One of her first decisions was to call upon CACI International Inc., an Arlington, Va., consulting firm, for guidance. The FAA s experience is similar to those of many federal agencies. With the explosion of network computing, the number of people with security expertise lags well behind demand. Increasingly, agencies are turning to third parties, so-called Tiger Teams, to take a close look at agency security procedures and systems. There are numerous advantages to this type of arrangement.
Agencies find growing number of commercial organizations offering such services.
CACI, Lucent, Lockheed Martin Corp., and Wang Laboratories Inc. have been popular choices among government agencies. Other federal agencies can also provide help. The National Security Agency offers security services to defense agencies. The National Institute of Standards and Technology provides the same services to nonmilitary agencies. The U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement, Washington, D.C., has used NIST s services.