AF Clears L-3 on Emails

AF Clears L-3 on Emails

By Colin Clark Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 1:32 pm
Posted in Air, Cyber Security, Policy

The Air Force has lifted the suspension on L-3 Communications’ Special Support Programs Division in an action that shows just how sensitive the government has become about email and how it is handled, especially by a company performing classified work.

The Air Force’s decision to lift the suspension was mentioned by L-3’s CEO in today’s earning report: “Finally, we expect to execute an agreement with the Air Force today, under which the Air Force will lift the suspension of L-3’s Special Support Programs Division. The Air Force will also agree not to suspend Integrated Systems.”

To get there, the Air Force has required L-3’s CEO, Michael Strianese, sign a three-year agreement with the Air Force mandating that company officials and employees receive ethics training, apparently in reaction to the mishandling of emails during a company security review. Also, the July 27 agreement forbids the SSPD to perform IT work for the government unless it is directly related to its Air Force special operations contract.


It looks as if alarm bells went off when the SSPD, which performs a great deal of classified work, screened emails looking for apparent leaks of company proprietary data. The company’s IT folks did not distinguish between government senders and company senders. Also, emails from four competitors were captured. As we reported, the Air Force suspended the SSPD from all new government business and notified the parent company that it faced suspension as well.

In its agreement with the government, the company admits its employees goofed and that they “were not adequately aware of the risks present in operating” such an email network.

Every company that does classified work will likely be reviewing its email systems, the protocols governing them and the employees using and monitoring them.

Join the Conversation

DensityDuck July 27th, 2010 at 6:00 pm

This is hardly a punishment. Companies love “ethics training”, because it protects them from getting a company-level fine for employee-level screwups.

PS I love how nobody is discussing the fact that SSPD’s email screening was probably the result of government insistence on “implementing IT security processes and procedures”!

Robert A Schwehr July 29th, 2010 at 4:17 am

Once again where is this stuff(EMAIL)coming from, who sends it,who is it going to and who has the access to read it?Sort of reminds you of the disclaimers on those private adult (or otherwise) entertainment web sites.Just because it‘s big business doesn‘t mean all of the OPSEC should be left to a profit oriented CFO,afterall,we are engaged in WARFARE!Former Radio officer.ARMY obsever.

Screwedover July 29th, 2010 at 9:27 pm

I work for this company and this division. L-3 was desperate because they had lost a big contract with the government and was in a re-bid status so they were trying everything they could to get a leg up on the other contract bidders, hence comes copying peoples emails. Since L-3’s suspension they ultimately lost the contract for good and now Lockheed Martin is taking over in their place. The ones paying the biggest price for all of this are the employees, which might I add are getting screwed by this take over. We didn’t ask for this but we are paying the price for it.

*required

NOTE: Comments are limited to 2500 characters and spaces.

By commenting on this topic you agree to the terms and conditions of our User Agreement