Day 61: Never get on Big Brother's bad side

Arghh. I messed up and did the wrong thing at the wrong time. One of the things that has been a little difficult to get used to has been the level of security working here. You are not allowed to bring in USB thumbdrives, PCs, cameras, recording devices, or cell phones. There is actually an entire section that is called "Information Assurance" -- what they actually ensure is that you will get hosed if you come afoul of them. They are more popularly called the "Security Nazis".

I understand that they need to set guidelines and rules. I took my phone the other night and charged it. Had not even turned it on since I left Kuwait. Anyhow, on the way out of the hooch, I grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket and came to work. Well, as I was sitting at my desk, the alarm went off (it was an embarassing new agey soothing tune too). I had the misfortune of being right by the security representative, a zealous 1LT. He called me on it and said I needed to bring it over to the security systems officer. I went over there and they said I should bring it to the front and leave it there. No problem.

Well, the SSO comes over later to ask about it. Says that they need to do a scan on it. "Ok" says I. A civilian comes over an hour later, asking for the password. I give it up with a little hesitation. Sarah would never have given up her privacy rights, but I'm the trusting sort. I ask when it will be available and the civilian hesitates and says that he got an email that the phone was brought into a secret briefing.

I don't see it that day. Today, in the afternoon, I go to see what's going on. Well, in their little super secret squirrel hideyhole room tucked away behind a locked vault, it's like the exciting news. Like their version of catching a spy. They say that the scan came up clean, but they still want to wipe the blackberry clean. That would really suck, since it's my work BB and much of the info has not been saved. This, my friends, is what happens when you are in staff, you're overmanned, not busy enough, and don't have enough indirect fire landing on your ass. You spin little stuff up into high drama.

To make things worse, I had just been in the middle of a formal request to authorize a camera for bringing into the HQ. Great..... wonderful way to show you're responsible and capable of bringing a recording device into a secure location by doing something boneheaded like this.

So, not too optimistic about that request having any legs. Best I can hope for now, is that these boy scouts let me keep my data.

Oh, and Candice my dear, the only karaoke going on here is in the shower. (Actually, there is a "Basrah's Got Talent" show coming up sometime...)