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Government
Mattis considering personal cellphone ban at Pentagon
2018-02-01
[The Hill] Defense Secretary James Mattis is reportedly weighing a ban on allowing civilian employees at the Pentagon to bring their personal cellphones to work.

The deliberations come as the Defense Department reviews its policy on wearable electronics after reports suggested that a fitness-tracking app could put military personnel at risk.

The issue is still being reviewed and no decision has been made regarding the possible cellphone ban, CNN reported Wednesday.

"We take threats to security seriously and are always looking into any potential additional measures to further enhance the security of our of Department of Defense personnel," Maj. Audricia Harris, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, told CNN.

The White House implemented a ban on personal cellphones in the West Wing earlier this month. That ban was put in place to "protect White House information technology infrastructure from compromise and sensitive or classified information from unauthorized access or dissemination," according to a memo obtained by Politico.

According to CNN, the current review of the Pentagon's cellphone policy was prompted by a small number of cases in which employees brought their personal phones into classified areas.
Posted by:Besoeker

#17  The issue really hinges on the GPS that can be pinged even when the phone is powered down.

Leaving your phone in the little locker outside the SCIF won't solve that. During my visits to Los Alamos etc we had to remove the batteries.
Posted by: Snoluting Phomoth8901   2018-02-01 17:35  

#16  Always had a cellphone/electronics device ban in any SCIF I ever saw. It might actually increase productivity and job focus to ban cellphones while on duty there, including DoD civilians.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891   2018-02-01 15:35  

#15  Best one I ever had was coming into LAX.
They were determined to find something.
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-02-01 15:17  

#14  You can be strip searched instead;) By Nancy Pelosi;)
Posted by: Silentbrick   2018-02-01 13:50  

#13  There goes my pacemaker!
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-02-01 12:40  

#12  There is an easy answer. All employees must go through an EMP pulse room with enough power to brick any electronics.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2018-02-01 12:10  

#11  That would include the cellphones you might not be aware of built into your car and the id pressure transducers Al the Gore insisted being in all tires constantly broadcasting pressure, id, where bought, serial # and maybe even your credit card #. May the CALEA driving, Global Worming, EPA policeman be bowed down to.
Posted by: 3dc   2018-02-01 12:00  

#10  Add the tracking part. You don't want folks tracked into and out of the Pentagon. It's no different than that exercise tracker.
What restaurants, bars, hotels are attractive to this group? Why ISIS can bomb them.

Posted by: 3dc   2018-02-01 11:57  

#9  #5 Cell jammers were a quite popular accessory in hardline SCIFs for a while. Easier than policy and physical monitoring. Posted by Skidmark

It is the camera part of the cell phone that is the danger...not the radio part.
Posted by: Tennessee   2018-02-01 11:22  

#8  You mean this is not the policy now?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2018-02-01 10:22  

#7  About time.
Posted by: Woodrow   2018-02-01 10:03  

#6  Cell jammers were a quite popular accessory in hardline SCIFs for a while. Easier than policy and physical monitoring.
Posted by: Skidmark.

If you experience intense, high-pitched, pulsing, ringing noise, "like a mass of crickets" or a whine that "seems to undulate, even writhe," like nails on a chalkboard, leave the SCIF and contact your physician at once.

Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-01 08:55  

#5  Cell jammers were a quite popular accessory in hardline SCIFs for a while. Easier than policy and physical monitoring.
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-02-01 08:51  

#4  SCIF - is that Maxwell Smart's "Cone of Silence" or more like his shoe?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2018-02-01 08:40  

#3  It has been forbidden to bring a cellphone or flash drive into a SCIF as long as I can recall
Posted by: Blossom Hupager6063   2018-02-01 06:42  

#2  According to CNN, the current review of the Pentagon's cellphone policy was prompted by a small number of cases in which employees brought their personal phones into classified areas.

Which could easily be resolved by an immediate suspension of security clearance and access to the classified area! Word will get around fairly quickly.

I believe an active security clearance is a generally a "condition of employment."

Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-01 02:19  

#1  Sounds like a school teacher.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-01 02:15  

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