A Navy test authority recently began the last round of major tests on the classified information circuits of the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter (NSC) Bertholf (WMSL-750) prior to the vessel being cleared for full operations, the Coast Guard’s top acquisition officials said.
Once the Space and Naval Warfare Command’s (SPAWAR) test entity for TEMPEST finishes its work over the next two to three weeks, it will then produce a report, which could take weeks or months, for review by the Coast Guard’s communications branch, which in turn will make the decision whether the ship is ready to pass classified information, Rear Adm. Gary Blore, assistant commandant for Acquisition, said during a media roundtable on Tuesday. Once the Bertholf gets TEMPEST certification that is the “last major step so the cutter is fully operational to do Coast Guard patrols,” he said.
The Coast Guard accepted delivery of the Bertholf last May from Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, May 8, 2008). At the time there were still eight major punch list times to close related to the cutter’s construction–separate from TEMPEST–all of which have been resolved (Defense Daily, May 28, 2008).
TEMPEST refers to the investigations done to make sure classified information cannot emanate from communications systems and circuits. The Coast Guard discovered TEMPEST issues with Bertholf during routine inspections in 2007.
Since accepting delivery of Bertholf–the cutter is one of eight planned NSCs–the ship has been at sea with its crew three times for various tests although it is limited in the amount of classified information that can be sent pending the TEMPEST certification. Bertholf operates from its homeport in Alameda, Calif.
The Coast Guard is confident that the NSC is ready to get over the TEMPEST hurdle.
In March Advanced Programs, Inc. (API), an independent contractor certified by the National Security Agency and hired by the Coast Guard completed a set of TEMPEST tests.
All of the visual TEMPEST discrepancies and trial cards that were generated while the ship was being built have been resolved,” Rear Adm. Ronald Rabago, program executive officer for Coast Guard Acquisition, said at the roundtable. The recent tests demonstrated “how quiet the ship is in terms of emanations,” he said. “She is ready to go.”
During the Navy-led tests, SPAWAR will be doing “inch-by-inch” visual inspections to make sure “classified and unclassified circuits are appropriately segregated from each other throughout the ship,” Rabago said. Instrumented surveys will also be done, which basically consists of putting flowing a signal through the classified lines and testing for emanations, he added.
Prior to the SPAWAR and API tests the Coast Guard had already done its own physical inspections and had changes and modifications done to various components and systems that were identified as posing a risk or creating a crossover between classified and unclassified systems, Rabago said. SPAWAR has also been providing guidance along the way, he added.
As the Bertholf moves to wrap up the TEMPEST certification, the vessel is also preparing for a unique capability that will be the first on any cutter in the Coast Guard. SPAWAR, which has been contracted by the Coast Guard, will begin installing a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on Bertholf shortly, Rabago said.
In the fall, when Bertholf is in for an extended homeport stay for routine work, the rest of the SCIF will be completed, Rabago said. The SCIF will give the Bertholf an intelligence capability that no cutters currently have. The work will consist of new communications circuits, antennas and more that will expand communications capability and allow it to function in an “intelligence environment,” he said.
The SCIF is not necessary for Bertholf to do Coast Guard patrols, Blore pointed out.