MIT 14.8 - KMI Media Group

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing
C4ISR
Sustainer
Maj. Gen.
Randolph
Strong
Commanding General
Army CECOM Life Cycle
Management Command
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MERRIFIELD, VA
PERMIT # 620
Enterprise E-mail ✯ Networx ✯ Cyber-Readiness Inspections
www.MIT-kmi.com
C4
September 2010
Volume 14, Issue 8
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MILITARY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 8
FEATURES
COVER / Q&A
Enterprise E-mail Call
An ongoing exploration by the Army into development
of a comprehensive, centrally managed e-mail system is
highlighting the many potential benefits and stumbling
blocks facing the military and other large organizations
contemplating such a move.
By Peter Buxbaum
7
Waiting for Networx
12
When the General Services Administration awarded it three
years ago, the 10-year, $20 billion telecommunications
program called Networx was seen as a major advance
destined to save federal agencies millions of dollars a year.
By Karen E. Thuermer
DISA Who’s Who
Updates on the people and programs of
the Defense Information Systems Agency.
21
35
Major General Randolph Strong
Commanding General
Army Communications-Electronics
Life Cycle Management Command
DEPARTMENTS
2
Editor’s Perspective
6
Program Notes/People
17
JTRS Update
20
Data Bytes
49
Small Business Spotlight
50
COTSacopia
51
Calendar, Directory
Test Time for Cybersecurity
44
Preparing for a test where you get graded on 700,000
different things can’t be easy. But that’s what defense
organizations can face when targeted for inspection by DISA
under the Command Cyber Readiness Inspection program.
By Patrick Chisholm
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
52
Jeff Lake
Vice President, Federal Operations
Proofpoint Inc.
WWW.MIT-KMI.COM
MILITARY INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 8
SEPTEMBER 2010
The Voice of Military Communications
and Computing
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor
Harrison Donnelly harrisond@kmimediagroup.com
Copy Editor
Laura Davis laurad@kmimediagroup.com
Correspondents
Adam Baddeley • Peter Buxbaum • Scott Gourley
Patrick Chisholm • Karen E. Thuermer
ART & DESIGN
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Anna Druzcz anna@kmimediagroup.com
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Account Executives
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KMI MEDIA GROUP
President and CEO
Jack Kerrigan jack@kmimediagroup.com
Chief Financial Officer
Constance Kerrigan connik@kmimediagroup.com
Executive Vice President
David Leaf davidl@kmimediagroup.com
Publisher
Kirk Brown kirkb@kmimediagroup.com
Editor-In-Chief
Jeff McKaughan jeffm@kmimediagroup.com
Controller
Gigi Castro gcastro@kmimediagroup.com
While not new, two technologies offering extremely fast delivery
of massive quantities of information are attracting growing interest
from both military C4 specialists and commercial providers.
One is gigabyte passive optical networking (GPON), a network
architecture that enables one optical fiber to serve different locations
while providing high bandwidth, efficiency and quality of service.
Originally developed for the residential market, it is appealing to
military users as well for its cost and capacity benefits.
In a recent memo, Army CIO/G-6 Jeffrey A. Sorenson and
Malcolm R. O’Neill, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition,
logistics and technology, offered this guidance for network upgrades under the installation
information infrastructure modernization program:
“Current commercial technologies, such as Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON)
technology and broadband wireless networking, have been proven to reduce cost by up to 60
percent for network devices and to reduce time to market in the modernization of campus
networks. All camps, posts and stations undergoing modernization shall aggressively adopt GPON
and broadband wireless networking technologies by FY 2013 in order to decrease operating costs
and capital expenditures.
“We anticipate that the adoption of these technologies will reduce the life cycle replacement
rate of Army campus networks from more than 37 years to eight years,” the officials added.
On the satellite front, meanwhile, some of the hottest action has centered on Ka-band satellite
communications, another technology with roots in the
home market. Just in the past few months, companies
such as ViaSat, Inmarsat and EADS’ Astrium Services have
announced or expanded initiatives in the Ka-band arena.
A new report from the World Teleport Association
predicts that more than $5 billion of Ka-band investment
Harrison Donnelly
will be in orbit by 2014, offering vastly more bandwidth
harrisond@kmimediagroup.com
than the entire GEO arc does today.
(301) 670-5700
Publisher’s Assistant
Carol Ann Barnes carolannb@kmimediagroup.com
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Military Medical/
CBRN Technology
Geospatial
Intelligence Forum
Military Logistics
Forum
Ground Combat
Technology
www.MMT-kmi.com
www.GIF-kmi.com
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Special Operations
Technology
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Forum
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Technology
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Education
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Brown Named
KMI Publisher
KMI Media Group is
proud to announce that
Kirk Brown has been
named publisher, overseeing the company’s
growing array of militaryfocused magazines and
Websites. Brown has served
as KMI’s vice president of
Kirk Brown
sales and marketing since
early 2009.
“I am honored, excited and prepared to help lead
KMI Media Group in the next phase of our growth
strategy to expand on our proven model of adding
value to the market by supporting our country’s senior
military leadership with highly focused niche magazines. I want to thank Jack and Conni Kerrigan for this
opportunity and for their confidence in me.”
A graduate of Georgetown University who also
holds an MBA in finance from George Washington
University, Brown has extensive experience in military
and government focused publishing and exhibitions.
The youngest of four sons of a career Army officer who
served from World War II through Vietnam, Brown
began his career selling classified advertising for Army
Times Publishing Co. in its Washington, D.C., office.
After three years, he was transferred to the New York
office, where he joined the national sales team and
spent seven years managing such major consumer
accounts as Kodak, Miller Brewing Co., Lever Brothers,
J&B Scotch and Campbell Soup.
Brown then returned to the Washington office,
where he was named IT advertising manager and
led the effort to develop the information technology
advertising category. In that capacity, he coordinated
several market research studies and initiated a series
of IT focused custom published supplements. Brown
left Army Times Publishing to pursue opportunities in
the government-focused trade show market as sales
manager for E-Gov, assistant general manager for FOSE
and founding general manager for the Professional
Services Expo (PSX).
The veteran sales executive subsequently returned
to Army Times Publishing as director of strategic
accounts for Defense News, where he was responsible
for major accounts, including Boeing, ITT Defense,
Finmeccanica, GSA and Booz Allen Hamilton, and won
the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award, Salesperson
of Year.
Since joining KMI Media Group as vice president,
sales and marketing, Brown has overseen sales growth
of more than 20 percent in 2010.
4 | MIT 14.8
KMI Media Group
Announces Expansion
Bucking the troubles of much of the
publishing industry, KMI Media Group, a
Rockville, Md.-based magazine company is
flourishing by pursuing an innovative strategy
focused on the changing technology needs of
the nation’s military.
In the latest sign of its continuing growth,
KMI Media Group Inc. recently signed an agreement to expand its headquarters space by more
than 50 percent, from 7,000 sq. ft. to nearly
11,000 sq. ft. The expansion is in line with the
company’s strong financial results, growing
number of employees and enhanced lineup of
magazine titles. The additional space allows
the company to meet its current requirements,
reach its near-term goals and have the space to
grow into its expansion.
The company plans to hire at least nine
new employees by December 1, 2010, the date
it moves into the additional office space. The
expansion has created new positions in the
editorial, circulation, art and sales departments
All of the company’s growth will take place
at its Rockville office. The company’s Tampa,
Fla., office will remain at its current location
and staffing level.
KMI’s unique strategy is based on identifying specific communities within the nation’s
military—whether medical officials, special
operators or Coast Guard leaders—and tightly
targeting the editorial content, circulation and
advertising sales strategy of each publication
on them. “It’s a formula that has created an
important communications tool for senior military leaders, as well as a highly respected vehicle
for industry to reach out to its customers and
Congress,” said Brown.
Looking to the year ahead in 2011, KMI
plans to launch three new titles and Websites.
The first, Tactical ISR Technology, will focus on
the technologies and systems that give American
warfighters their tactical advantage in today’s
evolving battlespace. The other titles will be
announced to the public in early 2011.
Jack and Conni Kerrigan launched the
company and its first magazine in 1996, and
the company has been on a steady growth
curve ever since. “As we look to the future, we
will continue to utilize our business model
even while others in the print media industry
are declining,” said Jack Kerrigan. “We will
continue to develop and introduce new niche
publications that serve Congress and the leadership of the Department of Defense. We are
committed to serving the defense community
and to help those who serve and protect our
country.”
The company’s print magazines each reach
a laser-focused audience within specific areas
of expertise. The print media is supported by
dynamic online content offering not only the
print content, but also articles and information
exclusive to the company’s online subscribers.
With nine current titles—Geospatial Intelligence Forum, Ground Combat
Technology, Military Advanced Education,
Military Information Technology, Military
Logistics Forum, Military Medical/CBRN
Technology, Military Training Technology,
Special Operations Technology and U.S. Coast
Guard Forum—published in a total of more
than 75 issues a year, KMI Media Group is
already one of the nation’s largest militaryfocused publishers, and more is on the way.
www.MIT-kmi.com
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Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Navy Network Competitors Clear Key Step
The two competing systems being developed
for the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and
Enterprise Services (CANES) program have reached
a key milestone with completion of preliminary
design reviews (PDR).
CANES, which represents the consolidation and enhancement of five shipboard legacy
network programs, will provide the common
computing environment infrastructure for C4I
applications that currently require system-specific
infrastructure to operate legacy systems. Northrop
Grumman Information Systems and Lockheed
Martin Mission Systems and Sensors are competing
to win a contract award.
Consolidation through CANES will eliminate many legacy, stand-alone networks while
providing an adaptable and responsive information technology platform to rapidly meet changing
warfighter requirements. This strategy strengthens
network infrastructure, reduces hardware footprints and decreases total ownership costs. “System
development PDR is the most significant mile-
stone to date for the CANES program,” said Navy
Captain D.J. LeGoff, program manager for the
Tactical Networks Program Office. “Now that PDR
has been completed on schedule, the government
team is poised to move forward into detailed engineering design and making the CANES program
a reality.”
Successful completion of the PDR indicates
that the system design is sufficiently mature to
proceed into detailed design and that it can meet
the stated performance requirements within cost,
schedule, risk and other system constraints.
The two-day review event offered an opportunity to learn more about Navy priorities for
the program, according to Mike Twyman, vice
president integrated C4I systems for Northrop
Grumman Information Systems.
“We’ve tried to listen to what the Navy is
trying to achieve with CANES, which is about
rapidly fielding C4I systems for the warfighter—
and avoiding costs,” he said. “There’s been a
shift throughout DoD towards lowering all costs,
including initial procurement, deployment and
life cycle costs—the entire chain. In response to
government requirements, our solution provides
a modern secure networking infrastructure structure, leveraging commercial cloud-like systems
integrated with DoD security systems.”
A key feature of the Northrop Grumman team
strategy is application of the company’s Modular
Open Systems Approach-Competitive (MOSA-C)
methodology, Twyman explained. “DoD has been
looking for contractors and government to deploy
open systems for more than a decade. There have
been some great successes so far. But when we
looked at the successes, we realized that there was
a big opportunity, because the approaches have
not minimized life cycle costs and enabled competition throughout the life cycle.
“What we did was looked at the gaps and
improved the process with the MOSA-C, with the
end result of enabling competition throughout the
life cycle of the program, both at the component
and prime contractor level,” he added.
peop le
Army Brigadier General
John A. Davis, who has
been serving as deputy
commander, Joint Task
Force-Global Network
Operations, Defense
Information Systems
Agency, has been assigned
to director, current
operations, J-33, U.S. Cyber
Command, Fort Meade,
Md.
Army Colonel Frederick
A. Henry has been
nominated for appointment to the rank of
brigadier general. Henry is
currently serving as deputy
commander, Army Network
Enterprise Technology
6 | MIT 14.8
Command, Fort Huachuca,
Ariz.
coordinator, LandWarNet/
Battle Command, Office of
the Deputy Chief of Staff,
G-3/5/7.
Heller, president, Harris IT
Services.
Army Colonel Mark R.
Quantock has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of brigadier
general. Quantock is
currently serving as chief
of operations, Army Forces
Cyberspace Command, Fort
Belvoir, Va.
Army Major General
David B. Lacquement,
who has been serving as
deputy director, Signals
Intelligence Directorate,
National Security Agency,
has been assigned to
director of operations, J-3,
U.S. Cyber Command, Fort
Meade, Md.
Mike Deloney
Army Colonel John B.
Morrison Jr. has been
nominated for appointment to the rank of
brigadier general. Morrison
is currently serving as
Harris has named Mike
Deloney vice president
and general manager of
Department of Defense
programs for its IT services
business, reporting to John
TASC, a provider of
advanced systems engineering, integration and
support services, has
named Mark Leary chief
information security officer.
In that position, he will
Mark Leary
have responsibility for the
leadership, management
and oversight of TASC’s
information security
services in order to deliver
a full range of IT security
and resiliency capabilities
across the enterprise. Leary
will also provide expertise
and support in the cybersecurity market.
www.MIT-kmi.com
MIGRATING TO A COMPREHENSIVE,
CENTRALLY CONTROLLED E-MAIL SYSTEM
OFFERS ADVANTAGES, BUT THERE ARE
ALSO MANY STUMBLING BLOCKS.
BY PETER BUXBAUM
MIT CORRESPONDENT
BUXBAUMP@KMIMEDIAGROUP.COM
www.MIT-kmi.com
An ongoing exploration by the Army into development of
a comprehensive, centrally managed e-mail system is highlighting the many potential benefits and stumbling blocks
facing the military and other large organizations contemplating such a move.
For more than a year, Army leaders have expressed a
desire to do something about how e-mail services are provided
to more than two million users, who range from warfighters
in theater to uniformed and civilian personnel stationed in
facilities worldwide to retirees and family members. What
course the Army will pursue, however, remains under discussion at this point.
The Army’s e-mail conundrum includes a number of facets. First, it is not really an Army problem, strictly speaking,
but a Department of Defense problem. The Army is merely
taking the lead on a project that will eventually encompass
the entire military.
Second, the Army currently operates dozens of e-mail
systems on a distributed basis, many of them localized to a
single base. Localization has advantages when it comes to
performance, but its disadvantages are many. It is far more
expensive to manage and does not provide lifetime e-mail
addresses. Personnel often switch e-mail addresses when they
get reassigned, and that means they are unreachable by those
who have not been updated with a forwarding address.
MIT 14.8 | 7
A third problem involves the geometrically multiplying storage requirements
of modern e-mail systems. Government
agencies and commercial entities alike are
legally required to hold onto e-mails for
specific periods of time, and some specialists want to store them in perpetuity. This
is placing a strain an existing data storage
facilities and suggests a requirement not
only for more storage facilities to be built,
but also for greater storage efficiency.
Fourth is the question of collaboration.
The Army has billed its e-mail revamping
as an e-mail and collaborative services
(EMCS) program. That appears to reflect
the fact that, in many military organizations as well as in the broader business
world, users have transformed e-mail into
a collaborative platform through the use—
and overuse—of the “reply all” button. But
what role a collaboration platform might
play in complementing the e-mail system
is still to be determined.
EMCS started as an all-encompassing
concept. But it later whittled down to a
much more modest approach that in turn
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8 | MIT 14.8
was eventually canceled while the Army
considered its options. In February 2009
the Army issued a request for information
for a project that would include Microsoft
Exchange E-mail, Microsoft SharePoint
and Research In Motion Blackberry Enterprise Server applications.
The goal was described as consolidating
“850,000+ NIPRNet and 100,000+ SIPRNet
business e-mail user accounts on servers
currently distributed across Army installations to a centrally managed e-mail system
for each network. In addition to the business user accounts, the Army would like to
separately migrate an additional 1.2+ million retiree and family member accounts
from distributed organizations to a separate centrally managed e-mail system...”
The RFI emphasized the economics of
such a move. “Migrating from an installation-based, locally operated environment
to a centrally managed enterprise-based
EMCS environment will enable the Army
to gain improved user productivity, higher
system availability, scalability, agility and
improved defense posture while reducing
capital expenses and operating costs,” it
noted.
In March 2010, the Army issued a draft
request for proposals of much more modest dimensions. At that point the project
was to apply to around 250,000 e-mail
users located at 22 stateside installations,
most of them affected by the Base Relocations and Consolidation (BRAC) process.
“The idea is to try things out, get
the processes figured out with a smaller
population before we move onto a bigger, broader capability,” said Colonel Earl
Noble, project manager at Army Knowledge Online, at an EMCS Industry Day
event earlier this year. “Most of those are
in BRAC. So we’re looking at people that
are on the move, that are moving from one
installation to another. It’s a good opportunity to move them to a new e-mail system,
so we want to look at moving those users
as a priority.”
Noble anticipated at the time that after
the first phase was accomplished, a second
EMCS spiral would be introduced in 2012
that would encompass the entire Army and
perhaps some additional elements of DoD.
Subsequent to Noble’s speech, however,
the Army announced that it was cancelling
the solicitation, citing end-of-fiscal-year
management concerns as well as a variety of issues raised in the responses from
industry.
“Taking the approach with an initial
operating capability and then later the
full operating capability would be a wise
choice,” said Jeff Lake, vice president of
federal operations at Proofpoint, a provider
of messaging security and archive solutions
that can be deployed on premises or in the
cloud. “E-mail should be a ‘dial-tone’
service for soldiers, working wherever they
may be deployed. Managing the messaging security and e-mail infrastructure of
that service should be something the Army
could outsource, as long as the provider
follows the stringent information assurance requirements and certifications dictated by the Army. Where the data center
or centers reside should not be a concern
as long as fully redundant capabilities exist
and the service levels are met.”
DOD MICROCOSM
The problems faced by the Army in
providing e-mail services and managing
related systems are merely a microcosm of
those faced by DoD as a whole. “This isn’t
something that the Army is doing because
the Army wants to do it,” Lieutenant General Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army chief information officer/G-6, said at the Industry
Day event. “We are doing this right now
on behalf of DoD to get this initiated. The
Department of Defense recognized that
there is a need to fix exactly how it was the
department was communicating.”
The chief objective of EMCS was to
migrate from what Sorenson called a “fractionalized” to a “federated state,” in which
e-mail will be managed on an enterprise
basis. At that point, “We really begin to
save some dollars in terms of how it is
we’re affecting and producing and operating this network,” said Sorenson. “That’s
exactly why we are having this particular
contract award for e-mail messages and
collaboration, to get at this particular
capability, and it’s global, standardized and
obviously more economical.”
“The Army’s biggest problem right now
is to try to define exactly what it needs,”
said Jim Ferry, director of sales at Compliant Archive Solutions, a provider of e-mail
archiving products. “Right now the Army
is running an e-mail system that is widely
distributed around the world. They are
running 14 processing centers for e-mail
and 14 data centers to provide backup.
