This Wednesday, at 9pm EST, president Barack Obama will deliver his State of the Union speech.

This year will be extra special as the followup to Obama’s speech viewers will have the opportunity to submit questions (and vote on other users’ questions) in response to the speech on youtube.com/CitizenTube. Next week, Obama will answer some of the questions in an online event delivered live from the White House. From the YouTube blog:

“Presidents have long used new technology to share their message directly with the American people. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the State of the Union over the radio in 1923, and President Truman made history in 1947 when he became the first to deliver his address to a live television audience.

This year’s State of the Union speech will also make history. It will be the first time that citizens will have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions during the speech — and to hear the president’s response to those questions.”

Currently, the exact timing of the followup event is unknown.

SGIS Security wants you all to be aware that you could potentially be a target.  Whether it’s for Economic Espionage, a type of cyber crime or Elicitation/Recruitment, the fact that you are a working for a U.S. government contracting company puts you at a level of risk.

Those who have clearances and access to sensitive or proprietary information are prime targets to foreign intelligence operatives a.k.a. “spies.”  Now when I say spy, someone might think of 007 or “Get Smart,” but the fact is today’s operatives are usually friendly, everyday people who want to become “friends” with you.  They use a technique called “Elicitation”, which simply put is “the art of conversation honed by intelligence services…”  Often times, they will make initial contact with you at a seminar, business conference, networking event or social networking site.  Their goal is to determine if you have ANY information or access to information that could be potentially valuable.

If this initial contact seems worthy, they will proceed to get to know you and assess your vulnerabilities.  This is why it is extremely important to be careful what you say about yourself and your co-workers!  If you begin telling this spy… err, I mean “friend,” about your financial difficulties, marital problems or work related stresses, you are letting them know what your vulnerabilities are and they will exploit those vulnerabilities to gain an advantage.

Elicitation can take place over a long period of time. They collect tidbits of information on you, your job and coworkers. Elicitation is sometimes very hard to recognize.  Over time they hope to earn your trust and have you consider them a friend. They may ask for your expertise or consultation. Typically their goal is to have a “trusted source” that they can go to for information.

Please review the information below for further details on how they may try to recruit you and or your information:



Elicitation might be hard to recognize, but if feel you are being targeting and assessed by a Foreign Intelligence Operative, remember you have done nothing wrong unless you start maintaining a regular contact without reporting it to your security officer. Your main defense is awareness and reporting. The government may be able to notify you that you are dealing with a known intelligence operative, or it may identify the person as an operative as a result of your reporting the contact. Always report so that you are part of the solution and not the problem. See reporting requirements below.

You are required to report the following to your security office:

• Any effort by any individual, regardless of nationality, to obtain illegal or unauthorized access to classified information or to compromise you or any other cleared employee.  In addition, all contacts by you or any other cleared employee with known or suspected intelligence officers from any country, or any contact which suggests that you or any other employee may be the target of the intelligence service of another country or other clandestine group shall be reported.¹

• Any other known, suspected, attempted, or planned activity that threatens U.S. national security. This includes unauthorized release of or access to any classified or otherwise sensitive information, intrusion into an automated information system containing classified or otherwise sensitive information, or information relating to terrorism, sabotage, subversion, or illegal diversion of U.S. technology to a foreign country. Knowledge of any activity by a foreign country or organization that suggests that country or organization may have unauthorized knowledge of U.S. national security information, processes or capabilities.

Just to show you that this is REAL and happens regularly, I have linked some interesting articles on recent espionage cases that have happened this past year:

U.S.: Product engineer swiped Ford’s secrets

China proves to be an aggressive foe in cyberspace

Scientist offered U.S. secrets for $2 million, prosecutors say

As always, SGIS security is here to HELP you! Please email us a SECURITY@SGIS.COM for assistance or if you’d like to suggest further monthly topics, we would love to hear from you.

References:

1. National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, paragraph 1-302. Presidential Decision Directive NSC-12, Security Awareness and Reporting of Foreign Contacts, August 5, 1993.

