Dear General Mattis,
Congratulations on your nomination by President Elect Trump to be our next Secretary of Defense.
I’m writing to you at the urging of my Congressman Poliquin’s senior staffer Tim Gallant, a retired USN CPO.
As a retired military intelligence officer I was alarmed when I read EUCOM Lt/Gen Ben Hodges AFN interview in Poland during NATO’s FX Anaconda in June. In it he stated, “Neither (unclassified) radio communications nor email are secure” and “I assume everything I write on my BlackBerry is being monitored.” I believe he’s absolutely right! This COMSEC problem can become an OPSEC one with dire consequences in the near future by enabling enemy targeteers to put munitions on American targets and troops, as I did to our country’s enemies.
As you are aware, our military is switching from Androids to Apple’s Chinese made I-phone 6. In July my (relationship withheld) and fellow unit members deployed to the Middle East in support of operations against IS. They have their personal mobile devices with them. These and issue I-phones have inadequate protection against cyber-attack and exploitation by hostile intelligence services to find, target and kill them, preventing their mission success.
Last winter I became concerned about protecting my personal and financial information from hackers. I found out that the anti-virus programs available fail to protect against the zero day attacks that key loggers and click jackers use. I wanted multi-layered defense and anti-screen capture capabilities. I read that “Silicon Review” recognized Strike Force Technologies as the world’s leading provider of patented, military-grade keystroke encryption, out of band authentication and two factor authentication. I purchased on-line via Amazon and installed their Mobile Trust product on my mobile device. I also encouraged family and friends to do likewise.
Mobile Trust is now being sold in brick and mortar stores nationwide. It was easy to install, costs $30 a year for two I-phones (or any android device), does not slow things down or cause any other problems. I did this only after Strike Force Technologies settled with Microsoft over patent infringement in January of 2016. In full disclosure, I was so impressed with Mobile Trust that I bought shares of SFOR stock. Please consider helping get our troops something to fix this tremendous COMSEC problem. I don’t even care if it’s Mobile Trust! They just need something better than the standard consumer encryption Apple provides its I-Phone 6. It is nowhere near the level of protection they need. Please view this as critical as the shortage of body and Humvee armor was at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom forcing troops to purchase their own and place sandbags on floorboards.
I’ve written letters to current government officials and received courteous replies. However, no defensive software was provided our troops due to the Congressional budget impasse. With the recent passage and signature into law of H.R. 5293-DOD Appropriations Act, 2017 funds are finally available to do this. When you become SEC/DEF please help! Thank you for considering my request. If I can be of any further service to you or our country in this matter please don’t hesitate to call, e-mail or write me at (contact info withheld).
Best Regards,
4 Sleddogs Major USAF Retired
Former HQ/ EUCOM Member
Yeah, I know the Warrior Monk has to have the law changed (like before) to serve as SEC/DEF & be approved by the Senate. I believe he will be.
If you pull his military bio one thing jumps out at you. General Mattis is more than forward leaning, he is aggressive! So, I thought I'd give him a heads-up on the mobile device COMSEC problem & SFOR solution and sent this to the Trump Transition Team today. Of course he will get another copy sent to his new Pentagon office as soon as he is approved by the Senate.