That kind of operation produces a tremendous amount of overhead.”
www.MIT-kmi.com
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The fluidity of the Army’s work force multiplies the problocal,” Gerstle explained. “You don’t have to send it across to the
lems associated with dispersed e-mail operations, according to
LAN when everyone is signing on.”
Ed Weatherby, director of marketing at IT Data Storage. “The
STORAGE EXPENSES
turnover that they have in the military would drive a corporate
IT director batty,” he said. “Then, there is another phenomenon
Storage, and the ever-increasing volume required, is another
called BRAC, which exponentially increases the issue.”
issue that needs to be faced with the deployment of a new e-mail
“Every time someone switches bases, they get a new e-mail
system. The draft RFP included no per-mailbox limit, Noble
address and then everyone loses touch with them,” added Dustin
noted at the EMCS Industry Day. “The service provider will
Wagner, president of Operational Security Services Inc., a propropose an optimal method of meeting this requirement for
vider of data storage services.
storage,” he added.
Local access to e-mail is not all on the downside, according
“Storage is one of the most expensive parts of an e-mail systo Sean Gerstle, an IT consultant. “With local access, when you
tem,” said Gerstle. “The primary reason is that nobody,” at least
sign on in the morning at the office, you are pulling e-mail from
in the government sector, “wants to get rid of any e-mails.”
a server sitting in the office,” he explained. “That e-mail gets
The trend in the private sector, Gerstle added, is to delete
loaded very fast. On the other hand, if you are looking at e-mails
e-mails when they are no longer legally required to be kept. This
in your office and the server is located somewhere across the
saves on storage space and costs, while the prevailing governcountry, you are introducing network latency. The farther away
ment attitude has the opposite effect.
you are from the server the slower the response time
One potential solution to the rising costs of
and the greater the chance for packet errors.”
e-mail storage is to back them up remotely, in an
But many organizations, including the Army,
area where land and business costs are cheap and
are moving toward more centralized e-mail syswhere there are no constraints to the consumptems because of the upside that centralization
tion of electricity to power data centers. That was
can provide. “These include lower capital and
the idea behind building a huge data center in
administrative costs,” said Gerstle. “With cenNorth Dakota, said Wagner.
tralization you’re not managing 10 systems all
“I can buy an acre of land for what you would
over the country. You’re operating one system
pay for a square inch inside the Beltway,” he said
with fewer administrators and a lower total cost
with only a measure of exaggeration. “We need to
of ownership. As you move from one assignment
get data centers off the East Coast. People think
to another, your e-mail address doesn’t have to
Ed Weatherby
they need to see their data, but, if they were to
change.”
visit the data center, what are they going to see?”
Besides performance issues, e-mail centralizaWagner said he can migrate a petabyte—that
tion also presents backup problems. “The system
is, 1,000 terabytes or one million gigabytes—of
has to be working 24/7 and you need to back up
data within 60 days. He added that Operational
the e-mails without disturbing the system’s operaSecurity Services Inc. uses a fifth generation systions,” said Gerstle. “You can’t take a system down
tem storage system that includes better automatic
because the databases are being backed up.”
failover features and allows the storage of “more
Organizations have taken a number of
usable data in a much smaller space and at a much
approaches to deal with the complexity of these
cheaper price” than most systems in use today.
upside/downside variables. “Some take a hybrid
Deduping is another storage efficiency stratapproach, where the majority of the system is
egy. “That way if someone sends 10 people the
centralized but not all of them,” said Gerstle. For
Dustin Wagner
same e-mail, only one copy gets stored,” said
instance, a particular location with very limited
Gerstle.
bandwidth may not be the best location to cenE-discovery requirements are another considtralize.
eration when deploying a new e-mail system. E-discovery refers
Additionally, there are optimization solutions that can
to the exchange of electronic information by parties involved
mitigate the impact of long distances between end-users and
in litigation, or to the ability of investigators to find e-mail
e-mail servers, which work in three ways. One involves data deinvolving people under investigation. Since e-mail has become
duplication (“dedupe”), which bundles together on the network
such an important mode of communication and documentation,
e-mails that are being sent and forwarded multiple times.
courts require parties to be able to produce e-mails relevant to
Another optimization feature “fools your computer in thinka legal action upon demand.
ing it is talking directly to an exchange server, even though the
“E-discovery is something that will be included in the scope
server may be 2,000 miles away,” Gerstle said. This eliminates
of this contract, including the ability to get control of e-mails
the multiple passes it ordinarily takes for e-mail to be passed
and lock them down as well as the ability to discover, search and
from server to desktop, allowing the message to be sent only
find things within the e-mail,” Noble told industry representaonce across the wire.
tives.
Another way that has been found to optimize centralized
“E-discovery is becoming more and more important since
e-mail system is to have information flow to local area networks
NARA has updated their guidelines on what would constitute a
(LAN) during times of non-peak traffic. “That way when every‘federal record’ of electronic communication, meaning it would
one first signs on in the morning the information is already
10 | MIT 14.8
www.MIT-kmi.com
need to be retained following the policies,” noted Lake. “The
Proofpoint Enterprise Archive solution double-blind encrypts
the data in our elastic cloud, meaning only the customer has the
keys to the data. It can then be easily searched through Outlook
or OWA, with all communications between the on-site appliance
and the cloud being encrypted. No longer does an organization
have to worry about stacking storage servers in their data center
for e-mail archive”.
The draft RFP included a requirement to be able to conclude
an e-mail search for e-discovery purposes within 30 seconds.
“We think that is archaic in today’s world,” said Ferry. “Waiting
30 seconds for a search to complete is an eternity.”
Ferry said that Compliant Archive Solutions’ appliance can
chop search time down to two to three seconds, no matter what
the volume of data that needs to be searched. “We re-digitize
every e-mail, which is why the search is so fast.”
A single Compliant appliance, deployed in existing servers
and storage systems, can serve around 20,000 e-mail users. But
the appliances can also be stacked to serve as large a population
of users as necessary. “It is a non-invasive technology, and it is
infinitely scalable,” Ferry said.
Once installed, the appliance directs every e-mail running
through an exchange server to be redigitized, restamped and
directed to an archive. “The e-mails are directed to an archive on
existing storage,” said Ferry. “We don’t impact the functionality
of the system or the archive. If someone goes in try to modify or
delete an e-mail, we keep a complete audit trial about everything
that happens to each one of those e-mails.
“The Army did a 12-month proof of concept with our solution,” Ferry added. “The install was done in approximately five
hours. They had zero support calls in the entire 12 months, and
their comment regarding the solution was that it was too easy.
We recently submitted a bid to slim down a four-year installation to 12 months for less than one-third of the budget that was
stated.”
COLLABORATION APPLICATIONS
Then there is the question of the collaboration aspect of
EMCS. The Army has presented EMCS as a program covering
both e-mail and collaboration, yet little or no mention has been
made of collaboration services outside of the context of e-mail.
To some analysts, this fails to reflect the growing interest, at
least in the corporate world, in social business software (SBS)
packages, which provide wiki, blog and Facebook-like applications geared toward business uses.
“The point is that e-mail is being relegated to a point-topoint communications utility, as it was originally intended,” said
Jim Kovach, director of federal sales at Jive Software, a provider
of SBS solutions. “E-mail was never originally intended for collaboration. We all have been guilty of making it that by pressing
‘reply all’ too often.”
The SBS premise is that real conversations, collaboration,
communication and coordination will happen inside communities. “They are searchable and discoverable by others yielding a
knowledge capture unlike anything hidden in e-mail folders,”
said Kovach.
SBS is much better equipped than e-mail to handle today’s
business conversations, Kovach maintained. “What we are
www.MIT-kmi.com
finding is the need for engagement. It is not just about having
a one-off tool to do blogging or generate a wiki or threaded
discussion. It is all of the above, and it is not just for internal
employees but also for external partners” in government and the
private sector.
Jive’s SBS platform allows for connectivity with those constituencies, as well as with the general public, in order to manage perceptions and derive feedback and ideas.
A recent report from Gartner, the information technology
research organization, concluded that “social networking will
prove to be more effective than e-mail for certain business
activities” and that changing demographics “will lead 20 percent
of users to make a social network the hub of their business communications” over the next four years.
The demographics argument is perhaps the most compelling
for SBS. As the younger generation conducts more and more of
its interactions through social media like Facebook and Twitter
they expect the same style of communications when they enter
the work place, including the military. ✯
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
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MIT 14.8 | 11
BY KAREN E. THUERMER
MIT CORRESPONDENT
THUERMERK@KMIMEDIAGROUP.COM
MASSIVE NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM OFFERS MANY ADVANTAGES
TO AGENCIES, BUT THE TRANSITION HAS NOT MET EXPECTATIONS.
When the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded it three years ago,
the 10-year, $20 billion telecommunications program called Networx was seen as
a major advance destined to save federal
agencies millions of dollars a year.
The program is moving forward, officials say, with more than three-fifths of
agency services already shifted from legacy
contracts. Backers believe it will ultimately
offer a transformative improvement in how
federal agencies communicate with one
another, and with the public they serve.
But while federal agencies originally
were supposed to have completed their
transition to the new contract, one that
involves two complementary acquisitions
(Networx Universal and Networx Enterprise), the transition has not been smooth.
Consequently, some Networx contractors
are losing patience.
12 | MIT 14.8
Networx Universal involves three prime
contractors: Verizon, AT&T and Qwest.
Networx Enterprise involves the same
three Universal contractors plus Sprint,
Nextel and Level 3 Communications.
Networx was originally touted not only
as the world’s largest-ever telecom deal,
but also as a boon for agencies seeking to
cut their telecom costs and be able to select
from among companies offering state-ofthe-art technology.
“The Networx program was intended to
bring to the federal government the best
technologies at the lowest prices, while
also enabling agencies to obtain the most
current technology over the life of the
10-year contract,” said Susan Zeleniak,
group president, Verizon Federal. “In fact,
many of the cutting-edge solutions we
talk about in federal government IT—
like cloud computing and virtualization—
Verizon can deliver today through the Networx contract.”
Praised by industry and government
analysts for its broad scope and outstanding
pricing program, Networx was originally
seen as already having replaced the Federal
Technology Services 2001 (FTS2001) contracts by this point. But FTS2001 bridge
contracts had to be put in place because
agencies have been slow to transition to
Networx. Consequently, these bridge contracts are now expiring, since the deadline
to complete the transition to Networx has
been moved to May/June 2011.
Finally, Networx will become the
primary set of contracts through which
federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, will use to upgrade their
communications systems to support new
technologies such as VoIP and IPv6, the
next-generation Internet protocol.
www.MIT-kmi.com
CONTRACTOR INVESTMENTS
biggest challenge and opportunity. It
will take a village or city of resources to
But with the looming expiration of
get them moved.”
the FTS2001 bridge contracts, it’s not
GSA is going to have to figure out
clear that agencies will have finished
how to accommodate its customers
making their vendor choices and tranand still find a strong forcing funcsitioning to Networx. This fact is puttion for conversion, said Diana Gowen,
ting pressure on Networx contractors,
senior vice president/general manager
who have made large investments to
of Qwest Government Services.
build integrated customer tools and a
“DoD is behind in its data network
Networx portal based on the promise
carrier choices and transition,” she
Bill White
Diana Gowen
of new business.
said. “Because DoD has divided the fair
bill.p.white@sprint.com
diana.gowen@qwest.com
“We would very much like to
opportunities into many separate proaccelerate the services billed against Networx
opportunities under Networx—the ability to
curements, both the department and industry
to help offset that investment,” said Bill
bring new technology to drive economies,
have spent a lot of time and energy trying to
White, vice president of federal for Sprint.
efficiencies and lower costs while simultaneget the choice part concluded.”
As an incumbent data services provider
ously improving security—being lost in the
DoD is one of GSA’s biggest FTS2001
to a number of DoD agencies, Sprint is waitfocus on transition.
customers. “DoD needs to figure out a way to
ing anxiously for the fair opportunity deci“GSA has produced voluminous amounts
more quickly award their low price, technision from the Defense Information Systems
of data on transition—slicing and dicing
cally acceptable awards for Internet services,
Agency (DISA) for IP/VoIP. So far, approxithe stats every which way,” White said. “It
network-based IPVPN services, private line
mately 70 percent of what Sprint is billing on
really comes down to the agencies, their
services, frame relay services and the National
Networx is IP-service based.
requirements, their preparation and their
Guard’s best value data network,” Gowen
“That really is our sweet spot—the conresources—along with their carrier partners’
added.
vergence of TDM services, wireless services
resources—to get the job done. DoD is the
To date, Qwest has made very significant
and IP,” White said. But White sees the
800-pound gorilla, and as such presents the
investments in the Networx procurement
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MIT 14.8 | 13
process—tens of millions of dollars in people
and tools for proposals, contracting, program
management, staff training and educating
agencies, Gowen revealed. “The consequences
of the delays to industry cannot be ignored.
There is real economic harm.”
GSA EFFORTS
Karl Krumbholz, director of GSA’s Network Services Office, makes few excuses for
agencies that have been slow to adopt Networx. However, he does not believe there is
any one single reason for the slow pace of
transition.
In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
in July, Krumbholz presented a laundry list
of issues impacting the Networx transition.
They included the large growth in complex
new services that must be transitioned; agencies’ desire to transform, upgrade, consolidate
and streamline networks during transition;
challenges associated with lengthy inventory cleanups; significant increase in statements of work (SOW); delays associated with
fair opportunity protests; delays associated
with significant internal agency coordination
within and between organizations and need
to identify agency resources; and shortage
of contracting officers, as well as a variety of
agency-specific reasons.
GSA has gone to great lengths to make
Networx a priority, Krumbholz told lawmakers. “We pointed out that the government is
losing potential savings, since the Networx
contracts’ prices are lower than those on
FTS2001,” he said. “Even so, it’s important
to point out that the prices on the FTS2001
contract are also phenomenally good.”
GSA has been working with government
agencies since 2003 to develop sophisticated
processes, procedures, guidelines and tools to
facilitate their planned transition to Networx,
Krumbholz said in an interview.
“To date, that assistance includes writing
SOWs, verifying agencies’ inventories, writing
agency service orders requests, and assisting
agencies in evaluating carriers’ proposals to
agencies’ SOWs,” he said.
In fact, GSA has performed a significant
number of activities during FY10 to provide
transition support. These included establishing an interagency management council
(IMC) executive steering committee of agency
SES stakeholders to heighten attention and
encourage agencies to make transition a priority; partnering with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide transition
14 | MIT 14.8
guidance and direction during monthly IMC,
the expiring FTS2001 contracts. Five of the
transition working group and federal CIO
largest agencies’ transitions are more than
council meetings; and conducting an agen90 percent complete. Current projections
cywide Networx day to provide senior governindicate that 90 percent of FTS2001 services
ment executives, agency transition managers
will be disconnected by next summer, and
and key industry network services providers
approximately 80 percent of the dollar value
with a comprehensive overview of Networx.
of FTS2001 will be moved to Networx.”
In addition, it has conducted meetings with
GSA, which tracks expenditures by all
the CIOs of agencies that are behind transiagencies on all network services contracts,
tion targets to discuss transition progress and
reports that on average DoD spends over $175
remediation plans to complete the Networx
million annually on the FTS2001 bridge and
transition by May/June 2011.
Networx contracts combined. Current trends
“GSA provided a Web-based system for
indicate that DoD will continue to purchase
agencies to use to track all activities critical to
Networx services at about that rate.
transition, and provided a specific and detailed
SMALL STEPS
training for nearly 150 transition managers in
small groups at GSA locations, conferences
From Level 3 Communications’ perspecand agency offices,” Krumbholz said.
tive, the slow transition is due in part to agenKrumbholz explained that for agencies
cies operating with small staffs and smaller
to remain eligible to receive transition reimbudgets.
bursements, all transition orders were to
“When that happens, there’s a tendency
be submitted by April 1, 2010. “Since many
to take the smallest amount of steps necesagencies were unable to meet that milestone,
sary and to check the most immediate boxes
the IMC in March moved the deadline for
without regard for long-term strategy,” said
all orders to qualify for reimbursement to
Edward Morche, senior vice president of Level
August 31, 2010,” he said.
3’s federal markets.
Recently, IMC offered agencies that deterMorche is convinced that confusion
mined they could not meet the order deadline
between Networx Universal and Networx
of August 31 an opportunity to request an
Enterprise is largely to blame for the slow
extension to meeting the deadline by presenttransition to Networx and, even more imporing GSA/OMB with a remediation plan for
tantly, is resulting in overspending by agensubmitting transition orders.
cies.
As this article was being prepared, 35
“When agencies are faced with two conagencies had received an exception to meettract vehicles that are virtually the same—
ing the August 31 deadline, thus remaining
about 96 percent the same—except that one
eligible to receive transition credit reimburseoffers more competition, agencies have a
ments. Agencies that did not provide a remeresponsibility to select the
diation plan for submitting
one with more competition,”
orders would no longer qualify
he said. “Agencies are also
to receive transition reimbursedoing too much back-end
ment credits after the end of
work. They need to rely more
August.
on carrier expertise so they
Krumbholz warned, howcan make more strategic,
ever, that Networx contractors
long-term decisions—not
can expect that some agencies
just checking off transition
will not complete their transiboxes for the sake of checktion before the expiration of
ing off transition boxes”.
the FTS2001 bridge contracts
Diana Gowen, senior
in May/June 2011. “And there
Edward Morche
vice president/general manwill likely be agencies that will
ager of Qwest Government
require even more time after
Services, said DoD is lagging the most among
that,” he said, while adding that GSA has seen
cabinet level agencies on awards of their
no downturn in the services agencies have
various administrative data services. “To date,
purchased over the past few years.
they have awarded voice and a few small data
“In fact, services on FTS2001 and Networx
networks,” she said.
have increased, on average, about 8 percent
Gowen also contended that GSA is meaper year for the past 10 years,” he said. “As
suring the Networx transition’s progress by a
of August 20, Networx is 63 percent complete
flawed metric.
as measured by services disconnected from
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“It equates a calling card with a port on a
data network, and they’re not the same from
a transition or revenue standpoint,” she said.
“That’s created an illusion of progress. In
reality, by delaying their transition to Networx and the improved pricing and advanced
technology it offers, agencies have forfeited
much in taxpayer savings and foregone the
opportunity to fund important new missioncritical and citizen-impacting initiatives, like
cybersecurity, an unfunded mandate that
could have been funded from the savings
generated by the new contracts.”
According to Gowen, GSA should be carefully tracking and measuring the dollars
that continue to flow through the FTS2001
contract and the rise in the dollars flowing
through the Networx contract.
