagon's wireless
security regulations matter greatly.

"We're part of the [Department of Defense] network, and we have to
comply with any policy," says Col. Donald Welch, West Point's assistant
dean for IT.

West Point, which has access to the unclassified Defense Information
Systems Network and other systems, has tested wireless LANs for a
year.

The school has used a gateway from Cranite Systems with wireless
access points in classrooms to enforce authentication and encryption on
cadets' 802.11b-capable laptops. So far, the Defense Department has
indicated that West Point should not allow wireless LANs access to
military networks.

Harris Corp. is the only vendor that has a wireless LAN access point
authorized by the NSA for use in top-secret, classified networks. The
company says its SecNet 11 wireless LAN product uses Type 1
encryption. The NSA develops the secret cryptographic algorithms used
in Type 1 encryption, which might be used only by the military and
industry partners holding special accounts for sharing classified data.

Type 2 encryption, using either secret or published algorithms, is
controlled by the NSA but meant for unclassified government use, such
as the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellite systems. Type 3 includes
well-known commercial algorithms, including Triple-DES and the Advanced
Encryption Standard, which the National Institute of Standards and
Technology are evaluating.

While the Harris SecNet 11 wireless LAN access point's cryptography
technology is based on work from the NSA, the offering is otherwise
based on a commercial product, the Intersil wireless LAN chipset.

It's here, where the commercial and military worlds intersect, that the
Defense Department and NSA want to see off-the-shelf PDAs and
wireless LAN gear retrofitted to meet military requirements.

Research In Motion, for example, has worked with NSA to adapt its
BlackBerry PDA for sensitive but unclassified use by Pentagon personnel.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0210nsa.html

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