U.S. Air Force selects BAE Systems, a global leader in electronic warfare, for Mercury project which implies developing of new comprehensive Top Secret and security standard operating procedures.

The Department of Defense announced on Friday an agreement worth about for $10 million for the Mercury program, a Top Secret and Special Compartmented Information Special Access Program.

According to the current information, the Mercury Program covers classified activities within special access program facilities and sensitive compartmented information facilities.

The goal of the Mercury Program is to develop methods for continuous, automated analysis of security protocols that provide highly classified information with safeguards and access restrictions that exceed those for regular (collateral) classified information with includes Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility or SCIF.

The SCIF is is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) types of classified information.

SCIFs can be either permanent or temporary and can be set up in official government buildings (such as the Situation Room in the White House), on board ships, in private residences of officials, or in hotel rooms and other places of necessity for officials when traveling. Portable SCIFs can also be quickly set up when needed during emergency situations.