TRANSITION ACCELERATES
Networx contractors understand that the
Networx contracts are so vastly different from
the two predecessor programs that agencies have had to learn a new complex price
and service structure while updating their
inventory of services. But with a loss of
key contracting and technology staff, heightened focus on OMB compliance issues and a
42-month extension of FTS2001, they wonder if the Networx transition has been moved
to a back burner.
“Agencies heaved a sigh of relief, let inventory records grow stale, and had no incentive
to plan or move forward,” Gowen said.
Verizon’s Zeleniak senses that longer time
periods for agencies to determine their requirements, evaluate fair opportunity proposals,
and make their Networx awards contributed
to the prolonged transition to Networx.
“While perhaps not ideal, this situation
is understandable given the complexities of
many agencies’ IT programs and the strategic
plans associated with them,” she said. “Some
agencies may be taking additional time to
make certain their complex transition is done
right.”
Meanwhile, Jeff Mohan, Networx program director, AT&T, observed that although
Networx has had a slow start, it is now rapidly
accelerating.
“We saw big awards last year and we’ve
seen a lot of awards this year,” he said. “One
thing that’s happening is that agencies are
looking at the end of the current bridge
contract, and GSA is working with the agencies in trying to both motivate them to move
them from the existing contract over to
Networx.”
16 | MIT 14.8
Mohan explained that Networx offers a
far,” she said. “After three years and nearly a
much larger portfolio of security services
billion dollars in lost savings, and the current
than that which was available before, and also
lost savings accruing at $20 million dollars
involves newer technology for higher clasper month, a lot of technical and contractsification purposes.
ing help could have been provided for the
“DoD’s requirements are unique, howcost of doing nothing. GSA made a critical
ever, in that there is a service operator within
choice in 2006, before Networx was awarded,
DoD in DISA,” he added. “If you look at the
when it extended the legacy contracts for 42
civilian agencies, there is not a DISA that
months.”
provides that type of services to the civilian
NO LOST REVENUE
agency community. We see DoD continuing
to do a lot of that and trusting the vendor
While, so far, Networx has not yet procommunity to do more cost effectively. Conduced anywhere near the revenues telecom
sequently DoD offers AT&T lots of opportunicompanies had projected, Krumbholz stressed
ties through the Networx contract.”
that its delay is not causing all carriers a loss
But to date, AT&T has not received much
in revenue.
work from DoD through Networx. “We hope
“The FTS2001 bridge
there will be movement somecontracts, on which four
time soon,” Mohan said.
of the five Networx carriers
Sprint’s White remarked
still provide services to the
how there are many considergovernment, have continued
ations driving the pace of tranto grow by approximately 8
sition, including the complexity
percent per year,” he said.
of the contracts based on the
“While prices are not as good
eight awards to five vendors.
as Networx, they are still 20
“Different prices for the
percent to 30 percent betsame services between Univerter than commercial prices
sal and Enterprise from the
offered to large companies in
same carrier, difficulty in mapJeff Mohan
the private sector. FTS2001
ping existing services to conjamohan@att.com
incumbents are actually
tract line item numbers on the
doing well during the prolonged transition
new contract, changes in nomenclature, and
period.”
the much more comprehensive menu of
Some telecom companies are also movcapabilities on the new contract are all coning ahead with Networx. Sprint, for example,
tributing factors,” he said.
transitioned about 60 percent of its FTS2001
One of the other significant factors, he
inventory, with many large networks (mainly
added, was the change in the ability of condata oriented) still to be completed.
tractors to protest task orders over $10 mil“On the positive side, we have multiple
lion as it pertains to Networx fair opportunity
instances of agencies that selected Sprint
decisions.
under Networx Enterprise because we are
“The Defense Authorization Act of 2008
able to transition their entire IP-based data
included this new provision, which was subnetworks in about 30 days,” revealed White.
sequently availed in the protest of DISA/
“These were like-for-like transitions and
DITCO October 2008 awards for DoD data
essentially paper transfers.”
services,” he pointed out. “Agencies that may
Verizon’s Zeleniak also added that she is
have been unfamiliar with this provision soon
“fully confident” that the promise of Networx
took notice as the DoD awards were protested
will become a reality. “When it does, when
successfully. I believe this event caused more
the federal government fully embraces and
caution and more deliberation from agency
integrates broadband technology, its benefits
contracting officers in their fair opportunity
will extend well beyond federal agency users,”
approach.”
she said. “Networx will have a huge impact
But GSA could have overcome some of
on how American citizens interact with their
the challenges now facing Networx if it had
government.” ✯
simplified the process and helped individual agencies, including guidance on how to
appropriately conduct procurements, Gowen
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at
stated.
harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject,
“That would have helped avoid the 10
search our archives at www.MIT-kmi.com.
sustained protests the program has seen so
www.MIT-kmi.com
MIDS Blazes JTRS Trail
FOUR-CHANNEL RADIO PROGRAM LEADS THE FLOW OF
TECHNOLOGIES, FUNCTIONALITY AND LESSONS LEARNED TO
THE REST OF THE JTRS PROGRAMS.
Please provide an overview on the specific
hardware/software/waveforms and other systems associated with the program.
MIDS JTRS is a four-channel software
defined radio (SDR) that is JTRS Software
Communication Architecture (SCA) compliant. Channel one is Link-16, with three
additional channels available for growth,
and these channels can host any JTRS SCA
Waveform. Each of the growth channels was
qualified during MIDS JTRS development,
and specifically, the program qualified the
SINCGARS waveform with a 2-2000 Khz
transceiver.
In addition, MIDS JTRS hosts the TACAN
waveform, possesses an internal power supply, a COMSEC security system, four-channel
input/output, a remote power supply, chassis/
harness, multiple processors and software, of
which the major portions are the Link-16 software and the operational environment software. MIDS JTRS can push data outside of the
terminal either via 1553 or Ethernet busses.
While the current MIDS JTRS core terminal
operates the Link-16 waveform, MIDS JTRS
has a JROC-validated requirement for a joint
airborne networking-tactical edge (JAN-TE)
waveform. The JAN-TE waveform solution
is currently under study within the Department of Defense, and we should receive the
outcome of this study this fall.
What is the status of the program today, and
what role are the original partner nations
playing at this point?
MIDS JTRS is currently in initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) with the
VX-9 squadron in China Lake, Calif. IOT&E
began in early July, and we expect to comwww.MIT-kmi.com
Editor’s Note: This interview with Captain Scott Krambeck,
program manager for the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS), is another in a regular series of updates
on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), as provided by the
program’s Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO).
plete tests soon. The last year
the MIDS partner nations, dishas been very busy for MIDS
cussions are currently being
JTRS, as we completed secuconducted on this topic.
rity verification testing in May
2009 and also completed both
What would you say are the
contractor and government
key technical challenges assofirst article qualification testciated with the program?
ing in December 2009. Also
in December 2009, a successMIDS JTRS was faced
ful Defense Acquisition Board
with three key technical chalwas conducted and MIDS
lenges.
Scott Krambeck
JTRS received approval from
First, MIDS JTRS took
Secretary Carter for a limited
many hardware functions
production of 41 MIDS JTRS terminals that
within MIDS-LVT and transformed them into
will be delivered to the F/A-18E/F Super
software functions, then added three chanHornet and the E-8 JSTARS. MIDS JTRS
nels, and made this all this operate within the
went into production in January 2010 and
same form factor as MIDS-LVT. If a platform
received NSA Certification in March. F/Acurrently has MIDS-LVT, MIDS JTRS can
18E/F developmental flight testing concluded
replace it. MIDS-LVT and MIDS JTRS form
in 2010, and prior to entering IOT&E, a sucfactors are identical. The benefit of software
cessful operational test readiness review was
functions is that upgrades and changes to
conducted in 2010. So, in the past year, MIDS
MIDS JTRS can then be done with only softJTRS has been completing several major
ware changes, which is significantly more
acquisition milestones that are firsts for the
affordable than hardware changes.
JTRS enterprise. MIDS JTRS is blazing the
For example, we are currently upgrading
trail for all other JTRS products. In essence,
the information assurance for both MIDSMIDS JTRS is the lead sled dog on the JTRS
LVT and MIDS JTRS, and the MIDS JTRS
Iditarod.
cost of this upgrade is one-fifth the cost of the
As far as the other MIDS partner nations—
MIDS-LVT upgrade. So the first key technical
France, Italy, Germany and Spain—are conchallenge was transforming hardware funccerned, they are involved and contributing.
tions into software functions, then adding
While MIDS JTRS is currently a U.S.-only
three channels, and making this all operate
program, the other MIDS partner nations
within the same form factor as MIDS-LVT. A
contributed funding for MIDS JTRS in return
portion of this transformation also required
for a technical data package of the MIDS JTRS
a change to the Link-16 waveform such that
terminal. In addition, we have been briefing
we could get the Link-16 waveform to run on
the MIDS partner nations’ representatives
this new software defined radio.
routinely both within the MIDS International
The second technical challenge was
Program Office and at the MIDS Steering
obtaining NSA certification. A new NSA UniCommittee meetings, which are held twice a
form Information Security Criteria (UIC)
year. As far as procurement of MIDS JTRS for
was published in December 2005. The MIDS
MIT 14.8 | 17
JTRS program was required to adjust to this
new UIC requirement, which drove much of
the MIDS JTRS design and required us to
expand our documentation and our testing
procedures. The result was that much more
exhaustive testing was needed in order to
obtain certification. Make no doubt about it,
the security bar for SDRs is very high. SDRs
are relatively new to NSA, and appropriately,
we needed to design MIDS JTRS to be in
compliance with the new UIC and conduct
the proper testing in order to gain NSA confidence and eventually obtain certification.
The third technical challenge was classic
terminal integration into the airborne platforms. Today’s aircraft are very sophisticated,
and most have some type of mission computers onboard that control many aircraft
functions and present information to the
aircrew in the cockpit. Integrating any new
capability into aircraft mission computers,
conducting lab, ground and flight tests, is
simply not trivial. It takes time and effort to
execute the integration properly and working out all of the bugs. So aircraft integration was a key challenge for MIDS JTRS, and
will continue to be as more aircraft, ground
and maritime platforms procure MIDS JTRS
in the future.
What are some of the lessons learned so far
during the test flights?
In order to accelerate the schedule, MIDS
JTRS was able to execute, in parallel, the
terminal qualification and flight test in the
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. This is significant,
as normally a terminal goes through qualification, and then after qualification, platform
integration begins. MIDS JTRS was able to
execute both of these phases at the same
time. It was a challenge, but this actually
benefited us greatly, as we were able to get
MIDS JTRS flying very early on the Super
Hornet. During initial flight tests we were
able to identify difficult issues early in the
integration, get our crack experts on those
issues and solve them.
Many times in integration, the “low hanging” or easy issues are tackled first, because the
fix is fairly simple, leaving the more difficult
issues for later. In MIDS JTRS, we attacked
the difficult issues early, and this approach
paid off in the later phases of qualification and
testing. We tackled the difficult integration
issues early. Another lesson we learned was to
work both the NSA certification process early,
as well as the technical readiness assessment.
By the time we finished qualification and
18 | MIT 14.8
entry into production, the MIDS JTRS product was solid. One final lesson learned was
developing our logistics and training plans
early. These plans were scrubbed constantly
through development, and this effort paid off
as well. For entry into IOT&E, the logistics
elements were in place and stable, and high
quality aircrew and maintenance training was
conducted, which greatly eased the path into
operational test.
Please discuss the coordination between
JTRS programs, and how technologies and
functionality for the other programs flow
into MIDS JTRS.
There is tremendous coordination within
the JTRS enterprise. From JTRS Cluster 1,
MIDS JTRS reused the 2-2000 Khz transceiver technology, the data control bus and
general purpose processors. Since MIDS
JTRS is the lead sled dog in the JTRS enterprise, MIDS JTRS is also leading the flow
of technologies, functionality and lessons
learned to the rest of the JTRS programs. For
example, the MIDS JTRS developed the JTRS
SCA compliant Link-16 waveform, and this
product was deposited into the JTRS Information Repository. This Link-16 waveform is
being used by both the AMF Program as well
as the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) program.
This type of reuse is one of the pillars of the
JTRS enterprise and not only standardizes the
Link-16 waveform for SDRs, but also saves
the taxpayer millions of dollars, as we only
need to develop the waveform once. While
there are still differences in architecture from
one JTRS program to the next, the MIDS
JTRS lessons learned through qualification,
certification, developmental test, and now
into operational test have all been shared with
other JTRS programs. In that regard, I am
already seeing efficiencies as other programs
are successfully mitigating issues that MIDS
JTRS had to first conquer and resolve.
From the point of view of engineering or
functionality, what do you think are the
most valuable or interesting aspects of the
program?
From an engineering or functionality
aspect of the program, the most valuable and
interesting aspect of the program has been
transforming functionality from hardware
into software, observing the terminal meet
the requirements, including the NSA requirements, and just observing the MIDS JTRS
terminal perform. A tremendous amount of
work was done early in the program making sure that the requirements were well
understood and that the specifications and
architecture were properly documented and
designed. As a result of this fine work done
early in the program, transforming functions
from hardware to software was attainable.
MIDS JTRS works.
Outside of engineering or functionality,
specifically, the most valuable and interesting aspect of the entire MIDS program is the
breadth of the program. I am blessed to be
leading a five-nation international program
with two U.S. vendors (Data Link Solutions
and ViaSat) and one European vendor (EuroMIDS) that have produced over 6,000 MIDSLVT terminals in the last 10 years for our joint
and coalition warfighters. The MIDS program
is about networking and information sharing,
of which this capability is currently going
through a quantum change, and part of that
change is MIDS JTRS. With the experience
of MID-LVT, the MIDS personnel involved,
both in the government and industry, are the
“pros from Dover” in networking, Link-16
and knowing what it takes to succeed and
get a product through design, qualification
and testing and get a sustainable capability to
the warfighter in an affordable manner. I’m
in awe, every day, at the performance of the
MIDS Team.
What is the near-term roadmap?
As mentioned, MIDS JTRS is currently in
IOT&E with the VX-9 squadron. The Navy’s
commander, operational test and evaluation
force MIDS JTRS IOT&E report is expected in
December, as well as the DoD’s director, operational test and evaluation MIDS JTRS report.
MIDS JTRS initial operational capability in
the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is scheduled for
January 2011. MIDS JTRS full production
and fielding is currently scheduled for February 2011. In addition, MIDS JTRS terminals
have also been delivered to E-8C JSTARS and
RC-135 Rivet Joint for integration and testing, and we expect these platforms will be the
next to field MIDS JTRS.
The current funded MIDS JTRS platforms
are F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (Navy); E-8C
JSTARS (Air Force); RC-135 Rivet Joint (Air
Force); EC-130H Compass Call (Air Force);
and EC-130E Senior Scout (Air Force).
The MIDS JTRS key performance parameters being tested in IOT&E are form/fit/
function replacement for MIDS-LVT (Link-16
and TACAN); functionality; net ready; and
operational availability. ✯
www.MIT-kmi.com
Radio Ready.
JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio is the only radio available today that meets the U.S. Military’s security and
waveform standards to bring true networking connectivity to the brave men and women on the frontlines.
The Armed Forces have a new network. Time for the right radio.
Out at the edge of the battlefield, Rifleman Radios form on-the-go networks so you can safely
talk, text message, chat and send pictures – completely changing the way you communicate.
JTRS HMS connects you and your GPS position to the combat network, so the information you
need to do your job is readily accessible, and your leaders get information faster.
Get in the network. Carry JTRS HMS. Ask for Rifleman Radio today.
For more information, visit gdc4s.com/RiflemanRadio.
© 2010 General Dynamics. All rights reserved.
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Targeting Pod Upgrade
to Improve Video Data Link
The Air Force has awarded Lockheed
Martin a $13 million contract to upgrade
the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod’s (ATP)
existing data link with an enhanced digital
Compact Multi-band Data Link (CMDL).
This upgrade expands the Sniper pod’s
current video data link capabilities by
enabling digital transmission of high
definition imagery and metadata between
aircrews and ground troops at extended
ranges.
The CMDL upgrade increases longrange battlefield situational awareness and
positive target coordination and confirmation, while protecting airto-ground transmissions from
enemy exploitation. CMDL
communicates seamlessly
with the fielded ROVER family
of ground stations including
ROVER 5, a portable handheld transceiver. The CMDL
upgrade follows the S3.5 software upgrade
of Air Force and coalition Sniper pods
operational on F-16 Block 30/40/50, A-10C,
F-15E and B-1 aircraft. The S3.5 adds
emerging aircraft interfaces to Sniper ATP
and provides new capabilities in air-to-air
and air-to-surface tracking and designation, selectable ground-stabilized fragmentation circles, unpowered built-in-test data
download capability, and video data link
metadata and symbology enhancements.
The Sniper pod’s modular architecture
enables field-level retrofit and facilitates 98
percent fleet availability.
Antenna Terminals Certified for
Wideband SATCOM Network
Two General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies’ Warrior antenna terminals are now certified by the Army to use the Ka-band frequency to access the
Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network, enabling warfighters to transmit
and receive video, multimedia imagery and data faster and more securely.
Certification indicates that the General Dynamics Warrior 1.2 and 1.8 meter,
Ka-band enabled terminals meet stringent performance and operational
control requirements needed to operate on the WGS network. The WGS network
comprises a constellation of six Department of Defense satellites that provide
flexible communications connectivity for U.S. military forces. Certification,
completed by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces
Strategic Command, enables Warrior terminals currently used by the Marine
Corps as part of the Support Wide Area Network (SWAN) program to access
the WGS network. The SWAN program provides the Marines with secure and
non-secure commercial off-the-shelf satellite communications equipment that
can quickly accommodate technology insertions and upgrades like the Ka-band
capability. The higher transmit and receive operating frequencies inherent to
Ka-Band allow the SWAN terminals to use smaller, lighter and more highly integrated communications capabilities than those used at Ku-Band. In addition to
a smaller footprint and reduced weight, other benefits of Ka-band over Ku-band
for satellite communications include higher data-rate throughput, reduced
space segment cost and educed communications interference issues.
20 | MIT 14.8
Software Development
Enhances Web-Enabled
Analysis System
The Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate, has
awarded Intelligent Software Solutions (ISS) a $25 million task order
for software development activities. The new 12-month contract is an
additional task to the existing $500 million program awarded to ISS
in two increments last year. The program involves the use of ISS’ Web
Enabled Temporal Analysis System Tool Kit (WebTAS-TK), which enables
users to process, analyze and visualize large amounts of intelligence
data from many disparate sources, in multiple form factors. The new
task order will provide for software development activities associated
with numerous Department of Defense and Department of Homeland
Security customers. These activities focus on the development of both
thick client as well as rich Internet applications, and the exploration of
cloud computing technologies and their utility in the DoD information
exploitation and analysis space. A critical aspect of the WebTAS-TK
contract is the continued development and technical evolution of the
WebTAS software baseline. ISS is the sole prime contractor responsible
for WebTAS, a modular software tool kit that supports the integration of many disparate data sets, visualization, project organization
and management, pattern analysis and activity prediction, as well as
various means of presenting analytical results. WebTAS provides both
thick client and Web browser-based access (thin client) capabilities,
as well as access to data via a service-oriented architecture standardsbased set of interfaces.
