Lesson l/Learning Event 6
f. Red and Black Facilities. Traffic passing through a signal facility
is classified according to its content.
If the traffic carries security
classification it is handled differently from unclassified traffic. In the
technical control facility the electrical signals produced by traffic-moving
equipment are passed through facilities termed black when unclassified, and
red when classified. A red jackfield is one that carries clear-text secure
traffic prior to its encryption and after its decryption. Encrypted signals
may be passed through a black facility in the normal manner.
To avoid
compromising security, you as technical controllers must be especially
careful to insure that clear text classified traffic is not passed through
black facilities.
Learning Event 6: LOCATION AND CONFIGURATIONS
1.
Locations. There are many technical control facilities in existence.
Besides one at each DCS radio station, there is a facility at each major
interface or nodal point.
A technical control facility will be found at
each AUTOVON terminal, each AUTODIN terminal, and each Integrated
Communication System (ICS) stations in the Pacific and Europe.
A mobile
unit called Communications Technical Control Center AN/MSQ-73 has been made
available to field commanders to help solve many of the interface problems
which
result
from
joining
communication
circuits
having
different
characteristics.
2.
Configurations.
No two fixed technical control facilities are
identical, because each facility is adapted to the requirements of the
communication circuits it serves. Most facilities are manually controlled,
with little or no automation.
On the other hand, AUTOVON and AUTODIN
facilities are automated to a great extent to permit unattended switching
operations to occur.
However, one principle is common to all facilities,
whatever their configurations; every circuit entering and leaving the
facilities must have a jack appearance in an appropriate jackfield.
The
primary purpose of this arrangement is to permit system testing, equipment
substitution, circuit monitoring, and circuit conditioning.
The jacks,
cords, and plugs may be of different design, but their functions are
similar.
Some cords use single plugs, some use twin, some cords have
standard-size plugs, others use substandard size; some cords use three
connectors, and others use two. An example is an AUTODIN technical control
facilities that uses miniaturized plugs and jacks to reduce the physical
size of the jackfields to a fraction of the space required for standard-size
plugs. The point being made here is that a technical controller, must have
mental flexibility to adapt to changing situations
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