Adversaries do not delineate between the public and private sectors when attacking networks and systems. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who leads Cyber Command and the National Security Agency in a dual-hat role, told GovCIO Media & Research that defending the defense industrial base is increasingly important to a holistic cybersecurity strategy. 

“[The defense industrial base is] a critical extension of the department in everything that we do,” Haugh said. “From our standpoint, one of the critical roles that we play, in partnership with the DOD CIO, is the defense of the defense industrial base.” 

DOD is implementing zero trust throughout the department and progressing steadily, according to Randy Resnick, senior advisor of the DOD Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office. He spoke to GovCIO Media & Research about zero trust and how it fits into DOD cybersecurity policy. 

“View zero trust as just another evolution of cybersecurity, not necessarily a new thing,” Resnick said. “That’s why I’m calling it not necessarily change, but transformation … it’s inevitable.”

Government and military operations require holistic control for uniform configurations and policies, which include software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) architectures. According to Sachin Patel, vice president of government services strategy and operations at Comcast Business, industry can fulfill the need for SD-WAN adoption in government while complying with regulatory needs throughout agencies. 

“[SD-WAN is], at this point, a tried-and-true technology,” Patel said. “The industry has been using it for a very long time, and we’re right at the cusp of the government starting to begin that transition into SD-WAN now.” 

The military must prioritize interoperability across services. Organizations like the Air Force can prioritize SD-WAN adoption for better communication and interoperability, noted Bill Lemons, director of solutions architecture and system engineering at Fortinet Federal. 

“When you talk about all of the different carrier types and the service-level agreements, each one of those different carriers provides the attributes of that transport mechanism itself. And they all vary,” Lemons said. “It’s very important to make sure that there’s alignment between those various transports and the needs of the applications and users. Having that kind of flexibility within an SD-WAN solution truly enhances that overall experience.” 

The Pentagon released its new Fulcrum strategy to improve its communications, command and control and prepare the military for future operations in cyberspace. It coalesces existing efforts into a unified approach. 

“The concept behind Fulcrum is it really provides the nexus of where we have all these department strategies that you’re talking about, which brings it to action,” DOD Deputy Customer Experience Officer Robert Franzen told GovCIO Media & Research. “It bridges the gap between those strategies, technology and realizing the national defense strategy.”

Conventional security measures are not adequate for modern cybersecurity challenges. This requires strong collaboration across the industry to foster cyber talent. 

“What we’re looking at is make sure we’re building that next generation of actual cyberspace operators that grew up in the mindset of, ‘Hey, this is a battle domain,’ that we can grab them from academia, or grab them from the service members of the military, to have that mindset and understanding and work with us,” said Joint Force Headquarters – Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN) Executive Director Dell Foster.

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