Navy Orders Development
of Next-Generation Jammer
BAE Systems has received a $41.7 million contract for technology maturation efforts
on the Navy’s Next-Generation Jammer, which will replace the ALQ-99 tactical jamming
system currently installed on the EA-18G Growler aircraft. Technology maturation efforts
include research in support of future development of airborne electronic attack capability
from a tactical-size airborne stand-off and modified-escort platform, such as the EA-18G.
BAE Systems is joined by Cobham, GE Aviation and Harris on the contract’s technology
maturation efforts. The BAE Systems-led effort will combine the companies’ expertise
in electronic warfare, electronic attack, suppression of enemy air defenses and irregular
warfare support to ground forces. As the electronic warfare (EW) suite provider for the F-22
Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, and as the mission system integrator for other key military
aviation EW programs, BAE Systems is uniquely positioned to deliver full mission capability
for the Navy’s Next Generation Jammer program. Cobham Sensor Systems is a leading
supplier of EW microwave electronics with more than 20 years of experience providing
the Navy with high power broadband transmitter subsystems. Cobham has a stellar record
of high systems reliability on the Navy’s primary airborne electronic attack platforms, the
EA-6B and EA-18G. GE Aviation is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines,
electric power generation and distribution, component and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. Harris provides extensive avionics
for F/A-18, F-22, and F-35 aircraft, and is a leader in wideband, low-profile, lightweight
electronically steered arrays.
www.MIT-kmi.com
To MIT Readers:
I’m delighted to have this opportunity
to introduce some of the people within
the Defense Information Systems Agency
who are making significant contributions
in support of our mission partners. The
men and women profiled in “DISA Who’s
Who” represent the stellar military and
civilian work force of our agency and our
constant focus on meeting the needs of
our customers every day.
DISA supports the warfighter through
a variety of activities. While every important mission isn’t reflected in these few
articles, the words and thoughts of the
people in these articles reflect their dedication to mission support, innovative
efforts to achieve enterprise solutions,
and achieving the appropriate balance
between sharing and protecting information.
As you read about the people behind
the mission at DISA, I hope you come
away with an appreciation for the professionalism, dedication and outstanding
quality of our work force. You will also
learn a lot about DISA and some of its key
initiatives by reading about the contributions these folks are making.
As DISA and its mission partners
address the operational and technical
challenges inherent in our dynamic global
missions, we need people like these more
than ever. DISA begins its planned Base
Closure and Realignment move to Fort
Meade, Md., early next year, and senior
leadership remains committed to solutions that will keep as many of the members of our work force with us as possible.
Our telework, transportation, work-life
and incentive programs are among the
best within the Department of Defense,
and we will continue to strive to maintain
and create new programs to motivate and
empower our invaluable team members.
Paige Atkins
Director,
Strategic Planning and Information
Defense Information Systems Agency
DISA’s vision:
“Leaders enabling information
dominance in defense of our nation.”
Table of Contents:
Colonel Randy S. Taylor .......................................... 24
Lieutenant Colonel (P) Michelle Nassar .................. 25
Kimberly Rice ......................................................... 26
William Keely .......................................................... 27
Paul E. Flaherty....................................................... 28
Chris Paczkowski ................................................... 29
Denise C. Gentile .................................................... 30
Julia Brown............................................................. 31
www.MIT-kmi.com
(Editor’s Note: The following
profiles of DISA employees are
based on interviews with MIT Editor
Harrison Donnelly, who wrote the
articles appearing in feature format.)
Publisher’s NOTE
KMI Media Group, publisher of
Military Information Technology,
produced the “DISA Who’s Who”
special section. The magazine,
which publishes 11 times each year,
reports on a wide range of C4ISR
issues. The Rockville, Md., company
also publishes Military Logistics
Forum, Geospatial Intelligence
Forum, Military Medical/CBRN
Technology, Ground Combat
Technology, Military Training
Technology, Military Advanced
Education, U.S. Coast Guard
Forum and Special Operations
Technology. The content of this
special section was compiled by
KMI editors in cooperation with
DISA Public Affairs. This publication
was designed by the KMI Art
Department. Copyright 2010.
KMI Media Group
15800 Crabbs Branch Way
Suite 300
Rockville, MD 20855
Telephone: (301) 670-5700
Fax: (301) 670-5701
Website: www.mit-kmi.com
The appearance of advertisements
in “DISA Who’s Who” does not
constitute endorsement by the
Defense Information Systems
Agency or the United States
Department of Defense. DISA does
not exercise any editorial control
over the advertisements in this
publication.
MIT 14.8 | 23
Colonel Randy S. Taylor
Commander
DISA CONUS
Colonel Randy S. Taylor is commander of DISA CONUS, where he
leads an organization of joint-service military and civilian personnel
who provision, engineer, operate
and assure DoD’s enterprise infrastructure in direct support of joint
warfighters, national-level leaders, and other mission and coalition partners across the full spectrum of global operations. Prior
to his current role, he served in the White House Military Office as
program manager for presidential contingency communications,
and in the Army Special Operations Command as commander of
the 112th Signal Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne) while
deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines.
What is the scope of DISA CONUS’ responsibilities?
Our scope is as broad as directly managing the majority of
the DoD’s global capacity on the Defense Information System
Network [DISN] and as deep as ensuring a single circuit supporting a warfighter in Afghanistan is always on. I’ll give you a
chilling example of the criticality of our mission by describing
one of over 33,000 circuits DISA CONUS manages across the
globe every day.
Early in my command of DISA CONUS, I awoke to a 3:00
a.m. phone call from Special Operations Command. The caller
proceeded to describe that weeks of meticulously tracking a person of much interest were likely rendered useless when a DISN
circuit, which enabled a CONUS-based pilot to remotely control
an unmanned aerial vehicle from over 7,000 miles away, dropped
for a matter of seconds. Even though the restoral time was brief,
it provided the window of opportunity for the target to blend back
into obscurity.
I imagined the impact to the special operators on the ground
having to abort their mission and start over from square one.
The gravity of this outage framed my perspective of the DISA
CONUS mission. I’m happy to say that diversity across the DISN
has improved significantly and this incident was a rare exception
to the reliable service we’re known for providing. In the simplest
terms, we enable information dominance on a round-the-clock
basis for today’s net-dependent warfighters and national-level
leaders.
DISA engineers and provides command and control capabilities, from the president to our troops in combat, with its global
infrastructure and enterprise services. These capabilities must
be reliable and protected against physical and cyber attacks. The
bandwidth capacity of this global network has increased twelvefold in the past five years and will certainly continue to increase.
I anticipate that the demand on DoD’s networks will expand even
as our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to an end and we reset
our forces for the next engagement. The prevailing view is that by
2011, 80 percent of our armed forces will reside in CONUS and
deploy as expeditionary forces when our nation calls.
24 | MIT 14.8
What do you mean by expeditionary forces and what will they
require?
At the end of the day, it’s only the soldiers on the ground
who can seize and hold terrain. We have to empower them with
information dominance—forward at the edge and en route while
deploying. To do so, we’re transforming the old, clunky way of
deploying, where you literally pack up your network and its servers and ship it all off to the combat zone only to learn that you
can’t use what you’ve shipped when you hit the ground and that
you’ve got to fight using a different network. I grew up with that
approach, and I’m glad that its days are numbered. Expeditionary
forces need the ability to deploy rapidly and reach seamlessly into
the same networks—in the same way—throughout all six phases
of an operation. It doesn’t make sense anymore to use one network in CONUS while preventing or preparing for an operation,
and then use another network, with new accounts, login credentials, or applications, while you’re en route or fighting.
It’s a question of balance—a question of how much of the
network you turn off, pack up and carry around with you, and
how much an always-on enterprise provides you wherever you
need to plug into it. When you’re out of balance, as we have been,
you’re slow to deploy and forced to train differently than you
fight. The robustness and reliability of the DISN today provide
the much-needed capability to reach into the so-called cloud and
rebalance what we have to carry to the fight. Until recently, only
special operations forces had the luxury of operating this way. The
DISN today is such that it can enable all forces to do so. Although
we still have some crusty, server-hugging dinosaurs in the ranks,
today’s warfighters are comfortable with this approach. What we
call cloud computing is as natural to this generation as the air
they breathe—it just is. It’s what they’re growing up with. They
trust it and it works.
Expeditionary capabilities aren’t just for combat. The same
capabilities that enable an expeditionary response also enable a
homeland security or a continuity of operations [COOP] response,
like having to relocate due to a catastrophe, be it manmade such
as a terrorist incident or natural such as a hurricane or even a
pandemic. It allows for the rapid deployment of agile service delivery in a dynamic or continually developing scenario. At national
and state levels, our nation is recognizing the need for viable
COOP capabilities in a way that we haven’t seen since the height
of the Cold War. We’re now facing a full spectrum of chemical,
biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats. My folks are
the ones that operate our nation’s greatest capability for communicating and sharing information through such contingencies.
What are some of DISA CONUS’ other missions?
Let me pause here to focus attention on the highly skilled
and dedicated members of DISA CONUS. They do what they do
out of love for our country and our way of life. Many of them
have recently returned from a combat deployment or are supporting friends and family members who are deployed. Their
www.MIT-kmi.com
professionalism is matched by their extraordinary technical expertise. They have recently been entrusted with transitioning the
Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Mid-course Defense Communications Network onto the DISN. Through this consolidation,
we have improved our operational effectiveness, by eliminating
many exploitable seams and gaps that existed when these components of the enterprise were managed differently in each region.
They have also assumed the operational lead for implementing
DoD’s unprecedented initiative to assure the NIPRNet-to-Internet
boundary by consolidating the management of all of the Internet
access points worldwide and hardening them and all NIPRNet users
against malicious Internet activity. Among many other things, they
have also successfully consolidated and centrally managed several
capabilities across DoD that had previously been managed on a
local or regional basis, such as the Defense Switch Network and
Defense Red Switch Network. Through this consolidation, we
have improved our operational effectiveness by eliminating many
exploitable seams and gaps that existed when these components of
the enterprise were managed differently in each region.
How will Base Realignment and Closure impact you?
In addition to supporting the DISA Headquarters BRAC move,
we at DISA CONUS are directly supporting all of the BRAC moves
across DoD, which are scheduled for completion by September
2011. This effort involves the enterprise infrastructure support
for the closure of over 33 major military bases and the realignment or expansion of 29 others, encompassing the movement of
over 250,000 military and 150,000 civilian positions. My professionals are the ones that will engineer and provision the many
circuits and network equipment involved with each of these
extremely complex moves.
When you look back at your time at DISA CONUS what would
you like to say you’ve accomplished?
I want to know that I did my part in keeping my unit and all
of DISA focused on supporting those who trust and rely upon
our mission-critical services. When I talk about achieving the
right balance in our enterprise infrastructure and developing
our expeditionary capabilities, I share the view that the strategic
world hasn’t collapsed on the top of the tactical world, but inside
it. This has occurred at a time when we find ourselves operating
in the cyber domain where the net-dependent warfighter must
dominate as decisively as in the land, sea and air domains. My
goal is to see that DISA is prepared for the next engagement,
anytime and anywhere, in any domain. I believe we are doing
just that. ✯
Lieutenant Colonel (P) Michelle Nassar
Program Manager
SATCOM PMO
PEO-STS
What is your current position and
what are the major responsibilities required?
I currently serve as program
manager for the Satellite Communications Program Management Office (SATCOM PMO). We
are responsible for providing life cycle acquisition management
of commercial satellite communications capabilities for all
Department of Defense agencies. We offer worldwide COMSATCOM support, strategic and acquisition planning, and consolidated COMSATCOM system expertise to the DoD in support of
the warfighter.
transponded capacity in any available COMSATCOM frequency
band, and continued competitive approaches to subscription
services in any available COMSATCOM frequency band at a savings to the government.
The source selection for this effort is ongoing. The SATCOM
PMO transition team is in the process of developing future
internal business processes for post-award to ensure a smooth
transition. Aside from cost-savings and improved contracting
response time, we want to ensure that the migration from current expiring contract vehicles to the new FCSA contracts is as
painless as possible for the customer, and there is a lot of work
taking place to ensure this happens.
What do you spend most of your time on?
Why is this program important, and how does it benefit
warfighters?
The current effort that requires the most attention is the
Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition (FCSA) strategy and
associated contract mechanisms. FCSA is a joint venture with
the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide a common marketplace for all government customers across the DoD,
state, local and federal agencies. The goal is to ensure they all
receive solutions that consider nationally directed information
assurance and protection requirements, have improved access
to federal supply schedules, which offers ongoing opportunity
to add new competitors, continued competitive approaches to
DISA at large serves as an advocate for the use of COMSATCOM in order to increase or free up the availability and flexibility of military communications. In the current operational
environment in theater, the requirements for satellite services
and bandwidth far exceed those available via military satellite;
therefore, there is a need to fill that capacity gap with available
commercial services. That is our mission focus.
A benefit, for example, of providing increased capacity is
supporting the use of UAVs, which supplant the need for warfighters to be in harm’s way and also provide critical intelligence
www.MIT-kmi.com
MIT 14.8 | 25
information. The volume of data generated and transmitted by
UAVs is huge and is growing every day. Our ability to provide the
satellite/communications capacity to support the UAV workload is
directly tied to the safety and security of the men and women on
the ground.
future satellite needs and technology trends in order to not only
contract for what is needed now, but also to be able to tailor our
contracts for future scenarios.
What challenges have you faced in developing this program,
and what innovative technologies or approaches are you
using to meet them?
I actually enlisted in the Army Reserves for two years prior
to my commissioning as second lieutenant. My basic branch is
Signal Corps, and I transferred to the Acquisition Corps at the
mid-career point. I deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Desert
Storm as a platoon leader, and to Kuwait and Iraq in support
of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom as assistant product
manager.
Having said that, I believe my enlisted time offers me an
understanding of supporting the Army from a soldier’s point
of view. The deployment experiences provide an appreciation
for what the forces are going through today and their needs. I
understand what it is like to be in a remote location requiring
and providing communications capability. All summed up, my
background and experiences add an additional layer of motivation
to get the capability into the warfighter’s hands as quickly and
feasibly as possible. But while my path has prepared me for the
job, there are always new nuances to learn and opportunities to
grow with any new assignment. Working a program at the defense
level will prove to be both challenging and rewarding.
If you have ever attended any acquisition-related forum, you
will likely have heard the ongoing mantra that the requirement
to adhere to rules, regulations and processes as outlined in the
Federal Acquisition Regulation can be very frustrating. The processes that must be followed to acquire a capability often do not
allow program managers to provide a product as quickly as the
customer wants or needs it. There are several constraints, such
as funding types for example, that sometimes limit the kinds of
acquisition efficiencies we would like to achieve.
How does the program support broader policy and strategic
goals of DISA and DoD?
The SATCOM program supports many of DISA’s campaign
plan initiatives. Through advances in commercial service offerings, the program improves service to the bandwidth disadvantaged user—warfighters in areas that do not have access to a
robust network—and provides upgrades that expand the enterprise to integrate SATCOM to improve warfighter capabilities.
Commercial satellite communications will also be a key enabler in
achieving DISA’s long-term vision to include converging services
toward Everything over Internet Protocol (EoIP).
Stepping back a bit from your specific program, what do you
see as the most important issues facing DoD/DISA in your area
of expertise?
One important issue is modifying existing policies and directives in such a way that we as a department can become more
flexible, timely and efficient without compromising the legality
and prudence of how we do business. Because of the nature of the
commercial satellite industry and the savings achieved through
long-term leasing, we need to be able to continually anticipate
What is your career background, and how has it prepared you
for your current mission?
How will BRAC impact you?
On a personal level, BRAC has posed a challenge. My orders
have me assigned to Fort Meade, Md., but DISA is still in northern
Virginia. Since I am authorized only one move from my prior duty
station, I have been living out of a suitcase at a friend’s place the
last two months or so. I plan to move to the Fort Meade area in
November when my household goods must come out of storage.
On a professional level, I am concerned that there will be significant personnel turnover as the BRAC move date approaches,
as some turnover has already begun. This could impact our productivity; it takes time to hire against vacant positions and takes
additional time to get new personnel spun up. As a leader and
manager, I must focus on fostering a cohesive team and get us
through any rough patches ahead. ✯
Kimberly Rice
Program Manager
Global Command and Control-Joint
Little more than a decade
after arriving at DISA with a
bachelor’s degree in international studies and government
and politics from George Mason
University, Kimberly Rice is currently managing the worldwide
Department of Defense program of record for joint command
and control. A former participant in one of several agency ini-
26 | MIT 14.8
tiatives over the years to recruit promising college graduates,
Rice last year became manager of the Global Command and
Control System-Joint (GCCS-J) program.
Incorporating a wide array of hardware, software, procedures, standards and interfaces to provide worldwide connectivity, GCCS-J is designed to enhance information superiority
and support the operational concepts of full-dimensional protection and precision engagement. It fuses select capabilities
into a comprehensive, interoperable system by exchanging
www.MIT-kmi.com
imagery, intelligence, status of forces and planning information.
The three major baselines of GCCS-J are Global, which
provides situational awareness tools and applications, intelligence applications and the infrastructure used by the overall
system, the Joint Planning and Execution System (JOPES),
and the Status of Resources and Training System (SORTS).
“The program is at an interesting point now, in that we
are still the department program of record for joint C2 but
officially in sustainment,” Rice said. “We have operational
baselines out there, and last year we completed the closeout
of the last major acquisition block for the program, which
is the last big development effort, and now everything is in
sustainment.
“Now that we’re in sustainment and getting Global
fielded, most of our focus this year has been on the problems
or issues that users have been having with the system—areas
where we may have missed things, and where are the critical
requirements that are coming in, for example from CENTCOM, that are the things they need us to do right away to
support operations,” she continued.
“A big chunk of our time has been focused on getting out
specific releases to address those types of issues,” Rice said.
“We’ve had seven or eight smaller releases this year already,
which has been good news for users and the program,
because it’s getting away from taking two or three year cycles
to get capability out the door.”
One of the biggest improvements in the program of
late, Rice explained, was the expansion of access within
Global from 20,000 tracks to 100,000 tracks. “That was a big
requirement for the users, and it has been a huge improvement.”
