SCIF Weather

At Boeing, my office is in a thing called a SCIF, pronounced “skiff.” This is short for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.

Basically, these are closed rooms with tight physical security, acoustic protection, strict access controls, and electronic defenses. No cell phones or anything of that sort are allowed.

Because these rooms are basically sealed boxes, our AC systems have to run full tilt all the time. They have to be able to handle sudden heat loads if 100 people suddenly show up for a meeting, while also exhausting all the humidity so the place doesn’t become a giant petri dish.

So we have this thing called “SCIF weather.”

It’s cold in there. Like, never more than 65 degrees. It might be 100 degrees and super humid outside here in St. Louis, but I’m going to work with a coat and keep an extra one in there just in case I need another layer.

Most of our desks have these under-desk infrared aluminum panel heaters. They’re pretty interesting: only 170 watts, and instead of heating the air, they heat you. They do a pretty good job.

I found out we get them from industrial supplier McMaster-Carr, so I ordered a few for my home office.

Ada approves of the one I put by her bed in my office.