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The Pentagon’s top technical officials today provided Congress with an update on the steps the Department of Defense is taking to ensure the warfighter maintains an information and technology edge into the future.
DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman, DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell, and Defense Information Systems Agency Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner emphasized that the Department of Defense is focused on providing The joint force provides the information and tools needed to meet current and emerging warfighting requirements.
“It is more important than ever that we provide secure, resilient software to DoD personnel wherever and whenever they need it,” Sherman said in testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technology and Innovation.
“We recognize the urgency of this issue and are working hard to ensure we are successful,” he said.
Sherman said cyber threats continue to emerge, as seen in Asia and Europe, and cyber protection of DoD and defense industry networks is critical.
He said the Department of Defense remained “highly focused” on implementing a zero-trust cybersecurity framework to combat the threat.
Once implemented, the Zero Trust Framework will enable DoD to move beyond traditional cybersecurity approaches with capabilities designed to reduce cyberattacks, enable risk management and information sharing, and quickly contain and remediate adversary activities.
Sherman said the department is also making progress on information technology modernization initiatives focused on cloud computing and software.
“When I testified last year, the department was just beginning its enterprise cloud journey, and I’m pleased to report significant and successful progress,” he said.
He said the Defense Information Services Agency (DISA) has awarded more than 47 task orders consistent with the department’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract, with 50 more in the pipeline.
“We also issued DoD guidance to simplify cloud contracting and reduce contract creep across the department,” Sherman said.
The JWCC contract was awarded in 2022 to ensure warfighters have access to the Department of Defense’s cloud infrastructure around the world.
Skinner noted that in addition to the developments highlighted by Sherman, DISA has deployed initial overseas cloud capabilities in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
DISA also recently piloted a program to deploy hybrid cloud capabilities to remote locations around the world, he said.
“[I]It is critical that we ensure DoD personnel have secure and resilient software wherever they are,” Skinner said.
Martell said the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) is accelerating the adoption of data analytics and artificial intelligence across the department “so that DoD can make better decisions faster, from the boardroom to the battlefield.”
In recent months, CDAO has taken significant steps to realize this vision.
In November, the Department of Defense released a strategy to accelerate the adoption of advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to ensure that U.S. warfighters maintain decision-making advantage on the battlefield for years to come.
The strategy specifies an agile approach to AI development and application, emphasizing speed of delivery and adoption at scale.
The blueprint also trains the department to focus on multiple data, analytics and artificial intelligence-related goals, from improving underlying data management within the department to investing in interoperable infrastructure.
Taken together, these goals will support the “DoD Hierarchy of Artificial Intelligence Needs,” which the AI Adoption Strategy defines as quality data, governance, insightful analytics and metrics, assurance, and accountable AI.
“This hierarchy of needs, combined with our agile approach, is how we drive sustainable change through a virtuous cycle,” Martell said.
He said this approach has been successful when applied to the development of the Department of Defense’s joint global command and control (CJADC2) capability.
CJADC2 is the department’s approach to developing physical and non-physical solutions to provide commanders with information and decision-making advantages.
The department’s goal is to apply the CJADC2 approach to all warfighting domains to give warfighters an advantage in deterring and, if necessary, defeating adversaries anywhere in the world.
Last month, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced that the Department of Defense had delivered the initial version of CJADC2, noting that CDAO played a key role in crossing the finish line.
Martell said in testimony that the success is the result of a close alignment of developers and warfighters and the rapid iteration of solutions.
“We achieve our goals through learning by doing, rapid delivery and rapid iteration, working side by side with warriors and…developers,” he said.
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