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64 SMT Magazine • September 2014 by todd Kramer SeCure CoMPonenTS InC. KrAmer ON COmpONeNtS ColuMn U.S. military tools to prevent Counterfeit electronics By now, it should come as no surprise to those who are involved in electronics procurement that the industry is facing an epidemic of coun- terfeit parts. In order to stem the tide of fake elec- tronics, both private and military supply chains are taking action through the implementation of new authentication and testing programs. To reiterate the severity of this issue, I point to a case that made headlines because it exposed an area with the potential to impact U.S. nu- clear submarines. Massachusetts resident Peter Picone was charged recently convicted of im- porting counterfeit semiconductors and then selling them to customers throughout the Unit- ed States. Many of these parts were intended for use on U.S. nuclear submarines. This is but one of many reports on counterfeit components en- tering our military's supply chain, and it comes at a very important time. The announcement of Picone's guilty plea comes nearly one month after the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Case 2012-D055 was finalized. This final rule will have a huge impact on prime contractors and will ultimately flow down to any supplier doing business that involve parts which end up in the hands of the govern- ment. Had these requirements been in place from 2007–2012, it is highly unlikely that Pi- cone's organization could have committed the fraud and deceit that it did. This ruling provides a much needed frame- work for how prime defense contractors should go about mitigating their exposure to counter- feit components. The Department of Defense has also recently officially adopted the AS6081 Counterfeit Avoidance Standard for distribu- tors. AS6081 is an internationally accredited standard developed by SAE International. It is the result of the aerospace and defense indus- tries uniting to both provide a solution to the problem of counterfeiting and to prevent ad- ditional counterfeit components from entering the military supply chain. figure 1: The Defense logistics Agency requires the use of signature DnA technology.