Rice’s other focus of late has been in response to termination of the Net-Enabled Command and Control program,
which was envisioned as the replacement for GCCS-J. As
senior leaders explore alternatives, her office is looking at
“what are some of the smart things that we need to do to
continue the good work that the joint and service programs
have done in terms of evolving the whole C2 system into a
next generation system. We’re taking some of the original
NECC tenets that are still valid requirements, and, as we
await department decisions, we’re looking at what we can do
in the interim to keep providing enhanced capabilities and
better infrastructure.
“The biggest thing for us,” she continued, “is going to
be moving things from the local sites up to the enterprise
level, keeping up with technology and making sure where
possible we can affect the policies and strategy so that we
can get things out as quickly as possible. As the users get
the requirements in, acquisition-wise we can get it back out
to them as soon as possible. We’re going to try to focus on
managing that.”
Rice summed up her operating approach this way: “It’s
the ability to get things out the door quickly, using the latest technology out there, while still meeting operational
security requirements. It’s being able to switch it out as new
stuff comes along, while making sure it is secure and has
been appropriately tested. That’s the department’s biggest
challenge, especially when it comes to software development.” ✯
William Keely
Director of Field Security Operations
Operations Directorate
When William Keely, director
of field security operations (FSO)
for DISA’s Operations Directorate, or some of his colleagues
show up at military commands
these days, they are definitely
getting people’s attention. Keely’s
teams expect this year to conduct some 130 Command Cyber
Readiness Inspections (CCRIs), which represent rigorous
evaluations of all aspects of information security at defense
facilities.
The teams in effect have become an “enforcement arm,”
Keely suggests, for U.S. CYBERCOM, the new Department of
Defense command charged with protecting DoD networks.
CYBERCOM has the authority to terminate a site’s access
to the Global Information Grid when it is not in compliance
with security standards and regulations.
Judging by the way most commands are responding to
inspections these days, the prospect of a cut-off appears to
www.MIT-kmi.com
be focusing minds wonderfully, as the saying goes, on the
importance of passing the CCRI. The inspection teams are
meeting a different reception from similar missions in the
past, Keely reports.
“When we used to do these types of things, we’d have the
IA manager, or at the most maybe a deputy J-6, taking us
around. Now, when we in-brief and out-brief, we often have
general officers. They’re taking it very seriously,” he said.
Teams typically consist of a leader, six analysts and frequently a senior military officer, who acts as a liaison while
also underscoring the importance of the process by his or her
presence. “We have several 0-6s—colonels and Navy captains
from around DISA—who take turns going out as the ‘top
cover’ for the inspection teams,” said Keely. “When you have
an 0-6 come out to a field unit, it gives even more attention
to the inspection team.”
The teams are also showing less sympathy to “repeat
offenders,” who may have gone through several earlier
inspections without evidencing much in the way of actual
MIT 14.8 | 27
progress. “Before, we would go to critical sites multiple years
in a row, and they would get ready to receive us a month or
two before. Once we were gone, they might fix a few things,
but then go back to normal. We were trying to help them
‘learn to fish,’ but now we’re kind of forcing them to learn to
fish and keep on fishing,” said Keely, adding that the teams
also have begun “no-notice” inspections.
Such efforts are essential, he said. “The DoD has to have
greater mission assurance. Much of DoD’s mission assurance is reliant on the readiness of its IT infrastructure. The
first step to readiness is compliance with DoD’s standards
and operational directives. We can’t afford for billion dollar
weapons programs to be compromised due to cybersecurity
breeches.”
Still, Keely acknowledges that the inspection process has
its own issues. “One of the primary challenges is the establishment of inspection rigor without sacrificing the unique
security issues that can be found at each site. No one can
really represent the operational risk of a site through the
application of multiple checklists, but we do need to increase
accountability for applying best practice security methods
across multiple sites.
“We are looking at the application of the continuous
monitoring approach that is being discussed across the
federal government for the improvement of security management. We are looking at reducing our inspection team size
while increasing our amount of data analysis to get a better
understanding of the posture of a site,” he continued.
In addition to doing the CCRIs, FSO is responsible for
ensuring that a proper level of risk management is being
conducted on every DISA operational system and many of
the COCOM systems; operationalizing information assurance
and computer network defense enterprisewide solutions for
DoD; general IA training for the department; development
and maintenance of Security Technical Implementation
Guides (STIGs); and DISA red teaming and penetration testing.
To help improve readiness of DISA network defense capabilities, FSO also has stood up a DISA Red Team, which has
been conducting penetration testing of major DISA acquisitions programs. “We are now preparing to do other Red Team
operations to improve our net defense readiness and give our
net defense teams true cyber-defense practice with feedback,”
Keely explained.
While CCRIs are the most time-consuming activity within
FSO, Keely emphasized that the office’s most important task
continues to be the development and maintenance of the
STIGs, which play the vital role of providing good security
guidance in the field. Given the onrush of technology, it’s a
never-ending job.
“We have to write new STIGs all the time,” he said. “Right
now, people are requesting that we write them for BlackBerrys, iPhones, Droids and other mobile devices, as well as
every time a new version of Windows comes out.”
To improve the STIG process, FSO is working with vendors to automate the configuration standards, so they’re
downloadable into the machine.
Keely concluded a recent interview with this observation: “We’ve had people thanking us that someone is taking
security so seriously. On the other hand, the people thanking
us will also say it’s causing more work and making their jobs
harder.” ✯
Paul E. Flaherty
Program Manager
DoD Gateways
After a decade spent working
on and managing DISA’s Teleport
program, Paul E. Flaherty this
summer became head of a new
initiative aimed at creating an
environment in which any user
has the ability to send or receive
any content, using any SATCOM band, over any satellite, anywhere in the world.
The new initiative, known as DoD SATCOM Gateway and
currently in process of getting organized and staffed, seeks
to bring greater unity and efficiency to the multiple SATCOM
gateways, or access points, maintained by the department
around the world.
“One of the things we are looking at as a department is
if there is a way to take these disparate gateway systems and
architect them such that you don’t have to have separate
Army, Navy or joint systems. From a cost perspective, that
28 | MIT 14.8
would save a lot of money. From a warfighter perspective, it’s
easier for them to deploy if we have standardized interfaces,”
Flaherty said. “We’re constantly looking at ways to be more
efficient in providing information to the warfighter, because
SATCOM provides 80 percent of the information going in and
out of theater today.”
In addressing the evolution of DoD’s gateways, Flaherty
brings a strong background and solid foundation based on
his experience managing the Teleport program, which provides the deployed warfighter with pre-positioned satellite
telecommunications for multi-SATCOM band and multimedia
(voice, video, and data) connectivity from deployed locations
throughout the world to online Defense Information System
Network (DISN) Service Delivery Nodes and legacy tactical
C4I systems. Teleport facilitates the interoperability between
multiple SATCOM systems and deployed tactical networks,
thus providing the user a seamless interface into the DISN and
legacy C4I systems.
www.MIT-kmi.com
A key aspect of the Teleport program, Flaherty emphasized,
is that it is a non-developmental program. “The challenge was
to design, acquire and field a system that met critical warfighter
requirements by the integration of existing COTS/GOTS capabilities and to do it within approved funding and to do it on schedule,”
he said.
“Timeliness is key to relevance as well as keeping current with
technology advances,” Flaherty continued. “The Teleport program addressed the timeliness challenge through an incremental
approach to implementation and the technology currency challenge by using a technology insertion strategy with each increment
fielded. As the warfighter changes how he fights and what he brings
to the fight, the program needs to stay agile enough to be ready.”
Flaherty explained that the goal is to take existing capability—whether developed commercially or through government
programs—and integrate it into a solution designed to expedite
deployment. “If we’re not timely in getting it out there, it doesn’t
help the warfighter,” he said.
A major issue in bringing new capabilities to the field, he noted,
is that warfighters at the same time are also architecting how they
want to fight, and procuring capability. “We have to make sure we
stay synchronized with the warfighter, so it’s important that we are
able to do that quickly,” he said.
“The challenge of any program is to stay current and relevant,”
Flaherty observed. “We need to continually focus on acquisition
process improvement to ensure the processes facilitate getting the
job done. In addition, we need to take advantage of and leverage the
technology advances in the commercial world. There is no need to
develop what has already been developed. Lastly, we need to ensure
that DoD policies, directives and instructions don’t unnecessarily
tie the hands of the implementers causing potentially avoidable
delays and costs.” ✯
Chris Paczkowski
Chief, Computer Network Defense
Enclave Security Division
PEO Mission Assurance and Network Operations
Chris Paczkowski has spent
much of the past four years touching every one of the estimated 5
million or more computers in the
Department of Defense.
Not personally, of course, but
Paczkowski has been the leader of a team that has done essentially that, in the course of conducting the largest and most
complex software implementation that DoD has ever undertaken.
The software, known as the Host Based Security System
(HBSS) is a flexible, COTS-based framework of applications
that provide DoD leaders, net defense operators, security
personnel and local administrators a mechanism to prevent,
detect, track, report and counter known cyber-threats to the
DoD enterprise computing infrastructure.
The daunting aspect of that, noted Paczkowski, chief of the
Computer Network Defense (CND) Enclave Security Division
within the Program Executive Office for Mission Assurance and
Network Operations (PEO-MA), was that it involved putting
software on every single computer system in DoD. “In most
offices, people don’t even have a count of the number of systems they have,” he recalled. “So it’s been a unique challenge,
in putting something into local environments where every
local environment, even within an organization, is different.
Trying to work through that and acquiring, engineering and
implementing what would work in all those environments has
been a unique challenge.”
The installation effort, which required departmentwide
cooperation to succeed, also took an innovative approach to
working with contractors, Paczkowski explained. “Our implementation strategy was modified with the HBSS program to
www.MIT-kmi.com
directly include the integrator and vendor in the enterprise
implementation phase. In the past, third-party contractors supported deployments and the vendor was not directly involved
with these efforts. The success of the implemented solution
was in the hands of someone other than the integrator and
vendor.
“Now the integrator and vendor are working directly with
our government team and have firsthand implementation
experience,” he continued. “This relationship empowers the
integrator/vendor to do what is necessary to successfully operationalize the capability. Also, we have modified our program
training strategy from one that was a strict classroom solution
to one that embraces multiple training environments.”
With the HBSS installation largely complete, Paczkowski
is focused on tuning HBSS’ effectiveness and leveraging the
deployed capability for the enhancement of his office’s other
portfolio program, Secure Configuration Management (SCM),
which has become prominent during the past year and continues to gain momentum across DoD and the federal government. SCM is the integration and optimization of enterprise
IA applications and tools to provide an automated capability
to inventory assets, produce configuration policy or guidance, assess baseline configuration of assets, report baseline
configuration compliance, manage Information Assurance
Vulnerability Announcements, distribute patch and remediation guidance, assess patch compliance of assets, and report
patch compliance. SCM delivers capabilities to enable dynamic
continuous monitoring, enterprise risk measurement and asset
situational awareness.
“The strategic goal for SCM is to make the warfighter’s job
easier,” Paczkowski said. “Regardless of a person’s role, everyone has multiple reporting requirements as part of their daily
MIT 14.8 | 29
activities—operational orders, federal suspenses, IA vulnerability announcements and so on. The current configuration
management and vulnerability management reporting process
is predominately manual data entry.
“We’re finding that a net defender has to have multiple
spreadsheets and manually correlate information in order to
populate different systems. You’re spending top dollars on a
trained analyst to do data entry that you could get a summer
intern to do. The challenge is to show them that if they have
automated information at their fingertips, and you can populate
those requests without putting the information manually into
different locations, that’s a savings that enables warfighters to
focus on their primary jobs,” he said.
Although the two portfolios may look different on the surface, security and asset awareness really are very intertwined
and complementary, Paczkowski suggests. “It’s tough to defend
what you don’t know. We’re working with the combatant commands, services and agencies on implementing these enterprise
acquisitions. One of the biggest challenges has been under-
standing their environments across the entire enterprise.”
Paczkowski concluded a recent interview by emphasizing
that while implementing a comprehensive project like HBSS
isn’t easy, the enterprise approach to IT being advocated by
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other senior officials is
still the right way to go.
“The challenges we are having with enterprise solutions
are not the fact that we can’t stand up a centralized system. It’s
just that if you’re going to touch every deployed warfighter in
Southwest Asia, or even in every office in DoD, that’s the bigger challenge—making sure that we understand each of the
local environments and can successfully implement a capability
there.
“This is a huge team effort that required the support of all of
DISA, the National Security Agency, the combatant commands
and other organizations. These projects are not going to be
successful without joint buy-in, and it’s even expanding beyond
DoD. There’s a lot of work going on in the federal side that we
are moving forward with,” he said. ✯
Denise C. Gentile
Program Manager
Net Centric Enterprise Services
After spending the past four
years overseeing the design, development, testing, fielding and
acquisition life-cycle of enterprise
services that enable information
sharing across the business, intelligence and warfighting mission
areas, Denise C. Gentile is understandably elated that the Net
Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) program is on the verge of
receiving its full deployment declaration and moving into its
sustainment and operations phase.
“It’s the final milestone,” said Gentile, the program manager.
“It’s a significant event for the DOD to get the program through
its acquisition lifecycle milestones, and so now it will be fully
deployed, fully operational and available to the warfighter.”
But there’s some sadness there as well, Gentile acknowledges.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling. When you’ve working so intensively on
a program, with all its challenges, highs and lows, you’re always
working at a fast pace, with 12-hour-plus days. Although it is a
feeling of accomplishment to get the program through all its
wickets and to be able to provide capability to the warfighter, it’s
also sad that you’re leaving something you have put your heart
and soul into for the last several years and leaving behind the
staff and stakeholders who helped you achieve success.
NCES is a collection of 11 enterprise services designed to
enable information sharing by connecting people and systems
that have information with those who need it. These services
enable secure information sharing and provide users the ability
to discover information, expose information, collaborate and
incorporate that information into their mission operations.
30 | MIT 14.8
Gentile explained the benefits of the approach this way:
“Because the services are offered at an enterprise level, the warfighter does not have the expense or maintenance of hardware
or software--they are readily available to them regardless of the
user’s location. But the greatest benefit to the warfighter is that
they are able to leverage these services to obtain information to
enhance their common operational picture; they don’t have to
carry the cost of these core services.
“NCES is the information sharing pioneer in enabling the
joint net-centric vision,” she continued. “We are realizing the
tenets of DoD‘s efficiency initiatives through deploying enterprise services that eliminate redundancy and duplication across
the department. As new enterprise services are identified, and
as we expand our global presence and extend our services to
our coalition partners, federal and local government, we will
continue to improve efficiency and effectiveness for national and
global security.”
With a 16-year career at DISA so far, working on a wide
range of programs, Gentile brought a wealth of acquisition and
management experience and expertise to the challenging task of
getting enterprise services to the warfighter.
“We were the first to implement the innovative ABC acquisition approach—adopt, buy, create. We looked across the department and intelligence community to adopt operational services
that would serve as enterprise solutions for our customers. Our
content discovery service was adopted from the intelligence
community; our content delivery service was adopted from the
Air Force; our user access portal was adopted from the Army;
and the metadata registry was an internal DISA capability,” she
recalled.
www.MIT-kmi.com
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“We also partnered with the testing community to streamline our test and evaluation master plan and established
reciprocity for certification and accreditation of these adopted
services,” Gentile said. “But we did not stop there; for all our
services, we were able to perform early user tests and obtain a
limited operational availability decision, which enabled us to
deliver services to the warfighter early while we continued to
enhance and complete the formal acquisition testing process.”
The wars of today and the future will be contingent on tools
and information to make agile, timely and accurate decisions,
Gentile said. “I believe that we are facing two major challenges.
The first is to be able to evolve technology solutions that
keep up with commercial technology that is familiar to our
warfighters. Today’s warfighters have more available to them
on their iPhone or Droid than on our military laptops. The
second challenge is information assurance and how we can
continue to provide secure, robust, agile enterprise services for
the warfighter.”
Gentile concluded a recent interview with these reflections:
“It takes time to evolve legacy systems to new technology, and
it takes time to change the culture of people to adopt change
and restructure their business and operational processes. It’s
the challenge that enterprise services are faced with today, but
as the user becomes more comfortable with enterprise services
and realizes mission benefit, enterprise services will become
part of their day-to-day operations.
“I am sure that these enterprise services will evolve, and
new enterprise services will be added. But the underlying message is that enterprise services enable the warfighter to make
more informed, accurate and robust and agile decisions. I am
proud to have been a part of this program and the joint netcentric vision. I am looking forward to my next challenge.” ✯
Julia Brown
Project Manager, Network Services
DISN Video Services
U.S. and Allied commanders in
Afghanistan are now able to communicate more effectively and securely,
thanks to a video teleconference
(VTC) bridging service that Julia
Brown spent much of 2010 helping
develop.
The Afghanistan Theater Video Bridge, which met final operating capability in August, represented another successful telecommunications initiative worked on by Brown, a project manager for
network services in the DISN Video Services division.
With a background in multiple video systems over the past 25
years, Brown is a firm believer in the value of the direct personal
contact made possible by video teleconferencing technology.
“When you communicate, there are multiple layers of communication,” Brown explained. “The vast majority of the communication we do, as human beings, is actually nonverbal. An e-mail
could be misinterpreted or not interpreted 100 percent correctly.
“When you have video teleconferencing available, people, especially those who are in a command level position, seem to prefer
video teleconferencing for their communication. It’s very important; because they’re not only observing what people are saying,
but they’re also observing behavior. With video teleconferencing,
they’re better able to determine if everyone is truly onboard with
what’s being discussed. As master communicators, they understand that sometimes, objections and reservations are not necessarily communicated with spoken words, but are exhibited with
people’s body language,” she continued.
“It’s particularly important when we’re working with our Allies,
especially with the multilingual coalition operation in Afghanistan.
Language translation might not always be 100 percent accurate
and therefore, a communication impediment or barrier; however,
body language and facial expressions tend to be universal.”
32 | MIT 14.8
As might be expected, the Afghan video bridge posed a number of technological challenges, notably involving the linking
of networks maintained at varying levels of security by the U.S.
and other nations.
“The biggest challenge was establishing a secure crossdomain connecting the U.S. SIPRNet, NATO and ISAF CENTRIX networks,” Brown said. “I was fortunate to have support
from the project co-lead, Army Major Richard Abelkis and his
technical guidance. We worked in close coordination with the
Joint Staff, the National Security Agency, the Joint Interoperability Test Command, CENTCOM and U.S. Forces Afghanistan
to develop, test and field a unique approach to secure H.323
communications in this sensitive environment.”
