SCIF Envy

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From Bruce Paquin, owner of a construction business in Washington DC, on the U.S. national security establishment:

In D.C., everyone talks SCIF, SCIF, SCIF. They’ve got the penis envy thing going. You can’t be a big boy unless you’re a three-letter agency and you have a big SCIF.

This comes from “Top Secret America,” a series in the Washington Post by Dana Priest and Bill Arkin. SCIF stands for sensitive compartmented information facility, a special room “encased in metal or permanent dry wall, impenetrable to eavesdropping tools and protected by alarms and a security force capable of responding within 15 minutes.” It’s where you go if you’re important enough to be allowed to read top secret information.