DISA unveils new cloud environment to speed delivery of services to forces
The new cloud environment consists of three on ramps: classic, private and commercial.
The new cloud environment consists of three on ramps: classic, private and commercial.
“How do I do the same level of effort that I was applying before, but without those people in place?” Jeff Marshall, director of DISA's J9 asked. “The clear answer is automation and AI and machine [learning.]”
“Through this pilot collaboration with Oracle, we will harness advanced cloud and AI technologies to digitalise and transform our operations," Chief Executive of Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency Ng Chad-Son said.
Taking over for Task Force Lima, the new AI Rapid Capabilities Cell (AIRCC, or “arc”) will test cutting-edge Large Language Models and other GenAI tools for everything from war planning to cybersecurity.
Lt. Col. John Hall, DISA's point man on the Pentagon's massive cloud project, told Breaking Defense that having all four cloud providers at Impact Level-6 helps prevent vendor lock and keeps the companies "honest."
“We still buy IT as if it was a weapon system," John Hale, chief of cloud services at DISA, said, adding that he sometimes felt he's "banged [his] head against the wall."
Wiz's focus on cloud security means it would likely play a part in the DoD’s JWCC Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability initiative.
Project Enigma is a program designed to create a single-cloud digital environment where industry, academia and the DoD can work together on a shared network.
The service branches aren't mandated to use the up-to $9 billion services, but the Army and Navy are getting into the game with some secret-level and wargaming-related programs, according to service documents provided to Breaking Defense.
This year Breaking Defense heard straight from some top network and tech officials in the Pentagon about their ambitious plans.
Sherman said that there is no timeframe for when the department will release a request for information for JWCC 2.0 or when the effort will roll out next year, but added that DoD was “firmly committed to multi-cloud, multi-vendor, and this is what we’re going to be doing going forward.”
DISA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner also provided an update on the Pentagon's sprawling cloud effort, saying 13 task orders have gone out, totaling some $200 million.
A recently released memo encourages for all OSD components and "defense agencies and field activities" to use JWCC "for all available offerings to procure future enterprise cloud computing capabilities and services."
Updating policy related to identity, credentialing and access management, or ICAM, will be a key step when integrating partners into CJADC2, according to a DISA official.