Safeguarding National Secrets

One of the most enduring secrets in the United States is having its security revamped to ensure continued secrecy for the decades to come. I'm not talking about the secrets of Area 51 or the launch codes to our nuclear aresenal but the recipe to Colonel Sanders fried chicken recipe which is the hallmark by which their chain has been identified for more than sixty years. At the headquarters for Kentucky Fried Chicken (now known as KFC), the recipe handwritten on a yellowed sheet of paper along with vials of the 11 secret herbs and spices has been resting comfortably in a filing cabinet for many years now but that will soon change.

According to executives at KFC, no more than two executives at one time have access to the recipe locker and even then, though they can open the vault, they must go through a rigorous screening and admissions process which will give security enough time to ensure that the recipes are not being viewed for any false purposes. Stored in a filing cabinet with two combination locks as well as a series of three padlocks, the recipe has rested safely for decades but now, in order to preserve the actual sheet of paper on which the recipe was written, the company is bumping up the security. Already they are taking on methods that would make Batman proud in how they get their suppliers to provide them with the herb and spices mix necessary to spice up their chicken batter.

Instead of relying on one supplier for the whole mix, they get a variety of mixes from different sources in order to mix them at their central factories with the exact proportions and ratios coming together in the end. By doing so they ensure that should anyone discover one of their supply centers, they will not have access to the exact recipe. Although many have claimed success on occasion or have found recipes close to the actual recipe, no one outside of the KFC company has had as much success with the chicken flavor that has defined the company for so long. I find it funny though that such precautions are being taken to safeguard a food recipe given that at times, these precautions seem to surpass the precautions being taken to safeguard our national security.

When you read about how government laptops are inadvertently taken from unsuspecting victims replete with the private information of sometimes thousands of people, you wonder how it is that a chicken recipe has managed to stay secret for so many years. Perhaps the priorities are out of whack in some cases. Maybe people care more about their fried chicken tasting good than they are if the Average Joe has his identity stolen. I guess maybe identities can be found again but chicken recipes will never be the same if the secret is let out of the bag. I suppose its commendable that the company has managed to keep a lid on their secret for so long and I'm sure they'll continue to do so for many more years to come but perhaps some of the corporations or companies out there that have lost lots of data to identity theives could take a page from a fast food company in terms of how to safeguard important and sensitive information.