When I toured the Las Vegas Switch data center a month ago, I asked what all the AR-15s were for. The response was that it is required by their all ex-military security team as a requirement to host highly classified government servers.
I previously used to do "Physical Security Assessments" of Classified environments. An armed guard was never a requirement... The data center should be following physical security requirements listed in AR 380-5 [0]
As for the all ex-military bit, that's just b/c veterans are the only people with security clearances and little to no professional skills. The DoD will give an 18 y/o infantryman a security clearance just b/c he asks. Good luck getting one from industry or any other government agency if you haven't demonstrated a 100% need for one in a professional capacity.
[0] https://armypubs.army.mil/ProductMaps/PubForm/AR_Details.asp...
Not true at all. Most enlisted infantry don’t have a security clearance. An standard infantry platoon officer typically has only a Secret clearance — only getting Top Secret in special cases and with special units. An 18 year old enlisted Ranger would have a clearance, but some grunt in the 3th Infantry Division almost never has a clearance unless there is a specific mission need.
The standard for clearances is based on the need to access classified information. An industry or professional partner working in those areas has a higher risk profile because they are typically accessing or building classified systems — which is a far greater risk than the access afforded to a typical infantry enlisted soldier.
clearances for non-military working on DoD projects were, until 2018 handled by OPM which has a significant backlog. So that made OPM clearances much slower. However in 2018, the law was changed to allow DoD to bypass OPM for clearances.
As far as ex-military with little or no professional skills, that’s a bit insulting and heavily generalizing. It really depends on their role. If they are physical security, then “professional” skills (as you might define it) aren’t relevant. Their job is physical security. As far as other ex-military with no professional skills, that’s ridiculous. Many ex military have highly developed professional and technical skills.
But nobody gets a clearance “because he asks.” An 18 year old kid in the infantry doesn’t get to ask for anything, let alone a clearance.
Also, an 18 year old has considerably less background to check than a 35 year old software engineer. I had a clearance from State that took 18 months to process because I had lived in 5 different countries, including countries that weren’t considered “friendly.” But an 18 year old who lived his whole life in the same town — those clearances are issued very quickly.
And you should have a 100% need to get a clearance. I am not sure why that would even be worthy of debate.
The need was very well defined. I required escorted access into a missile lab to service their network equipment. My background was also quite limited. I'd never traveled much at the time, lived in a couple of states.
I've generally heard that secret level work is pretty boring, so I doubt confidential would be better.
I said what I said b/c I've personally been tasked with getting an entire infantry battalion (~900 infantryman + the support elements) security clearances for a deployment. The battalion had no need for security clearances, but the DoD had approved all unit expenditures related to the deployment, so the BC requested it b/c a few Joe's asked for it so they could improve their job outlooks post-military.
This comes down to the difference between needs for a security clearance and needs to access classified material. Just about anyone can technically get a security clearance investigation. Having completed a security clearance investigation doesn't actually award you a clearance, it awards you the eligibility for a clearance. Example, if you get your clearance in 1st Battalion, after you pass the investigation you get read on and sign an NDA (SF-312), the Security Manager accessing a system called JPAS and with the click of a button "turns your clearance on" (for lack of a better phrase), that awards you a clearance. Now lets say you transfer from 1st battalion to 2nd battalion, when leaving 1st battalion you sign another NDA (SF-312) and acknowledge that you understand what you did with that unit that was classified (often times you did nothing...), the security manager then goes back into JPAS and turns your clearance off. When you arrive at 2nd battalion, their security manager has you sign a new NDA (SF-312) and goes into JPAS to turn your clearance on.
So yes, and entire infantry battalion can have security clearances without serving in any classified environment.
I didn't say everyone in the military has little to no professional skills, so please don't put those words in my mouth. The military is just the only organization that gives clearances to those with little or no professional skills. Justice/State/industry sure as hell don't.
That is a horribly bigoted statement, the type of which wouldn’t be tolerated on HN if it were directed at almost any other group. You ought to be ashamed!
In a case like this, the following site guideline should kick in: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize."
No service that I've ever run has ever required armed guards and certainly don't ever want to have my services colocated with other services that require armed guards.
I just think it’s more marketing campaign on their part, honestly.
I remember the diesel fuel thing, too. Dumb.