and now everyone carries a Minox! 
we’re all spies!
My facility (when I ran one) had a photographer. He was allowed by the security folk to carry a camera in collateral controlled space. (Indeed, he was even involved in shooting for LEOs on some missions). He knew what he could shoot, he knew to ask people being photographed to remove/cover badges and blank screens, etc. Anyone else found to have a camera would have been in deep doo-doo. No phones, clearly.
WH
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I think you’ve gotten a clear picture that you can’t take electronic devices into secure areas or SCIFs. I had to leave my phone and BT aids outside our SCIFs when I worked. However, I was able to get accommodation to be seated closer to the individuals speaking. And I was cupping my ear a lot, but I survived and the Republic is still standing.
It’s a pain in the patoot, but it worked out OK.
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Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I am impressed by the quick response to my question. I had only a brief discussion with my son about his recently diagnosed hearing loss. When I suggested that he get HA’s soon, because most people avoid them initially, he pointed out his concern about using Bluetooth at his job. He’s in a high level position and I’m sure that hearing loss will affect his work, if it hasn’t done so already. I was thinking that there might be a technical solution in the HA’s but I’ve learned from your replies, particularly WH, that this is a facility security management issue and he’ll have to work it out with his employer. As someone said, this is certainly not a new issue for them, considering how many people have hearing loss disability like those of us on this forum. Thanks again for all of your replies.
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He really just needs to have a meeting with whoever is in charge of security and let them tell him what he CAN’T do. He may need a waiver. Check out this example: James Clapper: My hearing aids needed security clearance - CNNPolitics
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Great time for a ADA Lawsuit regardless where He works,the Technology in a HA only works with iPhone so they could ask for His iPhone during working hours.If they disagree then Sue them under the ADA Laws.Like taking away a Mans Artificial Leg during working Hours.Im sure He is in a Union and should follow up with the Union Rep.Being Totally Disabled besides Deaf i take nobodys nonsense and will Sue if I have to.
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One of the best answers here: the best brands all have CIC’s and most CIC’s don’t have Bluetooth and their sound is brilliant and it saves you a lot of fiddling time (with Bluetooth).
Mine are Oticon Opn1 CIC’s and I’ll update to Oticon More CIC when they finally bring out a CIC model
If you bring up this kind of thing, they accommodate you by finding “work” for you outside the secure areas. But then you’re a trouble maker and it won’t go well for you.
Unions generally aren’t involved. The contractor workers almost never are covered by a union in these places. The government workers may be, but the rules for work in these secure areas take precedent over any of that other stuff. You might get a special chair accommodation or other nontechnical help, but anything seen as breaking the security situation will get shut down and if they believe you truly NEED that, you’ll be sent away too. Nobody is going to be bringing their iphone in with them. Heh.
WH
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As has been mentioned several times, bluetooth is not the bottom line issue, radios is. If the HAs talk to each other, or are programmed via wireless, they have an issue that will need a waiver. If it can be shut off, it is easier to handle, but unless you get a blessing, just saying “it doesn’t have bluetooth” doesn’t solve all the problems all the time. It is electronic and instantly under scrutiny for just that reason.
WH
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No bt device means no bt device… if you have top level clearance. Go to security and get a waiver. Also, means no phones, pagers, etc… Also means if you plan to leave the country on vacation you need to advise and get clearance for the powers to be.
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Yes, even my last two sets of Oticons with no BT used RF to talk to each other. So there are more details to consider here.
But everyone chiming in on this with anecdotes or supposition is missing the point. It’s not likely the case that all electronics are impermissible. Electronics with appropriate characteristics are used in such facilities when they are necessary. HAs without any radios can likely be approved with adequate documentation. The agency OP’s son works for will certainly have prior experience with this, so the best approach is ask. Absolutely do not make any purchase before all details are clear.
It is not only bluetooth, not radios (RF), but ELECTRONIC DEVICES in any fashion that are not allowed in certain secure facilities/areas/workplaces. You can ask for a medical accomodation and as WhiteHat already said, there are other options/answers that can be presented to you. Some not favorable. In addition to this, you have a security and medical clearance process which depending on many many factors, does take into account your hearing. National security will always take precedence over a medical concern. We sign waivers and contracts to this effect.
But, back to the point- it is electronics. The problem is any electrical device can be modified and that is a security liability. The answer with any electrical device that is needed in the secure area is that device will be cleared for the area (inspected, scanned, securely procured, etc) and it will forever remain in that area. Once it is removed from that area it can no longer be reintroduced. This goes for smartwatches, digital watches, hearing aids, calculators, typewriters (if they still use them!), monitors, keyboards, mouses, lightbulbs (yep!), batteries for your tv remote, the tv, etc etc etc.
All that said, I’m glad we’ve provided a helpful insight for the original poster and she had some info to pass along to her son. The security and medical clearance process can be very stressful even without a medical issue/concern.
