TMS Public and Governmental Affairs Resource Center

The Defense Authorization Act for FY 2009 directs the secretary of defense to conduct a “comprehensive assessment” of acquisition programs “to identify vulnerabilities in the supply chain of each program’s information processing system that potentially compromise the level of trust in such systems,” including microcircuits, software, and firmware. The goal is to assure “trusted” sources of components for national security systems. Trust is defined as “high confidence by the Department of Defense (DOD) in the national ability to secure national security systems by assessing the integrity of the people and processes used to design, generate, manufacture, and distribute national security critical components.” The bill directs the defense secretary to report within 12 months on a DOD-wide strategy “sufficiently specific to provide guidance for the planning, programming, budgeting and execution process in order to ensure acquisition programs have necessary resources . . . for ensuring trust in the supply chain.”

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