Brown also spends time on the DISN Video Services (DVS)
program, which provides a VTC bridging service, enabling
communication between U.S. and Allied warfighters and their
support components globally. Brown’s office is currently working to converge DVS onto the IP network environment, and is
in the process of establishing a classified IP VTC service at the
Defense Enterprise Computing Center, Columbus, Ohio.
Looking back, Brown emphasizes the lessons she has
learned from various career mentors. “They taught me to
believe in the power of teamwork among people. While I
understand and truly appreciate the technical element, the
human factor is what makes everything work. I am fortunate to
work with talented people across the board, who will overcome
obstacles and see a project through any and all difficulties.
Human beings are the true interface connectors in any successful technical project.”
“I really enjoy my work here at DISA and look forward to
bringing newer technologies to the warfighter and helping to
innovate ways for more effective telecommunication in the
future,” she added. “I believe in what we do!” ✯
www.MIT-kmi.com
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
First Future COMSATCOM
Services Acquisition Contract Awarded
The General Services Administration (GSA) and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) have made the
first contract award under the Future Commercial Satellite Communications Services Acquisition program. The
first award went to ARTEL, under the Schedule 70 contract with the new commercial satellite communications
items. ARTEL’s contract award will allow them to sell satellite bandwidth and subscription services, including
both fixed and mobile satellite services, to federal, state and tribal governments. The GSA and DISA satellite
communications partnership was formed in August 2009 to provide customers with a common marketplace for
accessing critical communications services that will result in significant savings for taxpayers.
Contract Support
Consolidates Satellite
Ground Systems
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center
(SMC) has awarded Integral Systems a $1.5 million
contract modification to its Command and Control
System-Consolidated (CCS-C) contract. Under the
terms of the contract modification, Integral Systems
will continue to provide the Air Force and SMC with
its Epoch Integrated Product Suite to simplify operations by consolidating satellite ground systems.
The contract modification includes software development, installation and test support for Wideband
Global SATCOM (WGS) telemetry and orbital analysis enhancements. Additionally, the modification
provides on-site support for remaining advanced
extremely high frequency (AEHF) exercises and
launches. CCS-C is currently configured to support
MILSATCOM satellites across four systems: the
Defense Satellite Communications System; Milstar;
WGS; and the AEHF system. CCS-C consists of highspecification, commercially available computer
servers and workstations running commercially
available telemetry, tracking and command software packages on a local area network-based
client/server architecture.
Marines Seek Support
for Tactical Remote
Sensing Program
L-3 Communications’ Nova Engineering subsidiary has
been awarded a $52.8 million follow-on contract to support
the Marine Corps’ Tactical Remote Sensor Systems (TRSS)
program. Under this five-year award, Nova will provide
equipment, upgrades and repairs, and program management services in support of the TRSS initiative.
L-3’s TRSS system provides the capability for all-weather
remote monitoring of activity within and near a given objective area. The system is unique in providing autonomous
and continuous unattended sensor surveillance of multiple
distant areas, and can detect the presence of movement and
classify the target, identifying it as personnel or wheeled or
tracked vehicles, while also determining the direction of
movement. This capability allows troops to know what type
of activity is occurring in an area of interest and respond
accordingly, in real time. L-3 Nova Engineering, based in
Cincinnati, Ohio, designs, develops and produces digital and
real-time embedded software and hardware for communications and telemetry applications, including flight and
ground engagement simulation, imaging target detection
and fusion-enabled sensor technology.
Nicole Beckwith:
nicole.beckwith@l-3com.com
Quantum Enterprise
Buy Covers
Air Force Computer
Hardware
The Air Force has selected HP as a
preferred technology provider for a new fiveyear enterprise computing blanket purchase
agreement (BPA). Under the terms of the new
Client Computing/Servers (CCS) BPA, cumulatively worth up to $800 million, HP products may be selected through the quantum
enterprise buy (QEB) procurement system. In
support of Air Force QEB programs over the
last five years, HP has delivered more than
$450 million worth of computing products,
including more than 720,000 desktop PCs
and 40,000 notebook PCs. HP will provide the
Air Force with a wide array of business desktop
and notebook PCs, including workstations,
mobile workstations, thin clients, businessrugged PCs and performance displays. The
award also will include departmental servers
and additional storage for existing storage
area networks. Products acquired through
the CCS award will be distributed to bases
and facilities around the world. HP hardware
purchased through the CCS BPA complies with
environmental preference programs and the
Department of Defense Green Procurement
Program (GPP) policy, which directs federal
procurement officials to give preference to
environmentally friendly products and
services. The GPP program elements include
production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance and
disposal of hardware products.
Encryption Devices to Upgrade Security of Blue Force Tracking
The Army has awarded Northrop Grumman
a contract to provide encryption devices that will
upgrade communications security of the Force
XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2)Blue Force Tracking (BFT) network, allowing
warfighters to more broadly share critical information. FBCB2-BFT is the key situational awareness and
command and control system used by U.S. and coalition
forces. To date, more than 85,000 FBCB2-BFT systems
www.MIT-kmi.com
have been deployed worldwide. Under the five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract potentially worth
$300 million, Northrop Grumman will supply programmable in-line encryption devices (PIED) for installation
in FBCB2-BFT platforms and network operations centers
worldwide. The PIED, which is certified by the National
Security Agency, will provide vital security to the network
by encrypting sensitive data. The PIED software is fully
interoperable with the Joint Capability Release—the
next version of FBCB2 software developed by Northrop
Grumman—and is designed to support both the currently
fielded network and the next-generation BFT-2 network.
Harris is Northrop Grumman’s partner in the development and manufacture of the PIED, which is based on
Harris’ KGV-72 solution. The PIEDs will be manufactured
at the Harris facility in Rochester, N.Y., while program and
inventory management will be conducted at Northrop
Grumman’s facility in Carson, Calif.
MIT 14.8 | 33
The ACCESS TEIS III Team Manages >600 task orders on
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The Total Value of these Defense Contracts? Greater than $10B+ per year!
ACCESS TEIS III TEAM
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CMMI-SVC rating recognizes ACCESS’ world-class
SSD processes in:
• Integrated Project Management
• Requirements Management
• Decision Analysis and Resolution
• Configuration Management
• Measurement and Analysis
• Project Monitoring and Control
• Project Planning
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• Service Delivery
• Supplier Agreement Management
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• Incident Resolution and Prevention
• Organizational Process Focus
• Organizational Training
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ACCESS provides world-class SSD processes at no
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C4ISR Sustainer
Q& A
Meeting Expanding Requirements for Systems Support
Major General Randolph Strong
Commanding General
Army Communications-Electronics
Life Cycle Management Command
and Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Major General Randolph P. Strong serves as commanding
general, CECOM Life Cycle Management Command [CECOM
LCMC]. As commander, Strong leads a worldwide organization of
more than 11,000 military and civilian personnel responsible for
coordinating, integrating and synchronizing the entire life cycle
management of C4ISR systems for all of the Army’s battlefield
mission areas—maneuver control, fire support, air defense, intelligence, combat services support, tactical radios, satellite communications and the warfighter information network.
Prior to assuming command, Strong served as director of
architecture, operations, networks and space, Army Office of the
Chief Information Officer/G-6.
A native of Woodland, Calif., Strong was commissioned in the
Army as a Signal Corps officer upon graduating from the U.S.
Military Academy. He holds a master’s degree in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School and a master’s degree
in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War
College.
During his career in the Army, Strong has served in a wide
variety of command and staff positions. He has extensive service
in both Europe and the Pacific. Recently, he served as the 31st
chief of signal and commanding general, Army Signal Center and
Fort Gordon. Strong also served as commander, 141st Signal Battalion/G6, 1st Armored Division during the division’s deployment
to Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of Operation Joint Endeavor. In
October 1999 he deployed and served as commander, U.S. ForcesEast Timor—a joint force deployed to East Timor in support of
Operation Stabilize.
Strong was interviewed by MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly.
Q: What is the role of CECOM in the buildup of forces in Afghanistan, as well as the drawdown from Iraq?
A: Our command support to overseas contingency operations
is our top priority. It’s all about supporting our nation and the
deployed warfighter. Our effort is largely in three areas: the drawdown in Iraq, the buildup in Afghanistan and foreign military
sales. Clearly, a major part of our overseas contingency operations
is the drawdown in Iraq—the number of folks that are dedicated to
those missions within our CECOM organizations is incredible. For
example, in Iraq, when you look at CECOM and our Army Team
C4ISR partners, we have over 2,300 of our military, civilian and
contractor personnel deployed. Our Drawdown Special Projects
www.MIT-kmi.com
Office has the task of retrograding C4ISR assets out of theater; this
year alone more than 30,000 pieces of Army equipment have been
removed from theater and sent to our various sources of repair.
This is a vital process in getting equipment back to warfighters in
top condition.
Our Logistics and Readiness Center’s Directorate for Readiness [DRE] currently has more than 85 Army civilian employees
and over 1,000 contractor field service representatives [CFSRs]
deployed throughout Southwest Asia, with the great majority
based in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of our Army civilian employees
in Iraq are logistics assistance representatives [LARs], who provide
direct support to our soldiers and literally live with them at their
unit deployment locations. These LARs are our frontline presence
and provide direct operations and ‘field level maintenance’ support
to our warfighters for all standard C4ISR weapons systems.
Other DRE Army civilians in Southwest Asia are involved in
direct training efforts and teaching warfighters how to use equipment they would not have encountered at their garrison locations
prior to deployment. Examples of these systems are the newly
developed elevated sensor systems, such as the Rapid Aerostat
Initial Deployment and Cerberus aerostat systems used by our
warfighters to maintain perimeter security and real-time situational awareness of the surrounding areas.
MIT 14.8 | 35
We also provide the Electronic Sustainment Support Center and
Regional Support Center [RSC] managers who direct the CFSRs in
providing sustainment maintenance support for nonstandard weapons systems, including many of the high frequency radios used by
our soldiers, the Counter Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive
Device Electronic Warfare [CREW] weapons systems, and the tactical biometrics systems for maintaining security over entry to our
forward operating bases and for identifying known and suspected
terrorists and other ‘bad actors.’ In a break from DRE’s traditional
role of support to U.S. forces, we also have contractors in direct support of the Afghan National Army, for developing their maintenance
and sustainment capability for HF radio communications.
Another big part of our overseas contingency operations is the
important mission of supporting our coalition partners. In FY10 our
foreign military sales will encompass 19 cases and 65,000 assets at a
value of more than $330 million.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is hard at work installing installation
kits and other pieces of the buildup, and our Logistics and Readiness Center’s Security Assistance Management Directorate is heavily involved in security assistance for foreign military sales cases as
we continue to push UHF radios, HF radios, single channel tactical
satellite radios and vehicle radios into the hands of allied forces.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in supporting expanded operations in Afghanistan?
A: Our biggest challenge is meeting the rapidly expanding requirements for the full range of C4ISR weapons systems sustainment
support within aggressive timelines and fiscal resources available.
CECOM is meeting this challenge through targeted application of
resources based on a regional “hub and spoke” projection forward
of manpower and materiel.
As an example, we’re expanding C4ISR RSC operating locations from long-term sites at Bagram Air Field [Parwan Province]
and Kandahar Air Field [Kandahar Province] to new sites at Camp
Leatherneck [Helmand Province], Shindand [Herat Province], and
Mazar E Sharif [Balkh Province]. This major expansion will more
than double the current staff for the RSCs in Afghanistan and will
enable much more responsive regional support for key communications weapons systems, remote unmanned sensor systems, military
standard generators and other command and control systems critical to the warfighter. At the same time, our Logistics and Readiness
Center [LRC] is expanding the deployment of maintenance and
training teams throughout Afghanistan. We’re elevating support for
the Base Expeditionary Targeting Surveillance System-Combined
and Ground-Based Operational Surveillance System force protection weapons systems, expanding deployment of training teams for
network operations, and continuing installation and maintenance
support throughout Afghanistan for CREW weapons systems. Our
LRC is also expanding support for tactical biometrics weapons
systems.
However, I also want to emphasize that meeting U.S. and coalition force challenges is not enough. In support of the national strategy, we must also leave behind an Afghan military structure capable
of meeting its command and control requirements into the future.
Not often associated with CECOM are ongoing efforts, in cooperation with the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan
and the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, to expand maintenance and mentoring support for the Afghan national security
36 | MIT 14.8
forces’ high frequency radio and system engineering requirements.
From an initial program of five staff members at the Afghan Ministry of Defense, this effort is now expanding to include all Afghan
National Army brigade-level commands throughout Afghanistan
and is enabling Afghan soldiers to maintain and operate their own
radios and secure network communications systems after initial
U.S. “train the trainer” assistance.
CECOM, with the Combined Security Transition CommandAfghanistan and the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, is working
with the Afghan Ministry of Defense to transition Afghan national
security forces away from dependence on coalition forces for critical communications support to being able to provide for their own
communications; and with the equipment they maintain using
Afghan, not NATO- or U.S.-provided soldiers and technicians.
Q: What role is the Tobyhanna Army Depot playing in these
efforts?
A: Based on extensive experience gained over several years of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tobyhanna Army Depot was also well
prepared to rapidly expand its presence in Afghanistan with experienced and well-qualified personnel. The number of Tobyhanna’s
forward repair activities has expanded from three in 2007 to 14 this
year. On an average day, about 50 personnel are in-country, providing direct support to warfighters on several counter-IED systems,
as well as standard Army management information systems, air
defense and management cell, lightweight counter mortar radar,
communication security systems, common ground station and
command post system and integration systems.
Tobyhanna has effectively adapted to the impact of expanded
overseas contingency operations support by modifying systems and
adding facilities to ensure systems’ reliability in the theater of operations. For example, the AN/TPQ-36 and 37 Firefinder counter-weapons radars were subject to failure due to the high temperatures in
Southwest Asia. To counter this challenge, Tobyhanna constructed
an elevated burn facility for conducting elevated temperature testing to simulate conditions of up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat is
applied to multiple components of the radar system for extended
periods of time while the systems are in full operating mode,
increasing long-term reliability of the systems by inducing, isolating
and correcting heat-related faults and failures.
Tobyhanna also constructed a lightweight counter mortar radar
[LCMR] live-fire simulator to speed the testing and repair of that
critical force protection system. The simulator reduces the cost and
time associated with conducting live-fire testing of the LCMR at
Yuma Proving Ground, resulting in reduced cost and faster turnaround time in getting these systems to Afghanistan.
In addition, Tobyhanna personnel are aiding the rapid movement of equipment from Iraq to support increased operations in
Afghanistan and are aiding the return of other equipment stateside
for reset and repair. More than 40 Tobyhanna personnel are in Iraq
as members of redistribution property accountability teams. That
effort includes identifying C4ISR equipment as well as providing
guidance and assistance to units. They pack, wrap, ship and record
each piece of equipment processed.
Tobyhanna Army Depot has used its design, manufacturing and
integration capabilities to support the new mix of platforms requiring blue force tracking and counter-IED systems in Afghanistan,
such as MRAPs and HMMWVs for the Marine Corps.
www.MIT-kmi.com
CECOM is bringing to bear in Operation Enduring Freedom
the full capabilities of our command in support of the nation’s
strategic objectives. But in the end, our bottom line is the
warfighter and ensuring we are plugged into the warfighter’s
needs on the battlefield.
Q: What is the current status of your organization’s Base
Realignment and Closure [BRAC] move to Maryland, and when
do you expect to complete the relocation?
A: We’re now in the final implementation phase of BRAC 2005
law, and our command is well over halfway there, with nearly
2,000 Army Team C4ISR personnel already on the ground at
Aberdeen Proving Ground [APG], Md.
To give you an idea of the magnitude and scope of the move,
it’s been estimated that the equivalent of 1,437 moving van loads
will be required to move the entire command between now and
2011. I’ve relocated my office to APG and we held a CECOM flagcasing ceremony at Fort Monmouth in September, representing
and symbolizing the move of the command to APG.
The C4ISR Center of Excellence at APG will co-locate the
Army’s key players in C4ISR systems support. Joining with
other APG resident organizations, such as the Army Test and
Evaluation Command, Aberdeen Test Center and Army Research,
Development and Engineering Command, CECOM and its C4ISR
partners will join the significant technology community at APG
and will help solidify APG’s reputation as being the home to Army
technology.
Our new campus at APG is nearing completion, with the first
occupants already moving into buildings on the campus. The
relocation of our command will occur in phases between now
and next summer, when it will be completed. We plan to use the
BRAC move to the new campus at APG to transform and enrich
our organization, facilities and people. Personnel in related mission and business processes will be co-located in the new campus
to provide a collaborative work environment.
Whereas our command missions were once spread over a
total of 60 or more buildings throughout Fort Monmouth, we
will soon find ourselves in a close-knit environment of fewer than
a dozen buildings, all of which are within walking distance of
each other. Labs will complement each other and facilities once
spread across several buildings will now be much closer together.
Those facilities will be modern and spacious and will include a
new auditorium and training facilities.
This center of excellence will include green spaces, vistas and
lots of daylight to help develop a more relaxing environment.
Civilian and military personnel will have the opportunity to cross
train, will have flexible work schedules and will work in decentralized operations in a state-of-the-art information technology
environment.
When we began our BRAC planning in 2005, we thought
that about 30 percent of the work force would make the move
to APG. We have worked with the state of Maryland and county
governments in the APG area to ensure our employees have all
the information they need about real estate, communities, job
market and other factors to make an informed decision regarding their relocation. The state of Maryland established a onestop information center on Fort Monmouth to help ensure our
employees have quick and easy access to the information they
need. As a result of these efforts, we now anticipate that about 50
percent of our work force will make the move.
We have also done significant hiring over the last few years in
anticipation of our losses. We have a very robust recruiting program, and we attend numerous college and university job fairs
as well as career fairs geared to more experienced job candidates,
including transitioning soldiers.
These efforts have paid great dividends. In 2009, CECOM
and the other C4ISR organizations at Fort Monmouth that are
moving to APG [including the Communications-Electronics
Research, Development and Engineering Center, Program Executive Office [PEO] for Command, Control and CommunicationsTactical [C3T], PEO for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and
Sensors [IEW&S], PEO for Integration and CECOM Contracting
Center] hired 736 employees. As of July of this year, we have
hired 536 employees, and are on track to hire a total of 850 by
the end of the year.
Harford County, Maryland
Welcomes the
CECOM-LCMC Mission
its Employees and
their Families to
Aberdeen Proving Ground
P O S I T I O N YO U R B U S I N E S S i n H a r fo r d C o u n t y !
Q: What are the key issues you face in the BRAC transition, and
how are you addressing them?