As others in “the biz” have pointed out, it IS complicated. Down at Sandia Labs (yes the home of fat man and little boy) security teams are constantly grappling with citizens who think “ it will be fine” but its not.
Consider the how “everything has to be connected” . Consider that tiny usb drives are cleverly disguised as pens. Now remember that contrary to public opinion, secure facilities are exempt from ADA, lawsuits, and damn near everything, by act of congress. You dont like it? Go ahead and TRY to sue. You cannot sue the Fed. By law. You demand accomodation from the employer ( ie, TRW, Northrupp, blah blah) you will find that your “accommodation” is either pushing a parts cart until you decide to quit, or getting terminated because YOU did not read the fine print. Someone mentioned Unions? What century are you living in?
Unions have been busted and engineers/scientists with clearances have never been unionized.
SCIF fascilities are a whole nother world. After several “former chinese nationals” were arrested and convicted of spying in “secured fascilities” suddenyl things changed. And now we have chinese and Russian hackers and Putin playing Stalin….
With the new level of spying, cybercrime, and cyberwarfare we are getting to the point where one will have to go thru a locker room, change into fresh issue coveralls and slippers, and walk thru a detector.
The “accomodation” as previously suggested will be to get a set of approved devices that never leave the secure area.
If you dont like it, find a different job.
People have to understand- Nobody has a “right” to a job in a secured fascility and if you read the papers you sign you will discover that it is an “at will” situation: you can be let go for any reason or no reason.
So, work with the top dogs in security. Be nice, their job sucks. Help them out. They have to tell people that workers using fitbit are risks
Because fitbit has been used to track “sensitive individuals” and target them for kidnap or assisination. Yes really. We had a scientist kidnapped on the front range years ago, but they got him back.
Get a set of aids they can live with even if its the old earplug and cigaret box! Shoot I have a set of cheap $40 BTE digital amplifiers from Wally World that work adequately as a backup set! I am quite sure that something like that would work and make security happy, and can easily be left in the fascility.
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Wonderful explanation. Thanks.
I thought I’d look into this a bit more given I am facing the same situation. I’m not in the US, but I believe the OP is.
So these facilities are called Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) in the US.
The previous [Director of Central Intelligence Directives] DCID 6/9 Manual, ‘Physical Security Standards for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities’, effective 18 November 2002 stated:
2.8.2. The prohibition against electronic equipment in SCIFs does not apply to those needed by the disabled or for medical or health reasons (e.g. motorized wheelchairs, hearing aids, heart pacemakers, amplified telephone headsets, teletypewriters for the hearing impaired). However, the SSO or CSSO shall establish procedures for notification that such equipment is being entered in to the SCIF.
https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/dcid6-9.htm
However, this was replaced by the [Intelligence Community Directive / Intelligence Community Standard] ICD/ICS 705 in 2010. The technical specification under this is ‘Technical Specifications for Construction and Management of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities’ (IC Tech Spec). Version 1.5.1 of 26 July 2021 of the IC Tech Spec does not specifically refer to hearing aids, but under Approved Use of Portable Electronic Devices with Recording Capabilities and Embedded Technologies (PEDs/RCET), it states (page 79):
- Medical devices. Approval for medical devices will comply with all applicable laws and oversight policies, including the Rehabilitation Act, and the latest [Intelligence Community] medical device approval process. As a minimum, the medical device must be reviewed to determine any technical security issues introduced by the device. Based on the security/technical review, medical devices may be approved by the [Accrediting Official] for introduction and use within a SCIF.
The document also discusses other PEDs can be approved on a risk assessment and mitigation basis.
So I agree it is worth it to discuss the issues with the security team. I certainly need to …
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There are work arounds that the agencies use, as we’ve said earlier in the thread. And a SCIF is just one scenario. For instance several facilities do not allow Bluetooth ANYWHERE on the compound.
I will point out the obvious. A rechargeable device, that in itself is a microphone that picks up anything and everything around it (even at great distance), that is then worn on a person working in a secure environment, and taken to someplace once per day to be put on a charger (for rechargeable aids), which is a larger piece of gear and connected to the AC power lines. This is an ideal situation for an adversary. Having the device just record into memory the audio, then when placed into a charger it transmits that audio to the listening post, all to be done again the next day or next shift… it is a dream come true!
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My son works at NASA in Cape Canaveral and zero devices allowed. They sometimes work in oxygen rich atmospheres and one tiny electronic pulse and…BOOM
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Greetings my Dear Voltaire!
Thanks for the doc link. Covers about everything.
Sooooo … Secure faciltiy in Oz?
Might it be Alice Springs? ( i had a prior job with that global team)
Or ADF ? ( Oz Defense Forces) ( had another prior job with contatcs there…)
Or “cant say” ….
Good luck in any case.
I for one am glad to be out of it, but do miss the commaraderie (sp)
CIC have Bluetooth ONLY for Settings like my Signia Silk 7’s which have BT only to adjust volumn.
Glad to see this. Of course, I retired seven years ago and have no desire to be anywhere near a SCIF again.
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