1. 2 Specific Securij Problems of the USAF
The majrr problems of the USAF stem from the fact th.at there is a growing requirement
to provide shared use of computer systems containing information of different
classification levels and need-to-know requirements in a user population
not uniformly cleared or access-approved. This problem taIes an extreme form in
those several systems currently under development or projected for the near future
where part, or the majority of the user populati ,n has no cleal ance requirement and
where only a very small fraction of the information being processed and stored on the
systems is classified. In a few of the systems examined (see Section 11 below:v) the
kinds of actions the user population is able to take are limited by the nature of the
application in such a way as to avoid or reduce the security problem. However, in
other systems, particularly in general use systems such as those found in the USAF Data
Services Center in the Pentagon, the users are permitted and encouraged to directly program
the system for their applications. It is in this latter kind of use of computers that
the weakness of the technical foundation of current system,; is most acutely felt.