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WASHINGTON — Last year, the Pentagon made it clear that it would focus more on and invest in emerging technologies, namely artificial intelligence and machine learning, heading into the future. This year, that became clear with military services assessing how advanced tech could best be utilized and the Pentagon’s innovation hub taking a more visible role across the department.
At the same time, the Pentagon is trying to address its cyber workforce shortfalls, particularly when it comes to retaining talent, through a new workforce strategy and implementation plan.
[This article is one of many in a series in which Breaking Defense reporters look back on the most significant (and entertaining) news stories of 2023 and look forward to what 2024 may hold.]
1. Under DIU ‘3.0,’ innovation hub looks to take on more embedded role throughout DoD
In April, Doug Beck took over leadership of the Defense Innovation Unit and said it was at a “tipping point” heading into its next phase where it would focus less on proving new tech and more on scaling it for broad military use. Along with DIU’s elevation to reporting directly to the secretary of defense and having a key role in the new Replicator initiative, the innovation hub is clearly getting ready to take on a more visible role across DoD. In an interview with Breaking Defense, Beck laid out how this “pretty significant shift” will impact DIU moving forward.
2. Simplifying and streamlining: How the Army’s new network boss aims to modernize
Mark Kitz, the Army’s network modernization hub leader, told Breaking Defense how he was thinking of diversifying the service’s investments to deliver a more flexible infrastructure to units while, at the same time, figuring out how to best leverage emerging technologies for future operations. In this story, Kitz, who is responsible for the massive task of modernizing the Army’s tactical and enterprise network, identified some goals and objectives he hoped to accomplish in his new role.
3. Zero Trust is the Pentagon’s new cyber buzzword. It might not have stopped the Discord leaks.
Hundreds of “sensitive and highly classified” national security documents the government says were leaked online in March prompted an internal review in the Pentagon. The leak came as DoD publicly started pursuing zero trust — a security standard that continuously authenticates a user’s access to an organization’s network.
DoD leaders have been vocal about the need to implement a zero trust architecture and have outlined an ambitious timeline of implementing a baseline level of zero trust across the department by FY27. Defense officials told Breaking Defense why implementing zero trust standards was important, but experts noted that zero trust alone likely wouldn’t have stopped the alleged leaks.
4. JWCC, zero trust, user experience & a new cyber talent strategy: DoD CIO sets FY23 priorities
Defense Department Chief Information Officer John Sherman set the tone early in the year in an interview with Breaking Defense where he revealed what his office would be focusing on in the year ahead. That included planning to award the first task order under its Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability and release new guidance for how DoD will get the best value for its dollar with the contract vehicle.
5. How DoD is thinking ‘outside the box’ to solve its cyber workforce challenges
Among Sherman’s many fiscal 2023 priorities was recruiting and retaining top-level cyber talent, with the latter being an area of weakness for DoD. In March, DoD finally released that strategy followed by an implementation plan, taking direct aim at the problem. In an interview, Mark Gorak, principal director for resources and analysis in the DoD CIO office, told Breaking Defense how the Pentagon was beginning to think outside the box to solve its challenges, namely working towards a much needed cultural shift that adopts some of the ideas of the commercial sector that competes with DoD for talent.
