DODIN Strategy Aims to Outpace Cyber Threats

Ten years after its establishment, the Joint Force Headquarters–Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN) is focusing its cybersecurity strategy to address evolving technologies and threats.

“We see ourselves at an inflection point. The fact that we are 10 years in gives us an opportunity to put a mark in the sand and say, ‘we are ready now to downshift and accelerate into the operations of the future,’” Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton, commander of JFHQ-DODIN and director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, said during a media roundtable Monday in Fort Meade, Maryland.

While JFHQ-DODIN has not publicly released its new “How We Prevail” strategy, it builds on previous strategic plans, and, according to Stanton, will “unlock the potential” of the 250,000 to 300,000 personnel operating within and throughout the network.

“It gives us the ability to operate at speed and scale, because we’re unlocking the totality of the force that can operate with our authorities,” said Stanton. “We’re unlocking the potential of all of that force, that’s huge, and so as such, we have to look at the DOTMLPF-P (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy) implications of changing how we fight.”

Stanton noted that JFHQ-DODIN’s modernization means that DOD is embracing a more proactive cybersecurity strategy that involves identifying and continuously prioritizing critical assets and potential threats.

“We are all exhausted by the Whac-A-Mole response nature of cyber defense,” said Stanton.”How do we … prioritize and focus on what’s important and then effectively defend so our defense can actually make contact with our enemies before they achieve results?”

The command, according to Stanton, is committed to maintaining a state of continuous modernization to keep up with evolving threats and technologies.

“We can’t just attempt to keep pace [with cyber adversaries],” Stanton said at the JFHQ-DODIN 10th Birthday Celebration on Wednesday. “We must outpace.”

Since its beginning, JFHQ-DODIN has prioritized defense where the enemy’s actions can impact the mission, Stanton said, making it difficult for adversaries to achieve their objectives.

“[On goal is] to impose costs on our adversaries,” he said. “[It is] an indirect imposition of cost if they have to spend months or years, or even decide that that objective is not worth their time or energy, because they’re simply not going to gain access to it. Then we [can] start shifting that cost curve.”

Cyber has context, Stanton emphasized. He noted that September’s DODIN Command Operational Framework  execution order empowers commanders and directors to tale responsibility for cyber defenses.

“It’s important to have leader engagement and involvement,” said Stanton. “What this does is [that] it transitions the DODIN’s responsibilities from attempting to independently manage 3.5 million endpoints to fighting in with and through DODIN areas of operations.”

Data is critical, he added. Stanton said that better data analysis is a goal of the strategic plan and a goal of the DOD.

“Our immediate focus is to use data more effectively than we have historically,” said Stanton.”It is a hard look at what data we’re collecting and why … Let’s collect the data that is relevant to answering hard analytic questions that are mission-focused and threat-driven. Let’s apply the resources to ensure that we are aggregating and correlating that data effectively to garner new insights at speed in order to focus and shape how we publish a cyber tasking order.”

Stanton added that modernization requires system and cultural changes, including adjusting how staff trains, how it uses technology and how it leverages partnerships.

“We have to be trained and ready, so we have to think about what does it mean to be trained and ready?” said Stanton.”There’s an interesting future conversation about what we refer to as areas of interest and areas of influence … How do we partner effectively with other governmental organizations, with industry partners?”

Industry plays a role in adoption of emerging technology at JFHQ-DODIN, Stanton said, and partnerships can enhance defensive cyber operations and improve technology’s function.

“In my last tally, we have nine different industry partners that are incorporating artificial intelligence into the solutions that we are purchasing from them in the defense of the DODIN,” said Stanton. “We have a degree of maturity in our employment of artificial intelligence as we look through the lens of our industry partners … We have a number of automated solutions that are already built into our defense, and I think that we can improve, and need to focus on improving, our automation.”

On the 10-year anniversary of JFHQ-DODIN’s establishment, Stanton expressed excitement about the future and discussed the opportunities to enhance defensive cyber operations through effective strategy, technology and collaboration.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we have an incredibly talented team of military civilians and contracted support that understand our mission space and are prepared to drive us into the future,” said Stanton.