Defense Department (DoD) officials voiced sometimes conflicting ideas today about how the agency should migrate legacy systems to the cloud.
Gregory Garcia, deputy CIO of the Army, encouraged taking a more measured approach and powering through projects currently in place, while Dr. Jeff Boleng, Special Assistant for Software Acquisition at DoD, said he thought that faster processes should be developed.
“It can’t all be about efficiencies,” Garcia said during FCW’s Security Innovation in the Cloud workshop today, adding that only a small portion of Army legacy systems have been moved to the cloud so far. Migration to cloud infrastructure must take place where it makes the most sense, he said, and integration of cybersecurity, among other modernization goals, also are critical steps that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Dr. Boleng voiced a different approach to the issue of cloud migration within the DoD, arguing that speed enhances security, and that the agency should not limit itself to processes that are already in place, but should work to develop quicker ones.
Regarding DevSecOps, Dr. Boleng said securing high quality responsive software capability release is a top goal. Achieving that goal will allow programs to find a home in the cloud of their choice, enable authority to operate (ATO) reciprocity among the service branches, and empower mission owners to make informed risk decisions.
Kerry Long, program manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) organization that is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, spoke about the High CLaaS program, which is a new cloud program that works to measure isolation and how to provide isolation everywhere within the cloud.
