Department of Defense program managers have encountered
difficulties in implementing an anti-tamper policy on
individual weapon systems as required by the National
Defense Authorization Act of 2004, leaving those systems
open to exploitation, the General Accounting Office has said.
It said that while DOD is managing the development of
generic anti-tamper techniques and tools to help program
managers, many of those efforts are still in progress, and
program managers have yet to design and incorporate
techniques needed for their unique systems.
GAO urged the Under Secretary of Acquisition, Technology,
and Logistics and the anti-tamper Executive Agent to take
actions to improve oversight and assist program offices in
carrying out anti-tamper measures, it said.
The difficulties in establishing such measures stem from
the lack of a general consensus as to which technologies are
critical, and in need of anti-tamper protection. Further
complicating the process are budgetary constraints, GAO said.
Officials from one program stated that their existing budget
was insufficient to cover the added cost of applying
anti-tamper protection and that they were waiting for
separate funding before attempting to apply such protection.
Finally, anti-tamper techniques can be technically difficult
to incorporate in some weapon systems–particularly when
the techniques are not fully developed or when the systems
are already in design or production, said GAO.
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