A classified network is only as secure as the cable runs between secure rooms. RBtec alarmed carrier PDS protects SIPRNet and other classified circuits between SCIFs and connected buildings, in line with CNSSI 7003 and without concrete encasement.
Not inside the SCIF, and not inside the server room. The exposure is the path between them: the run that leaves a Controlled Access Area and crosses ordinary corridors, ceiling voids and riser closets, uncontrolled areas that everyone in the building can reach. The same problem repeats at campus scale when two buildings are directly connected and the fiber between them crosses open ground. These uncontrolled segments are exactly what a Protected Distribution System exists to secure: protection of SIPRNet and other classified circuits at the physical layer, where no firewall can see the attack.
CNSSI 7003 governs Protected Distribution Systems for national security systems and recognizes two approaches. A hardened carrier encases the run in sealed conduit and pairs it with recurring visual inspections. An alarmed carrier replaces the concrete and the walkdowns with continuous monitoring: the carrier itself is supervised, and an attempt to open or disturb it raises an alarm as it starts. The PDS design is documented and approved by the Authorizing Official responsible for the circuits, and the alarmed approach is recognized in CNSSI 7003 as an accepted alternative to the hardened carrier.
The route is surveyed, the carrier is installed along it, and the monitoring is commissioned and documented against CNSSI 7003 for the Authorizing Official’s approval package. From that point the protection is continuous: no daily inspection rounds, no re pouring concrete when the route changes, and any tamper attempt is alarmed while it is happening rather than discovered on a walkdown.
Government agencies and military installations running classified circuits, cleared defense contractors operating SCIFs under facility clearance requirements, and organizations of any kind that link two buildings and want the connection between them protected physically, not just logically.
ShortPDS inside the building, SCIF to IT room or SCIF to SCIF.
FiberPDS between two directly connected buildings.
Alarmed carrier PDS instead of daily conduit inspections.
Continuous monitoring in line with CNSSI 7003.
A recognized alternative to concrete encased conduit.No daily visual inspection walkdowns.Tampering alarmed as it starts, at the physical layer.Documentation prepared for the Authorizing Official.We’re here to help. Whether it’s a quick question or something more complex: no pressure, just answers.
A PDS is the physical protection applied to SIPRNet and other classified circuits where they run outside a Controlled Access Area, such as between a SCIF and the IT room. CNSSI 7003 defines the two accepted approaches: hardened carrier and alarmed carrier.
A hardened carrier encases the run in sealed, inspected conduit. An alarmed carrier continuously monitors the carrier instead, so tampering raises an alarm in real time. The alarmed approach removes the concrete encasement and the recurring visual inspections.
Wherever a classified circuit leaves controlled space: from a SCIF to the IT or comms room, between SCIFs, between floors, or between directly connected buildings. The Authorizing Official for the network determines the required protection on each segment.
Yes. FiberPDS protects the fiber between two directly connected locations, such as two office buildings on one campus, so the inter building link is secured at the physical layer as well as the network layer.
No. Continuous monitoring replaces the visual inspection regime of a hardened carrier. That is the main operational advantage: the protection is always on, and nobody walks the route with a flashlight.
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