This week’s acronym is SCIF Published April 15, 2009 By Bob Fehringer U.S. Transportation Command Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- This week's acronym brings to mind balmy South Pacific island breezes, coconut palms, outrigger canoes and small boats known as skiffs floating in crystal-clear lagoons, as their occupants dive for pearls the size of bowling balls. Snap out of it. We're talking about acronyms, not vacations. Daydream on your own time, we're trying to educate readers here. Now, if we may continue. There is a major difference between the dingy-like seacraft skiff and what is known in USTRANSCOM and U. S. security and intelligence parlance, as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, not to be confused with the SCI-FI channel, or whatever they're calling it now. Taken straight from the pages of WIKIPEDIA, so you know it's got to be accurate, a SCIF is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process sensitive compartmented information level classified information. Some entire buildings are SCIFs where all but the front foyer is secure. Access to SCIFs is limited and all of the activity and conversation inside is presumed restricted from public disclosure. A SCIF can also be located in a mobile configuration and can be deployed using air, ground or maritime resources. So, there you have it, and now a bit of trivia. There are also musical ensembles called skiffle groups. Skiffle is a type of folk music with jazz, blues and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, kazoo, musical saw, as well as acoustic guitar and banjo. The Beatles evolved from a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. This column offers you so much for your money, during these tough economic times, don't you wish everything did?