If you do, you’re ahead of the people like Admiral McRaven, General McChrystal, the guy who wrote the Delta books under the nom de plume of Dalton Fury, and various technothriller authors these days.

Cripes, people, if you feel compelled to impress your readers with the fact you had access to secret squirrel stuff but that it’s necessary to explain what the term means, then don’t spoil the effect by getting it wrong. Either look these things up or find an editor who will.

Question:
Which is it?

Choices:
secret compartmented intelligence facility
secret compartmented information facility
secure compartmented intelligence facility
secure compartmented information facility
sensitive compartmented intelligence facility
sensitive compartmented information facility

 

Apparently not. I voted wrong.

I worked in one for about four years and it was cold due to the wrong thermostat being wired to the wrong room.

People were always messing with the thermostat like putting a wet rag over the thermostat to fooling it to being colder than it was. Didn't work.

So I had a friend in maintenance who I told about the situation so he looked into it and solved the problem. The people in the other room must have thought they were in the desert. This had occurred over a period of several years and it probably caused some of the people to get sick.

I could write a book about that place which was one of the most discriminating places I ever worked.

I voted wrong as well.

Yup.


41- I think they were all built the same. I've been in a few different ones, and the room just seems to be colder than everything else. I guess someone thinks "Because freezing temps keeps keeps that information secure!"

I was wrong. I thought I had a good idea of what it referred to.

Well, after spending 20 of my 22 years in the Navy working in them, I should...

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I googled it. One of us is wrong. Pretty sure it's not me, unless NAVSECGRU used different terminology than everybody else.

Where is the 'I have no idea' choice? Put me down for that one.

It is of course possible that different organizations used different terms that may have evolved over time. Abbreviations and words get corrupted from their original meanings all the time, sometimes deliberately, sometimes due to the fact that an incorrect meaning gets spread around and in time becomes the only one anyone ever hears. “Assault weapon” is a common current example.

My answer, and which is the most common term when the abbreviation is searched for on the Internet, is the term that I first learned when assigned to an Army military intelligence unit in 1966, and which was used throughout my career.

In the earliest days, though, it was more common to hear references to “behind the green door” rather than “SCIF” or its full meaning. And then that’s another question: Where did that reference come from?

Yep. I hate spending time in one. Such a PIA.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Yep. I hate spending time in one. Such a PIA.

Try managing the building of one.

I was a happy guy in the mid-80's when they finally developed swipe-able security badges. As a maintenance weenie, it was a pain in the ass to try to hold onto a piece of equipment, poke in a combo and open the SCIF door all at the same time...

Glad I didn't. Securing "special weapons" in the Cold War was enough for me.

The only reason I knew is due to the fact that I have been reading up on the various intelligence jobs for the Army in hopes of trying to help me decide if I want to go that route or go back to Combat Arms.

My only fear going intel is being assigned to a SCIF.

With my current MOS I have been lucky to avoid working in them.

At a facility I was stationed at in the mid '70s it was referred to as the "vault" given the heavy combo access door and featured a Faraday like copper wire layer on all 6 sides among other things to thwart eavesdropping equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:...“behind the green door” ...

Yep, pushed the button, picked up the phone, showed the badge, held up countersign fingers, said the word of the day.

No one under 21 admitted...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:...“behind the green door” ...

Yep, pushed the button, picked up the phone, showed the badge, held up countersign fingers, said the word of the day.

No one under 21 admitted...

Just knock three times and whisper low

That you and I were sent by Joe

I knew - don't ask me how.

I don't know the acronym but this only recently got on my radar with the House impeachment hearings.

It's not a type of boat, I take it?

I guessed, then looked it up. It seems I got lucky, but I'm not a NAVSECGURU, so my guess is probably wrong.

I was a paratrooper, if the light was red, I didn't go through the door, if the light was green,I went through the door...easy.