{"id":28482,"date":"2021-02-19T16:36:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T16:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/19\/host-of-challenges-await-next-pentagon-cio\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:19:09","slug":"host-of-challenges-await-next-pentagon-cio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2021\/02\/19\/host-of-challenges-await-next-pentagon-cio\/","title":{"rendered":"Host of challenges await next Pentagon CIO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list of IT issues awaiting the U.S. Defense Department\u2019s next chief information officer is filled with pressing concerns to harness the power of emerging technologies and defend the military against those capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On that list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reevaluate the department\u2019s cybersecurity approach, which has come under question after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/cyber\/2020\/12\/17\/its-going-to-take-a-lot-of-digging-the-pentagons-long-search-to-see-if-anyones-hiding-in-its-networks\/\" target=_blank>major federal government hack<\/a>.<\/li><li>Potentially decide whether to take a new tact with cloud services for the DoD, if a plan for an enterprise-wide cloud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks\/2021\/01\/29\/pentagon-could-reassess-future-of-jedi-cloud-depending-on-court-action\/\" target=_blank>doesn\u2019t survive a court challenge<\/a>.<\/li><li>Change how employees think about data, securing acceptance for stricter controls to keep it safe and the pushing them to view it as a strategic resource.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those all tie back to a 2019 digital modernization strategy outlining how the Pentagon will optimize its IT environment for future wars. Implementation must be the priority for the CIO that President Joe Biden will choose, or the DoD risks being unprepared for fights against near-peer adversaries, experts told C4ISRNET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat strategy \u2026 needs to be our North Star because I know we got it right, in terms of the areas we laid out. But we must get to the nitty gritty of implementation and get it right,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/it-networks\/2021\/01\/20\/pentagon-announces-new-acting-cio-as-deasy-departs\/\" target=_blank>acting CIO John Sherman<\/a>, who served three years as intelligence community CIO before jumping last summer to Pentagon deputy CIO.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/newsletters\/daily-brief\/2021\/02\/16\/pentagon-acting-cio-pushes-on-with-cybersecurity-software-development\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-sherman.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon acting CIO pushes on with cybersecurity, software development<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Cloud, zero trust, remote work: Acting CIO outlines priorities for his tenure as the Pentagon&#039;s top IT official.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the strategy, the department would save money it could reinvest in emerging capabilities to make war fighters more effective. Still, the CIO \u2014 the defense secretary\u2019s senior adviser on IT issues \u2014 must ensure the Pentagon stays flexible while enacting the plan, Sherman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe must capitalize on opportunities as they arise or make shifts where they\u2019re necessary,\u201d he said in an interview with C4ISRNET. \u201cIf we find a better way to do something, or we tried something that didn\u2019t quite work as we thought, being ready to pivot and call that audible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next CIO, who must win Senate confirmation, needs to shift the organization\u2019s culture to embrace more advanced cybersecurity and software development practices, Sherman added. A top challenge \u201cis keeping the enterprise in sync,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DoD is \u201ca very large enterprise with our colleague CIOs in the services and working with the combatant commands and all the DoD agencies in sync on areas like cybersecurity standards, on things like basic architecture, and our left and right limits on how we\u2019re going to do things like Office 365. And how we\u2019re going to do things like software development, but also still enabling agile execution of a broad plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While an updated National Defense Strategy is expected under the new administration, Sherman said not to expect a completely new digital modernization strategy, but a few intermittent updates to some areas, such as software modernization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One outstanding question for the CIO is what the cloud computing environment should look like. For more than three years, the department has struggled to procure an enterprise-wide cloud environment. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, a single-vendor contract potentially worth $10 billion, is delayed by court cases and political controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sentiment may be turning against JEDI, according to a DoD memo to Congress that said the department will reassess the project\u2019s future if a court rules against the Pentagon in an upcoming procedural motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCloud is going to remain a priority. Although I think what we\u2019re going to see is instead of focusing on large cloud acquisitions, we\u2019re going to see the department focus on how it\u2019s actually going to best leverage the cloud \u2026 for cost savings, increased cybersecurity and increased efficiency,\u201d said David Mihelcic, former chief technology officer at the Defense information Systems Agency and a consultant at technology market insights firm DMMI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DoD has long maintained that an enterprise cloud environment is vital for data storage and artificial intelligence development. The department has come to view data as a strategic asset, releasing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/it-networks\/2020\/10\/08\/how-the-pentagons-data-strategy-enables-joint-all-domain-operations\/\" target=_blank>data strategy<\/a> and hiring a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/it-networks\/2020\/06\/19\/pentagon-names-new-chief-data-officer\/\" target=_blank>chief data officer this year<\/a>. The CDO position is just seven months old and critically important to setting data governance policies, particularly as the services move toward joint war fighting and rely more on shared battlefield data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven the importance of data to key department initiatives (such as JADC2), priority should be placed on advancing the CDO build out,\u201d said Blake Moore, former chief of staff to Dana Deasy, the last Pentagon CIO, and vice president of strategy and operations for Wickr, a secure collaboration platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That valuable data needs adequate protection. The CIO will face a cybersecurity crisis after hackers, suspected to be Russian, compromised a major IT contractor\u2019s platform to infiltrate \u201cfewer than 10\u201d U.S. government agencies, according to government officials\u2019 count. The Pentagon has not stated that it was compromised, though a Cyber Command spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/cyber\/2021\/01\/29\/hand-to-hand-combat-on-computer-networks-how-cyber-threat-hunters-work\/\" target=_blank>recently told C4ISRNET<\/a> that \u201cparts of our software supply chain source have disclosed a vulnerability within their systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The future of DoD cybersecurity is a zero-trust architecture, requiring users to constantly verify their identities for access, Sherman and outside experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Changing cybersecurity practices is \u201cgoing to be incredibly difficult,\u201d Mihelcic said. \u201cThis is going to have to be an ongoing conversation about how you use only commercial vendors who you believe have a high level of cyber hygiene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next CIO must address basic cyber hygiene for suppliers, increase visibility into their networks, and promote sharing between components and industry on cyber protections, said Vimesh Patel, former IT official at the National Counterterrorism Center and chief technology adviser for World Wide Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To accomplish those tasks, the department needs common IT tools, platforms and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow can we create efficiencies by doing these things that we have in common and then doing them better?\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CIO will inherit a department plagued by sustaining decades-old IT systems that burn through cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest network reform underway is consolidating networks of the fourth estate agencies that don\u2019t fit squarely underneath the military services. It\u2019s part of an effort under previous defense secretaries to use savings from modernization for shipbuilding or technologies to fight China and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe DoD is going to need to look for other consolidation initiatives that can help them save costs,\u201d Mihelcic said. \u201cThey can reinvest those savings into mission IT \u2014 things that help the DoD be more lethal against their adversaries \u2014 as well as cybersecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new CIO will take the reins as the department wrestles with the future of cybersecurity and its cloud environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,19,30,131],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3340],"class_list":["post-28482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-smr","category-transition"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PTDSI5IR6RC7JHFYDKKRBZKITQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks\/2021\/02\/19\/host-of-challenges-await-next-pentagon-cio\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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