Despite plans to institute a bring-your-own-device pilot program at the Defense Department this summer, that project has been put on the back burner as attention has shifted to other priorities, including the installation of wifi throughout the Pentagon.
“I thought I would have a larger BYOD pilot started by now,” Terry Halvorsen, DoD CIO, said July 9 at the DoD CIO Mobility Industry Day in Washington, D.C. “I don’t, and it’s my fault. I’m late, but a few other things happened that took our attention away from that.”
Halvorsen said he remains committed to implementing BYOD in some form at DoD, but he didn’t give a timeline and he admitted its reach may not be as broad as some may hope.
“I do not think it’ll be a majority of our operations just because of the complexities of trying to manage that and keeping it secure enough,” he said.
Widespread security is a key issue in another top Pentagon IT effort, installing wifi throughout the massive facility.
“I think Wi-Fi is our big growth for the Department in terms of being able to move data,” Halvorsen said, added that the project is on track to be completed in January.
It’s taking awhile, though, because DoD officials are installing a wireless intrusion detection system to accompany and secure the Wi-Fi.
“It’s kind of breaking lots of rules and traditions…a lot of the Pentagon is a [sensitive compartmented information facility]. My office is a SCIF. But at least 50 percent of the time I’m not doing anything” that requires such a high-security space, Halvorsen said. “People coming to visit me ought to be able to come in and use their devices to help us have dialog. I would like to be able to use my devices in my office. But we have to ensure some things, so we are putting heavily into the WIDS.”
