Developing an Interoperable Coalition Communication Strategy using Suite B

Today, multinational and multidiscipline coalition teams are rapidly-formed to support a wide range of domestic and international military operations. As the number of coalition partners continues to grow so do the technical challenges associated with providing secure interoperable communications. There is a necessity for shared, realtime communications to facilitate coordination and cooperation among the partners in any joint operation. Communication suites vary significantly from nation to nation and there are large differences in the technology that each nation employs. This paper will focus on how the open Suite B cryptographic specifications / functions (encryption, digital signature, key exchange and hashing) may be used as the basis for communication interoperability in an unattended, non-Controlled Cryptographic Item (CCI) environment. A specific communication product may be reprogrammed with this set of Suite B cryptographic primitives to support coalition operations. This type of approach would avoid many of the security issues (e.g., handling, key management, etc) required today for high-grade ("Type 1") classified equipment and coalition interoperability.