The US Department of Defence (DoD) and its contractors are facing trouble implementing precautionary measures to prevent their employees from contracting the coronavirus, as many of them don't have the opportunity to work from home due to a number of issues.
Namely, many of the Pentagon's employees, such as analysts and engineers working on weapons systems, can't continue to work without access to classified data. This access can only be granted within the Pentagon's walls, as it hasn't developed a mechanism for remote secure access, former DoD official and CEO of an organisation consulting defence contractors David Berteau shared in an interview with the Defense One media outlet.
According to him, the US government has carried out a number of drills simulating situations similar to the existing national emergency triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past. However, the DoD didn't capitalise on them and didn't make use of its experience to prepare for such circumstances, the former Pentagon staffer said.
"We have not taken those lessons from the simulations seriously enough that we’ve done the preparation necessary to execute it. So now we’re having to do it in real-time", he said
Berteau also noted that in his opinion, it's possible to create secure remote access to classified data for both Pentagon workers and contractors, but that officials have failed to do enough to introduce such technologies.
Defence contractors who are developing weapons for the US military are also facing legal trouble when it comes to enabling their employees to work from home in order to avoid infection, Berteau added. According to him, most companies' contracts do not contain provisions that clearly indicate whether working that way is permitted for workers who don’t require access to classified data. The former Pentagon staffer suggested that the Department of Defence should clarify how these contractors are permitted to work, while allowing employees to work from home by sending out guidance documents.
"You can send out guidance to contracting officers that says, ‘It is really important for you to adjust and amend contracts so that contractors can continue to work with the government counterparts. If that’s teleworking, that’s teleworking, if it’s moving to a different location, it’s moving to a different location", Berteau said.
Measures to send all non-essential personnel home are being taken by the Pentagon as President Donald Trump announced a "national emergency" on 13 March in a bid to fight the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus. POTUS promised to spare no resources in stopping the pandemic in the US, pledging $50 billion in funding for that purpose. The measures also include the establishment of emergency operations centres and the introduction of mechanisms that will allow American businesses to make it through the outbreak.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 13 March some 1,629 people had contracted the COVID-19 virus and 41 had died in the United States.