A: A key issue throughout our BRAC transition has been human
resources, ensuring we effectively recruit and retain employees
to maintain mission continuity while taking care of our people—
both those who decide to relocate to APG and those who decide
not to relocate.
www.MIT-kmi.com
www.harfordbusiness.org
410.638.3059
888.I95.SITE
David R. Craig, County Executive
James C. Richardson, Director of Economic Development
MIT 14.8 | 37
We also have ensured that people who do not intend to relocate
to APG have all the information and resources they need regarding
benefits available to them as well as outplacement and retraining
opportunities. We have worked with the state of New Jersey and Monmouth County, where Fort Monmouth is located, in providing our
employees information regarding the outplacement and retraining
programs available to them.
We have also provided Army-sponsored outplacement seminars
and job search workshops, and have afforded our employees the
opportunity to register as early as possible in the Department of
Defense Priority Placement Program.
As in any large scale transformation effort, constant and consistent communications are essential. Throughout our BRAC transition, we have used numerous methods and forums including regular
town hall meetings, briefings, relocation fairs, and a comprehensive
BRAC Website on our knowledge center to keep our work force
engaged and informed.
Q: You recently mentioned your vision of CECOM LCMC as DoD’s
premier provider of C4ISR capabilities, while also noting that you
are in a “competitive business.” What is it about your command
that makes it stand out from other organizations offering similar
services?
A: I see C4ISR as a growth business. We’re in an unprecedented
and rapid revolution in military affairs as we’re witnessing and
participating in a monumental change from a kinetic warfare to
information warfare era on the battlefield. What that means is an
increased demand for bandwidth and for more points of presence of
the network on the battlefield. It also means increased requirements
for applications that fuse information, for lightweight power sources,
for smaller maintenance and repair footprints and for better utilization of the spectrum. CECOM carries the legacy of over 90 years of
experience supporting Army communications-electronics, and has
the unique capabilities and trained work force to be at the forefront
of this change.
The CECOM Software Engineering Center [SEC] delivers life
cycle software support solutions that ensure war fighting superiority
and information dominance. We’re providing battlespace and business software solutions ranging from air and ground sensors, tactical
communications, electronic warfare and satellite communications to
enterprise and battlespace logistics systems.
Our Information Systems Engineering Command [ISEC] engineers the key backbone infrastructure that enables information
transport from the battlefield back to national command and control
centers. ISEC customers include the PEO for Enterprise Information
Systems [EIS] as well as the combatant commands. We also support
other DoD and federal agencies such as the Defense Information Systems Agency, Joint Interoperability Test Command and Department
of Homeland Security.
The Central Technical Support Facility [CTSF] at Fort Hood,
Texas, tests and certifies every piece of code or application for interoperability across Army systems before it goes on the battlefield, as well
as joint C4I systems. The CTSF has the unique capability to replicate
the Army’s tactical battlespace in its labs. In the past year the CTSF
conducted more than 120 certifications and assessments ensuring
that battle space code performed to specs before fielding to soldiers.
CECOM and our personnel are unique assets to the Army’s sustainment in all aspects of soldiers’ C4SIR systems. Tobyhanna Army
38 | MIT 14.8
Depot is one of the Army’s premier depots providing maintenance,
manufacturing, integration and field repair to C4ISR systems worldwide. In addition to Tobyhanna’s 1.9 million square feet depot facilities in Pennsylvania, we have over 80 forward repair activities located
with soldiers across the globe. Winner of the 2008 Chief of Staff of the
Army Maintenance Excellence Award, Tobyhanna’s world class work
force is specifically trained on the total breadth of C4SIR systems.
Lastly, the CECOM Logistics and Readiness Center provides a
global C4ISR logistics footprint in support of Army and coalition
forces, as well as partnering with PEOs to develop the maintenance
scenarios of the future. The LRC is the Army’s C4ISR national inventory control point, national maintenance point, overseer of C4ISR
industrial base management and lead agency for C4ISR security
assistance to U.S. coalition partners. With a more than $2.9 billion
FY10 program, the LRC is in the forefront of all areas of C4ISR equipment sustainment.
Together, our CECOM centers provide a one-stop shop for our
customers who seek software, applications, electronics maintenance,
sustainment, manufacturing, design and repair support. We provide
service not only to the Army, but to all our nation’s warfighters and
coalition services. The breadth of our command services and expertise crosses Army boundaries, and extends support wherever needed
within DoD. CECOM organizations are aligned to provide life cycle
support capability to hundreds of C4ISR weapons systems, thus contributing to the fulfillment of Army force generation requirements.
Q: How is CECOM organized, and where does it fit within the overall Army structure?
A: CECOM is part of the Army Materiel Command and provides
C4ISR materiel enterprise processes and life cycle support that the
assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and PEOs for C3T, EIS and IEW&S rely upon in their cradle-tograve management of their acquisition programs. We’re organized
to provide support in the most efficient and effective manner possible, fully supporting the Army’s force generation model and the
warfighter. From total package fielding and operator-level training to
equipment reset, our personnel are at the tip of the spear in providing
the necessary support to ensure our armed forces are in an advanced
state of readiness in support of national strategy. We now have a total
of nearly 2,100 personnel and industry teammates deployed to 15
countries.
Each of the five CECOM centers has a unique but complementary
mission—running the gamut from configuration management and
interoperability testing [CTSF] to systems engineering and installation [ISEC] to logistics and sustainment support [LRC] to life
cycle software solutions and services [SEC] to systems integration
and depot-level management [Tobyhanna Army Depot]. All of our
centers collaborate and work closely together on various and diverse
C4ISR project efforts as a one-stop shop in support of our worldwide
customers.
Q: How would you describe your command’s role in the Army reset
and transformation process?
A: Our command reset mission is our second top priority after our
support to overseas contingency operations. This mission is all about
supporting warfighter units, units that have just spent a year or 15
months deployed.
www.MIT-kmi.com
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Equipment reset requirements are identified 120 days before a
brigade leaves theater in accordance with organizational property
books and the Army Reset Management Tool. Regional Army force
generation [ARFORGEN] synchronization conferences are also
held with brigade leadership prior to and after a brigade returns
to home station to identify and capture all equipment requirements and to workload different sources of repair. We work with
weapon systems project/program managers and PEO personnel,
in conjunction with brigade leadership, to facilitate hand-off
and training of equipment to units, and we continue our efforts
throughout overall Army C4ISR materiel enterprise support of
the unit during mission rehearsal exercises and multiple other
training events. The end-state is full reset of both equipment and
personnel and a brigade combat team readied for full spectrum
operations.
CECOM directs appropriate resources to ensure timely reset
and necessary training so that all Army units meet or exceed
Army-directed timelines and milestones. This year we will support over 1,100 returning units. Our reset efforts are divided into
sustainment level [depot] and field level [home station] missions.
At the sustainment level we will reset more than 33,000 assets,
and at field level more than 106,000. In terms of communications
security, we will reset more than 21,000 assets. Our integration team will complete 41 missions this year, installing C4ISR
packages in more than 9,000 vehicles. Our special repair team,
the Communications-Electronics Evaluation and Repair Team
[CEER-T], will perform 72 missions, resetting more than 144,000
critical communications and night vision assets to 10/20 standards.
Since FY03, Tobyhanna Army Depot personnel have reset such
critical systems as AN/ALQ-144 countermeasures sets, tactical
operations centers, AN/TSC-85/93 satellite terminals, AN/TPQ36/37 Firefinder radars, AN/ASM-146/147 electronic shelters, AN/
ASM-189/190 electronic vans, COMSEC and AN/TRC-170 radios.
Tobyhanna personnel also are part of CECOM’s CEER-T effort.
Since the inception of CEER-T in December 2007, it has reset
over 300,000 night vision and SINCGARS assets at about 30 stateside and overseas locations.
Tobyhanna provides specialized reset support for returning
units from both Iraq and Afghanistan. The equipment is directed
to one of three Tobyhanna regional reset locations—Fort Bragg,
N.C., Fort Hood, Texas, or Fort Lewis, Wash.—based on unit home
station location. The depot has reset logistics and repair teams set
up at these locations to work with CECOM reset liaison officers
and the units. Prior to the end of the reset process, reset refresher
training is coordinated between the unit, Tobyhanna reset personnel and Tobyhanna’s new equipment training instructors.
The Firefinder reliability, maintainability and improvement
program plays a large role in system sustainment, eliminating
the single point of failure by converting liquid cooling to air cooling, increasing reliability and overall operational availability for
the soldier. Tobyhanna engineers also participate in an integrated
product team forum to address design and other technical issues
discovered during repair and testing.
Tobyhanna’s new equipment training instructors support
Army transformation by providing mobile training teams offering
soldiers formal classroom instruction, life cycle management,
and on-site over-the-shoulder field support. System training
includes operations and maintenance instruction on several sys40 | MIT 14.8
tems, including tactical operations centers and the VIC3 vehicle
intercom system. In addition, operator and installation training
is given on the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver. This training
provides warfighters with the operational and maintenance experience to support newer systems in the inventory.
Finally, Tobyhanna is ensuring its lead position in C4ISR
sustainment through its Depot Maintenance of the Future facility [DMOF], a working laboratory to evaluate new tools, equipment and facilities. It features a flexible and agile workplace
that can rapidly be reconfigured to accommodate new workload
techniques and respond to the needs of customers. The DMOF
also features an advanced visualization system that interfaces
with Tobyhanna’s computer-aided engineering software to provide a three-dimensional virtual means to deliver design and
manufacturing solutions in real-time, reducing the need to build
prototypes and speeding product development. Its engineering
capabilities make Tobyhanna a leader in technology insertion,
reverse engineering and downsizing of C4ISR systems to make
them more transportable.
As an added tool, Tobyhanna is using lean six sigma methods
and processes to transform its business operations, resulting in
reduced cycle time, increased throughput and cost-avoidance
and savings of more than $145,000 since FY02. It has earned four
Shingo medallions for process improvements on Army and Air
Force C4ISR systems.
Q: What are you doing to do to increase the effectiveness of
your organization’s partnership with industry, and what changes
would you like to see from industry?
A: CECOM meets with industry regularly at their request. We
provide information as to how to access government bulletin
boards and write proposals, clarify competitive processes and
encourage communication and questions. Our interaction with
industry normally includes the publication of synopses, market
research, an ombudsman interface, industry days, pre-solicitation
conferences, posting draft documents for industry comment and
debriefings as requested. Partnering generally occurs on a specific
contract or project where the parties enter into a voluntary agreement outlining methods of communication and issue resolution.
In addition, we contact industry for market information. We also
provide feedback to small businesses regarding market research
so they can better prepare themselves to respond to our request
for proposals.
With regard to small businesses, the CECOM Contracting
Center at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., works as a partner with the Small
Business Development Center. Together, we’ve provided two-day
small business outreach activities there at the local Cochise Community College. The outreach includes training, workshops and
panel discussions. Large businesses are also invited to encourage
mentoring to small businesses.
Since the CECOM Contracting Center at Fort Monmouth is
in the process of moving to APG, our Small Business Programs
Office has been focusing a significant amount of industry outreach efforts toward companies and organizations that have a
presence in the APG vicinity. The office has been conducting
many industry outreach meetings with small and large businesses
and has participated in numerous networking and matchmaking
events such as a recent APG showcase.
www.MIT-kmi.com
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For the first time, we’ll be hosting our annual small business
conference at APG in early December 2010, which will be tied in
with the annual CECOM advance planning briefing for industry
event. The conference will provide an outstanding opportunity
for several hundred contractors to meet CECOM personnel,
network with other defense contractors and learn about doing
business with CECOM.
The CECOM small business office would like to see large
business firms focus on expanding subcontracting opportunities
and is encouraging small businesses to focus on specific areas of
expertise and to develop their reputations in those areas. We’re
encouraging all businesses to increase their responses to our
market research, sources sought and requests for information.
As far as changes we’d like to encourage in industry
approaches, we’ve noted that businesses frequently have issues
with cost accounting systems, including non-compliance with
cost accounting standards and in providing current G&A and
overhead rates. This slows the acquisition award process.
Another change that CECOM would like to see from industry
would be more attention paid to proposal instructions, especially regarding subcontractor cost information in proposal
submissions.
Q: How is CECOM working to develop common electronic
architectures to integrate the Army’s ground and air combat
capabilities?
A: CTSF has been actively engaged in air-ground operations
improvements through participation in and support of Agile
Fires Phase I and II main exercises during the past year. Agile
Fires is a joint exercise initiative approved by the chiefs of staff
of the Air Force and Army designed to explore more efficient
and effective means to plan, execute and manage air-ground
operations.
Phase I was executed in January, phase II in August. The centerpiece of the exercises has been the stand-up and employment
of an experimental joint air ground integration cell [JAGIC] as
an integral part of an Army division tactical operations center
at the CTSF as one of several distributed joint exercise sites.
JAGIC is a concept that is projected to enhance joint collaborative efforts to integrate joint air-ground assets. It provides commanders the ability to plan, coordinate, deconflict/integrate and
control three-dimensional operations in the airspace overlying
the division area of operations in real-time or near real-time.
When airspace control is combined with the joint integration of intelligence, targeting and fires, the commander can
employ ISR assets effectively, including unmanned aircraft and
fixed and rotary wing platforms. The commander can also leverage joint ISR capabilities to find, track and target the enemy
and more rapidly decide, target, deconflict and precisely engage
emerging high value, time-sensitive targets.
The JAGIC concept co-locates decision making authorities
from the land and air component with the highest level of situational awareness to support the maneuver commander’s concept
of operations, joint force air component commander objectives
and intent, and requirements of joint force commander-designated authorities. The JAGIC collaborates to more effectively
execute the mission and reduce risk at the lowest levels. It may
include an Air Force air support operations center, appropriate
42 | MIT 14.8
tactical air control party, highest echelon Army fire control,
Army airspace command and control and other Army or special
operations C2 elements.
Q: Turning to just one of the many organizations under your
command, what do you see as some of the most exciting initiatives underway at the Software Engineering Center?
A: I’m glad you asked that question, because in our C4ISR
material enterprise, software is becoming a more and more
important part of warfighter systems. In many cases, the software itself is the system—especially when you’re talking about
command and control.
CECOM’s SEC is unique in the span of support it provides,
not to mention the new areas into which they’re constantly
moving. Our SEC currently supports 410 systems, including
battlespace systems providing capabilities to support command
and control [for example the Army Battle Command System
and Force 21 Battle Command Brigade-and-Below]; to gather
and analyze intelligence [Distributed Common Ground SystemArmy and Guardrail]; to communicate across the battlefield
[Warfighter Information Network-Tactical and Joint Tactical
Radio System]; and to keep them safe while doing so [Firefinder
and CREW].
This support also includes business applications to ensure
our soldiers are fed [such as the Army Food Management
Information System]; housed [Housing Operations Management System]; moved [Transportation Coordinators’ Automated
Information for Movements Systems II]; and supplied [Property
Book Unit Supply Enhanced and the Standard Army Retail Supply System]. These systems are currently in use by uniformed
personnel and DoD civilian employees both in garrison and
forward deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition to the direct support SEC provides to these critical systems, they provide enterprise services enabling information gathering, increasing efficiency and streamlining processes
for faster, more accurate and cost effective answers to data
requirements. The Department of the Army has designated the
CECOM SEC as the Army’s Net Centric Data Strategy Center of
Excellence in recognition of their expertise in data management
and data strategy. They’re directly responsible for providing the
Army chief information officer-G6 the data administration and
technical expertise required to implement the DoD net-centric
data strategy across the Army.
One of the many fields the SEC is currently involved in is the
biometrics data sharing community. As you know, biometrics is
a very dynamic area with multiple areas in which the data may
be used—from controlling access to identifying both friendly
and enemy personnel. SEC is developing the architecture framework for biometrics data sharing across the entire community
of interest, which includes DoD, Homeland Security and Justice. Even the FBI is involved with this effort.
Another data management innovation the CECOM SEC has
developed to support the DoD community is their technologybased Litigation Support Service, which provides access to electronically stored information for Army Legal Services Agency
attorneys. The amount of data and information collected and
available in the information is most impressive—with SEC providing innovative time and cost savings, data forensic services
www.MIT-kmi.com
and technology litigation support tools to make accurate and
effective discovery and use of existing data possible.
Yet another area of SEC innovation is in homeland security.
SEC is applying their expertise and experience with battlefield
intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination to work
with the Special Technologies Lab in San Diego, Calif., on the
Distributed Common Ground System-Army to address gaps in
the anti-terrorism and intelligence-gathering mission of Joint
Task Force North. They’re also working on a low-cost deployable system to detect low and slow flying ultra-light aircraft
and small vessels and to counter other methods for bypassing
border patrols.
Finally, CECOM SEC ensures that the software they provide
continues to function in the environment in which it’s being
used by imbedding field support personnel with system users.
Field software engineers on the ground with soldiers and systems provide immediate support to ensure system and mission
success. This commitment gives our SEC a unique insight into
how to best support today’s warfighter.
Our SEC is developing a more effective and efficient service
delivery approach that may realize potential savings in the tens
of millions of dollars per year with even better support through
pooling and cross-training of personnel and resources.
Q: You have also spoken of how CECOM will grow as a result of
the increasing importance of information technology in modern warfare. Where do you see this organization in five years?
A: We’re seeing a significant shift and a sizable tilt in the scale
of our deployed civilian support to overseas national security
missions, and I expect that tilt to continue in future years
contingent upon the missions assigned to our armed forces. As
I’ve already stated, there’s been a well-documented revolution
in military affairs with an enormous change from the previous
era of kinetic warfare, in which progress was often measured
by the tonnage of munitions, to our modern information age,
in which we measure progress by the quantity and quality of
our C4ISR systems and by the sustainment and improvement of
those systems. That’s why we have more than 4,000 total Team
C4ISR personnel deployed today—including logistics assistance
representatives, field support representatives, Tobyhanna Army
Depot personnel and so many others—going to where the
soldier is and ensuring our warfighters are well-equipped and
combat ready. These are and will continue to be in years to come
our true heroes and our faces to the field, and I’m proud of all
they do every day.
Q: What are some of the key ways in which CECOM and the
Tobyhanna Army Depot are working to support and improve
the defense satellite communications system?
A: Tobyhanna Army Depot supports the Project Manager
Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems in
the fielding of the Modernization of Enterprise Terminal [MET].
The MET program is a 10-year plan to replace the AN/GSC-52,
AN/GSC-39 and AN/FSC-78, thus modernizing the fixed ground
satellite communications terminals.
There are five configurations, each providing simultaneous
X- and Ka-band communication. The MET will provide critiwww.MIT-kmi.com
cal reach-back capability for the warfighter through Internet
Protocol and dedicated circuit connectivity within the Global
Information Grid. The goals of the program include service life
extension beyond 2025, reduced life cycle costs, and integration
of the terminals with the GIG. Lower acquisition and logistics
costs will be achieved through a high level of equipment and
integration commonality.
