Commander praises ‘team effort’ in network compliance inspection Published Oct. 12, 2009 By Carl Bergquist Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Maxwell Air Force Base scored well during an Enhanced Compliance Validation network inspection conducted by the Defense Information Systems Agency Sept. 28-Oct. 2. Col. Kris Beasley, 42nd Air Base Wing commander, said he was pleased with the outcome of the inspection because it validated the hard work by everyone on base, especially the 42nd Communications Flight, its ITT contractor team and the Air University A4/6 staff. "I attribute our success during the ECV to a change in culture, teamwork at every level of command, a shared sense of pride in network security, and a set of well defined executable, repeatable, and sustainable processes," he said. "Everyone across the base joined our team effort, and that made all the difference." Maj. Gerald Yap, 42nd CF commander, said the inspection went very well due to the processes his team put in place, and because inspectors were able to scan "almost all of our classified and unclassified networks for vulnerabilities." He said the Defense Information Systems Agency team was "very impressed" with what they saw at Maxwell. "The inspectors said our information assurance program was one of the best they had seen, and they could also see a sense of pride in the program from AU and base leadership down to the lowest level," he said. "But this was a team effort with help from every organization across the base, Air Education and Training Command, the Integrated Network Operations and Security Center-West and Scope Edge, an organization that comes in to do pre-ECV training." Anthony Dillard, deputy director for 42nd CF, said there were areas that would need attention, but the processes, policies and procedures that are in place now would ensure we sustain tight network security on a daily basis. "Network security is a top priority every day now. We'll work to mitigate the vulnerabilities identified by the inspection team, and then improve our processes to make our security even better," he said. Major Yap said leadership at 42nd CF was proud of the job flight members did for the inspection. "We had civilians, contractors and military members doing everything they needed to do to make sure the processes and equipment were ready for the inspection," he said. "They are also working hard to make sure those processes remain in place after the ECV."