2. Many ideas in this topic came from a NRO foreign intelligence threat awareness briefing.

3. DSS pamphlet, “Elicitation, Can you recognize it?”

Federal spending for vendors, services and products in 2009 targeted many areas. The largest two areas were Government Contracts and Federal Grants, comprising approximately 70% of the total spent. However, in 2009, 46% of the total spending went into grants, overshadowing contract dollars by almost 20%.

With an overall rise in grant popularity and spending and a federal goal of decreasing in the percentage of overall contract expenditures, the Government is clearly showing the direction of spending trends likely to occur in 2010. As contract companies prepare proposals for Government contract opportunities, the Government is actually working on shifting more funds to Federal Grants and Government Civilians Acquisition Programs, as mentioned in one of our previous blogs.

As contract centric companies target government contract opportunities, they need to be acutely aware that targeting grants, preparing grant proposals and applying for Federal Gants may be as successful, and as profitable, as traditional contract opportunities.

In addition, knowing current trends on how Federal Contract spending is executed can lead to winning profitable contracts while providing the foresight to pass by potentially unfunded, or poorly funded, unprofitable contracts.

Specifically, 2008 and 2009 saw an increase in multi-year contracts awarded using “excess” or “leftover” funds from other contract and spending programs. While this has created additional contract opportunities, it has also created many contracts that have premature funding shortfalls when next year’s “excess” funding is not as large as the previous years. With the new Government Executive Administration, new contracts solicitations are being scrutinized based on necessity, causing a trend of existing contracts to be “expanded” by adding funds into existing programs, instead of trying to justify new contracts.

These trends indicate that existing contracts, specifically multi-award Indefinite Quantity contracts are likely to see an increase in funding, while smaller contracts utilizing excess funding from previous years are likely to be unfunded, or underfunded. Companies providing services to the Federal Government cannot propose all solicitations and grants. As such, understanding which opportunity is likely to be successful and profitable in the coming years is critical in choosing which contract, grant, or opportunity to target, pursue and expend effort on.

About the author: Jason Wilson, the SGIS Division Manager of the Intelligence and Training Division, is a recently retired US Army Warrant Officer with 21 years of military experience. Wilson has strong relevant operational and institutional credentials and subject matter expertise as well as 19 years of experience in leadership and contract supervision positions.

Specific accolades for Jason Wilson include:

Certified Project Manager (CPM)

5 years supporting DoD and US Army level acquisition programs

6 years supporting and participating in Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations and Joint Capability Technology Demonstrations

6 years supervising a theater wide contract for Oracle and MS SharePoint development

If you are interested in reaching out to the author via discussion, visit SGIS on LinkedIn.

In a previous blog post, we discussed the growing efforts made by government officials towards cybersecurity. As the popularity of online social networking and information sharing services continue to grow, more and more security threats arise. A new military command structure will need more flexibility than traditional models to combat these threats, according to Lt. Gen. William Lord, chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

Lord recently spoke at an AFCEA Northern Virginia chapter and said non-traditional elements will play a big role in creating a command model that will be successful in such a domain. Cyberspace cannot be dominated because it is a commercial enterprise and not a military enterprise, he said.

As military and government officials continue finding ways to battle cyber threats, SGIS experts are working towards finding solutions to these threats as well. If you are interested in working on cybersecurity and a career with SGIS, visit our Careers page for a listing of our current openings.

Source: Federal Computer Week, “Cyber threat calls for flexibility in command model, general says” http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/18/Lord-emphasizes-joint-force-approach-to-battle.aspx

Cybersecurity is one of the most widely discussed topics in recent government news. The popularity of online collaboration and information sharing technologies and concerns over cyber attacks and cyber espionage have pushed the subject into the public eye.

One of this week’s most read and most e-mailed articles on NextGov.com explains the Department of Homeland Security’s new initiatives to protect federal computer networks against cyber attacks.

As a result, the Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team is currently developing and testing Einstein 3, an upgrade upon predecessor Einstein 2, which was criticized for being too reactive.

Homeland Security is also working towards proactive approaches with the White House and industry on a cyber incident response plan that will guide how organizations react in the occurrence of a widespread attack.

To read more about Cybersecurity and how SGIS defends individuals and government agencies against cyber attacks, click here.

Source: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090910_6952.php?oref=rss