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The Naval Surface Warfare Center at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico has—literally—tons of IT hardware and equipment used for classified programs that need to be destroyed by the most secure and irreversible means.
While White Sands Missile Range is an Army facility, NAVSEA researchers have a detachment there working on "land-based weapons system testing, directed energy weapons testing"—lasers—"and research rocket launch support," according to their webpage. Those researchers have on hand some 4,000 pounds of IT equipment, including magnetic, optical and solid-state storage devices with highly sensitive, classified data.
The center issued a solicitation for destruction services that specifically calls for all designated equipment to be burned "to ash."
The information stored on these devices is highly sensitive, as evidenced by the physical security requirements set forth in the solicitation. The incineration facility must have "at the minimum, secure entry, 24-hour armed guards and 24/7 camera surveillance with recordable date and time capabilities."
https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2019/02/navy-needs-2-tons-storage-devices-burned-ash/154629/
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:00PM (2 children)
One would seriously thing there was a simple solution like that to some people that work with lasers, missiles and rocket. I'm sure they have come chemist there that could cook up a good batch of thermite. Dig a suitable hole somewhere, toss drives in, apply termite. Hand out the smores and wait, ok they might become highly toxic smores but considering all the other horrible chemicals they probably deal with on day to day business one probably can't tell in the end.
The nozzle from a rocket should really be more then enough to turn a drive into sludge. I guess they don't want to use explosives tho since they can't be sure some little part of it is left intact and somehow the enemy spies might somehow piece that back together, no matter how far fetched that would be.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Sulla on Tuesday February 12 2019, @04:53PM
Probably regs about the burning of trash that they can't violate
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Tuesday February 12 2019, @05:52PM
The solution is simple -- seriously, even hard bricks and firewood can get a kiln to 2400 F, and with insulating firebricks/fiber and gas burners, you could easily achieve any metal's melting temp (aside from tungsten) in a modern furnace or kiln: https://www.onlinemetals.com/meltpt.cfm [onlinemetals.com]