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Technical Data: most of us have heard the term and conclude it implies various types of “data” required by operators, maintainers, and others serving technical functions in numerous capacities and locations around the world. “Data” provides vital details for work accomplished both within and outside the DoD. In the DoD, “technical data” is defined as the technical description of a product’s design configuration or performance requirements. Technical data also includes the procedures required to ensure adequacy of product performance. When the data is proprietary or classified in nature it must be protected against unauthorized access because breaches in data access come at costs that may include increased mission risk and potential adverse consequences.

This seemed the case in an incident with Marine One, the call sign of United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States. NBC News reported in March 2009 that a defense contractor in Bethesda, MD, was the original source of communications and engineering information about Marine One which was discovered at an IP address in Tehran, Iran. Investigations of the incident found that the contractor had a file-sharing program (a type often associated with music downloading) that contained sensitive blueprints for Marine One. The programmatic impacts of that compromise in technical data will be felt for some time.

Tight control of data assets is a familiar practice within the DoD weapon systems acquisition community where the development, distribution, and management of technical data must be applied with absolute diligence and attention to detail. Fortunately, both the DoD and Air Force provide policy guidance to personnel entrusted with the technical data responsibilities. For instance, a certified U.S. government contractor that receives technical data with the proper controls can disseminate that data to others for purposes consistent with their certification without the prior permission of the controlling DoD office that either generated the data or received it on behalf of the government. Yet in this simple situation there is ample opportunity for access, management, and control issues! The reality of this situation emphasizes the requirement for acquisition workforce education in properly applying technical data discipline.

To meet this significant educational need within the AF community, AFIT’s School of Systems and Logistics provides three courses to guide the acquisition professional through the complex work of defining, producing, managing, and sustaining technical data: SYS 110, Fundamentals of Data Management, SYS 150 Engineering Data Management, and SYS 230 Air Force Technical Orders Acquisition and Management. Registration for these courses is available at http://www.afit.edu/ls.