A system comprising: an air interface between infrastructure system devices and mobile stations; a plurality of infrastructure system devices other than a mobile station that are divided into a plurality of pools (201, 203, 205, 207), wherein each pool of the plurality of pools (201, 203, 205, 207) comprises a mutually exclusive subset of the plurality of infrastructure system devices, wherein each mutually exclusive subset comprises: at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using both the intrakey and an interkey, and at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices (115, 117, 211) being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using only an intrakey and to store the intrakey without storing the interkey; each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes a different intrakey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in the same pool, and each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes the same interkey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in a different pool. an air interface between infrastructure system devices and mobile stations; a plurality of infrastructure system devices other than a mobile station that are divided into a plurality of pools (201, 203, 205, 207), wherein each pool of the plurality of pools (201, 203, 205, 207) comprises a mutually exclusive subset of the plurality of infrastructure system devices, wherein each mutually exclusive subset comprises: at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using both the intrakey and an interkey, and at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices (115, 117, 211) being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using only an intrakey and to store the intrakey without storing the interkey; each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes a different intrakey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in the same pool, and each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes the same interkey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in a different pool. at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using both the intrakey and an interkey, and at least one of the plurality of infrastructure system devices (115, 117, 211) being arranged and constructed to encrypt and forward messages using only an intrakey and to store the intrakey without storing the interkey; each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes a different intrakey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in the same pool, and each pool (201, 203, 205, 207) of the plurality of pools utilizes the same interkey that is used only by an infrastructure system device in a pool for encrypting messages for transport to another infrastructure system device in a different pool.