In addition to the MET program, AN/TSC-93 tactical satellite terminals have undergone Department of the Army directed
upgrades to extend their service life. The service life extension
program team is in the final phase of fielding the “D” model
upgrade to the Army, which extends the service life of the
terminals to 2012. The “E” model upgrade will extend the AN/
TSC-93E until 2025, using technology insertion, to keep up with
current satellite communication requirements. These systems
have proved to have excellent reliability and continue to serve
our forces in theater.
Tobyhanna Army Depot also is working to provide depot sustainment capability for Single Channel Anti-Jam Man Portable
[SCAMP] systems. The SCAMP terminal is a Military Strategic
and Tactical Relay [MILSTAR] compatible satellite ground terminal, which provides users with extended range connectivity
for low data rate digital data communications services. Tobyhanna is involved with the upgrade of the advanced extremely
high frequency [AEHF], which is used on the MILSTAR satellite
constellation. The launch of the first AEHF satellite took place
in August. Additionally, Tobyhanna Army Depot will be the sustainment depot for the Tactical Mission Planning Sub-System
AN/PYQ-14, an integral component of the AEHF Mission Planning Element
Tobyhanna has expanded its role in the repair of satellite
communications systems used by the Army and Marine Corps,
recently completing 11 Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminals [SMART-Ts]. SMART-T is a MILSTAR satellitecompatible ground communications terminal. It provides
worldwide data and voice communications from a stationary
mission site. The system, mounted on a HMMWV, also provides
range extension for the Warfighter Information NetworkTactical.
Q: What lessons learned from your experiences as commander
of the Army Signal Center, and director of architecture, operations, networks and space, have been especially useful to you
at CECOM LCMC?
A: There’s no doubt the most important lesson I’ve learned
is that no matter where I am or what organization I’m commanding, people are the most important asset. It’s important to
ensure they are well-trained, have the right tools they need to
perform their jobs, and are taken great care of.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: Yes, I would like to mention my great respect for the soldiers,
civilian and contractor employees who have deployed, some
many times, to defend our nation. I was in the Army for over
16 years before I made my first deployment. Today, many young
soldiers deploy within one to two years of joining the Army. I
have great respect for all of them. ✯
MIT 14.8 | 43
44 | MIT 14.8
www.MIT-kmi.com
DISA’S COMMAND CYBER
READINESS INSPECTION
PROGRAM PUTS DEFENSE
AGENCIES THROUGH A RIGOROUS,
COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF
NETWORK PROTECTIONS.
BY PATRICK CHISHOLM
MIT CORRESPONDENT
CHISHOLMP@KMIMEDIAGROUP.COM
www.MIT-kmi.com
Preparing for a test where you get graded on 700,000 different things can’t be easy. But that’s what defense organizations
can face when targeted for inspection by the Defense Information
Systems Agency (DISA) under the Command Cyber Readiness
Inspection (CCRI) program.
That happened recently to U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ). “For
our network alone, there were roughly 700,000 different checks
that they could grade us on,” said Lieutenant Colonel William J.
Cater, deputy director, C4 systems, USFJ. “It encompasses every
Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert and CTO that has ever
been implemented since around 1995, while the STIGs change
every 60 to 90 days.”
STIGs (Security Technical Implementation Guides) are a
series of DISA methodologies designed to ensure that IT systems
are secure.
The CCRI inspection is highly intensive, evaluating all
aspects of a network. It looks at every device that can touch a
network either wirelessly or from an extended network, along
with any cross domain devices. The inspection also checks appliances not necessarily in STIG configuration or that do not have
a STIG design for them. That means checking with vendors and
looking at their security perimeters, getting agreement from the
government, then implementing them.
For every device, there were probably 100 checks that
required manual verification, recounted Cater. “We worked a
lot of late hours in order to do this, using all of our IT personnel. We had been building things to STIG compliance, but new
reiterations or versions of the STIG had come out. After we had
started our preparations for the CCRI, there were three full STIG
revisions that we had to go through, so it was pretty intense.
They give you one week and they bring in a bunch of inspectors
to inspect every aspect of your area.”
Cater pointed out that his team had to work fast. He
explained that in a normal environment there’s a test bed that is
set up before implementing STIGs onto a production network.
But these days things are happening so fast that there’s no time
to test.
“Unless you look at something and say, ‘Wow, this is really
far reaching—we have to test this first,’ a lot of times you don’t
have that luxury. You’re expected to be in compliance from the
moment the STIG is released. And at any given time they release
10, 20, 30 STIGs, or all of the STIGs get revised at one time and
released,” he said.
The inspections apply to all combatant commands, services,
agencies and their subordinate commands within the Department of Defense that connect to the Defense Information
Systems Network infrastructure or that process or store DoD
information. The program covers both NIPRNet and SIPRNet.
There are specific grading criteria that represent the overall
information assurance/computer network defense compliance,
measured on a 100-point scale. The CCRI grading criteria
includes technical vulnerabilities, directive compliance and nontechnical readiness elements supporting the information assurance readiness posture. If a unit scores less than 70 percent, it
is subject to re-inspection. If poor performance continues, the
network may be disconnected from the Global Information Grid
until that organization corrects its security deficiencies.
MIT 14.8 | 45
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“It’s a very intensive grading system and it gets a lot of high
level attention,” pointed out Cater. “If you do really poorly it
will be briefed up to the chairman of the joint chiefs. And some
people can been relieved of duty if they don’t really take this
seriously.”
In the end, USFJ passed the audit with a grade of outstanding.
AUDIT WITH TEETH
U.S. Strategic Command directed implementation of the
CCRI last fall. DISA Field Security Operations conducts the
inspections. The inspections also reinforce that commanders are
accountable for their security position. They’re scheduled annually, with re-inspections done as necessary.
There are five parts to the process: notification, pre-coordination, on-site inspection, CCRI results and post-inspection
reporting. An on-site inspection generally takes about a week
and includes mission briefing, reviews of components and
methodologies, and system scans for vulnerabilities. The on-site
inspection includes daily after action review, followed with an
out-brief on the last day of the visit. That on-site inspection looks
at component structures, physical and personnel security, directive compliance, and non-technical areas like sustainability of a
robust security posture.
“Past audits didn’t have a whole lot of teeth,” said Ted Girard,
area director/DoD at BMC Software. “There’s a lot of heat, light
and pressure on making sure you prepare and get through the
CCRI audit and consequences for not passing it. So we’re seeing
a lot of interest in solving this problem.”
“DoD now recognizes that it’s no longer manpower that they
can throw at the problem, they have to address technology in the
same way that they’re addressing things from a warfighter perspective,” added Craig Mueller, regional manager/DoD for BMC.
The results of an inspection are briefed to senior leadership
and reported to U.S. Cyber Command. After inspections, organizations have to report progress on fixes and mitigation strategies
for identified vulnerabilities to USCYBERCOM.
Inspectors grade in three categories: category one, the most
severe threat; category two, a situation that may threaten; and
category three, which represents a vulnerability that may impact
mission integrity. The inspectors grade for communication
areas, contributing factors and traditional security.
To help with the inspection, the USFJ J-6 team looked for
software that was STIG aware. On such solution was BMC’s Blade
Logic software tool, which lets users make, track and control
changes. The tool follows STIGs and allows system changes to be
auditable and recorded. It also provides one platform for compliance management and operations management instead of two,
said Mueller.
“Our Blade Logic tool covers what we believe are the five
steps in the process of ensuring that you’re compliant with this
guidance,” Mueller said. “The first is the ability to define what
the rules and processes are, then your ability to audit versus
those reviewing the results of that audit, being able to fix any
inconsistencies, and reporting on that information back to
leadership so that they understand, yes this process has been
completed and you have all of the artifacts necessary to provide
any auditors that come in during this exercise.”
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EVERYDAY COMPLIANCE
Compliance is not just an exercise at a point in time; it’s an
ongoing process that needs addressing every day because it supports the warfighters, Mueller said. DoD leadership, he added, is
looking at network defense and IT as another weapons system.
They have to address technology the same way they address
everything, from a warfighter’s perspective.
The Blade Logic tool is a software-only solution, and the
architecture depends on the size of the network and type of
devices monitored. There is a central management console where
everything can be assessed, regardless of how many outlying
systems one wants to manage. The console allows access regardless of geography, too, and all the information is digested and
reported on from an enterprise perspective. That means users can
look at single configuration on a single system, a system itself
or a system within a number of locations, all the way up to the
enterprise, said Mueller.
Mueller told of a customer that, before implementing the
Blade Logic tool, used another tool that could not document
exceptions to the policy when scanning for STIG compliance. So
those exceptions did not show up in any of the analyses. After
implementing Blade Logic, if the scan came up with a violation, the system itself would notify security and operations, and
exceptions to the policy wouldn’t trigger false alerts. “So from
a manpower perspective, the customer could redeploy a lot of
those assets into other, more strategic areas rather than filling
out paperwork,” Mueller said.
Two weeks after USFJ configured Blade Logic, a process that
initially took two months, they could audit and remediate the
environment in about a day and a half. The tool covered USFJ’s
secret and non-secret network; that organization did not have
the manpower to support everything required from a mission
perspective while simultaneously addressing security risks. A few
months before the CCRI, USFJ officials said they had a chance to
pass, but it would have taken hundreds of man hours on top of
the normal IT workload. But after the audit, the USFJ would be in
the same position as it was before the audit because the organization lacked a consistent documented process, Mueller said.
Other companies, such as STG, also can help in passing CCRI
inspections. For example, the Army CONUS Network Operations
and Security Center had its CCRI review in July 2010. This inspection went extremely well because STG applied the lessons learned
in previous inspections and incorporated ITIL best practices into
daily TNOSC operations. During the previous year’s inspection, a
lot of extra preparatory work was required to get CTNOSC in top
security condition. The team worked many hours of overtime to
prepare for the event, assigning a project manager to track and
report on all necessary steps to become STIG compliant.
The 2010 inspection was at an entirely different tempo. In
addition to obtaining highly successful results, the government was pleased with the overall impression left by Team STG.
CTNOSC was prepared and did not expect any surprise findings.
All personnel obtained their DoD 8570-required security certifications five months ahead of the Army’s December 31, 2010,
deadline.
Months before the inspection, the team set a goal to be prepared for a security inspection at any time. By integrating ITIL
and best security practices into the daily processes and proce48 | MIT 14.8
dures of TNOSC, they exceeded this goal. The plan was to ingrain
security practices into daily processes to such a degree that the
inspection would be effortless.
Team STG knew what was going to happen during the inspection, had taken care of all the findings as they came up, and
conducted an independent 10 percent security audit each month
to check compliance. Anything missed by a systems administrator was picked up by the audit team. Team STG was instrumental
in initiating this process, which was embraced by CTNOSC and
has now become the new norm. The professionalism and expertise demonstrated by the team helped CTNOSC sail through the
inspection. There was also a highly successful Computer Network
Defense Service Provider review by AGNOSC, which contributed
to CTNOSC being named Army TNOSC of the Year for 2010.
SIMPLE STEPS
Of course, CCRI compliance involves many other aspects
of cybersecurity. “It’s not just STIGs, that’s one aspect of it,”
explained Cater. “Those 700,000 I mentioned were just the technical stuff, that had nothing to do with the communication tasking orders that you’re also held responsible for that come out.
Those will also dictate certain things that need to be done that
are outside of the STIGs and implemented as well.”
Experts say that relatively simple steps such as not plugging
personal devices into a computer, never writing down passwords,
and never activating the wireless function on a laptop when
plugged directly into the network can help mitigate a large portion of vulnerabilities. Logging off at the end of every duty day
will also help. Users should also be aware of visiting unauthorized
Websites, opening suspicious e-mails and sending secret information over non-secure networks.
In preparation for its inspection last October, the Air Force
District of Washington asked its airmen to log off daily but leave
workstations on.
“AFDW is the first command within DoD to be scrutinized
under the new CCRI guidelines,” said AFDW/A6 Deputy Director
Chuck Elmore. “Don’t just pull out your Common Access Card
and walk away. We reboot the system during the night on all networked computers and push patches and other upgrades. If you
don’t log off and then log on in the morning, your system doesn’t
receive the upgrades. This can result in lost data or potentially
unsecured workstations.”
Cater concluded, “In the end, a CCRI really makes you and
forces you to understand every aspect of your network environment. You have to know every little iota, every little setting, every
little registry statement—you name it, you have to know it and
you have to document it. The other part is getting your documentation in a row. Document, document, document. You have
to get it all in the reporting system.” ✯
Kelley Allen contributed to this article.
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
www.MIT-kmi.com
Small Business Spotlight
SteelCloud Inc.
An interview with
Brian Hajost, CEO
f o Av a N o
r V il w
M abl
w e
ar
e
What areas of technology does SteelCloud offer to the DoD
market space?
SteelCloud understands DoD’s unique IT and cybersecurity challenges and
develops mobility products that reduce the cost and simplify the effort
necessary to implement DISA security mandates. A great example is the
company’s SteelWorks FedMobile STIG-compliant BlackBerry Enterprise
Server appliance, available as a physical or VMware virtual appliance. For
over 20 years, SteelCloud has been serving DoD and the systems integrators
that support the federal government. The company is laser-focused on making
security mandates in the DoD simpler to implement.
What customers does SteelCloud currently support?
SteelCloud’s STIG-compliant solutions have been implemented in each of the
services, both domestically and around the world, as well as a number of DoD
agencies.
How does SteelCloud strengthen the government’s cybersecurity
initiatives?
Protecting the country’s vital infrastructures is critical to the security of
the United States. Emerging in importance are the threats posed by DoD’s
increasing dependence on mobile technology. SteelCloud’s offerings allow
commands of any size to quickly and easily conform to the various DISA
STIGs for securing their mobile infrastructures. Specifically, our SteelWorks
FedMobile product allows our customers to implement a complete, secure
STIG-compliant BlackBerry Enterprise Server environment in hours, versus
weeks. And in most cases, customers accomplish this task with their existing
support personnel.
How do your customers calculate ROI for implementing your
solutions?
The justification for SteelCloud’s STIG-compliant solutions is easy to calculate.
Our customers receive the full value of their investment on the initial installation
when compared to the time and expense of creating their own STIG-compliant
environments. Because our solutions come with all components pre-installed
and the appropriate STIGs productized and pre-implemented, we reduce weeks
of highly specialized security work down to a straightforward, step-by-step,
one-hour installation. SteelCloud reduces hundreds of pages of STIGS down to
a simple, easy-to-follow 15-page guide.
What opportunities do you see within DoD over the next three to
five years?
DoD is facing many of the same challenges of other large civilian and
commercial enterprises—budgets are getting tighter and more work needs to
get done with fewer resources. Mobilizing the warfighter and support personnel
is key to improving productivity. The introduction of mobile apps within DoD is
both a tremendous opportunity and a significant challenge. SteelCloud is at the
forefront of this sea change. Responding to the unprecedented demand in DoD
for secure and controlled deployment of mobile apps, SteelCloud has recently
designed DMAX (Defense Mobile Application Exchange). DMAX is a behindthe-firewall comprehensive mobile app framework for IA services, repository
services and automated “push” delivery of applications to mobile devices.
SteelCloud intends to continue to help secure the mobilization of our military
while making DISA security mandates easy to implement.
Introducing
SteelWorks® FedMobile™
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Now any size DoD agency can eliminate security risks and
compliance issues by easily upgrading to, or deploying a
new, DISA STIG-compliant BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 in 60
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The SteelWorks FedMobile appliance comes pre-loaded with
BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5, a hardened Windows Server
OS, and out-of-the-box compliance with 100's of pages of STIG
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www.MIT-kmi.com
MIT 14.8 | 49
Compiled
KMI
Media
Group
staff
Compiled
by by
KMI
Media
Group
staff
Solution CAC-Enables
Multi-Function Devices
The Netgard MFD from API Technologies is a low-cost, easy
to install solution to CAC-enable multi-function devices (MFDs)
such as printer/copier/scanners. This solution brings legacy
MFDs into compliance with the Homeland Security Presidential
Directive 12, which specifies that all network-attached devices
require CAC authentication. Unsecured MFDs allow anyone to
scan and send documents to third parties, so secret documents
can easily get into the wrong hands. Netgard puts controls in
place to ensure documents are sent by and to trusted parties.
A drop-in, in-line, multifactor user authentication solution for
networked devices like multi-function printer/copier/scanners,
Netgard installs in minutes on any new or legacy MFD.
Web-Based Application
Offers Maintenance
Management
Spectro, a subsidiary of QinetiQ North America, has introduced SpectroTrack, a computerized maintenance management
system optimized for real-time machine condition monitoring.
The software provides the user with data to make maintenance
decisions based on machine condition, increasing the availability
of key assets, reducing unscheduled maintenance by detecting and
correcting problems before major failures occur, and extending oil
drain intervals and equipment life. The net benefit is the ability to
maximize the use of maintenance resources to meet operational
and safety goals. SpectroTrack runs as a Web-based application. Users can access all necessary functionality through the
Internet using a standard Web browser as well as browser-enabled
cell phones and PDAs.
50 | MIT 14.8
Wearable Computer Combines GPS,
Communications Technology
Combining commercial global positioning and communications technology
with battlefield-rugged computing,
General Dynamics Itronix has introduced
the GD300 fully rugged arm- or chestworn computer. Weighing less than 8
ounces, the Android-based GD300 operates
like an ultra-sensitive commercial GPS
unit or, with the click of a cable, interfaces
with tactical radios like the Rifleman
Radio for secure access to the tactical
network. The GD300 uses a quadra-helix
antenna for real-time global positioning
that defies interference even when the
user is positioned in mountainous regions
or urban environments. The GD300 hosts
the open architecture, Android-based
operating system to easily accommo-
date current and emerging applications
for warfighters at all command levels.
Operating in two distinct modes, the
GD300 serves as a stand-alone GPS device
or, when connected to a tactical radio,
performs as a tactical mission computer.
The GD300 supports commercially available stand-alone applications or military
“apps” like the tactical ground reporting
system currently in use by the military.
When connected to a tactical radio, the
lightweight GD300 enables warfighters
to securely communicate, share information and collaborate while on the
move. Delivering up to eight hours of
continuous operation, the lightweight
GD300 is powered by standard lithiumion batteries.
Notebook Model Supports
Demanding Graphics Applications
A new model of the Lifebook AH530 from Fujitsu features an external graphics card with
dedicated 1 GB video memory. This completes Fujitsu’s line-up for the all-round notebook
segment, with a choice of models to meet every need. The Lifebook AH530 GFX is designed
for users working with demanding graphics, pictures and video applications, combining
high performance and a slim and stylish notebook package at a competitive price. Model
users will experience the power of external graphics for demanding graphics applications
and video, thanks to the on-board ATI Mobility Radeon HD550v graphics with a dedicated
1 GB video memory. Lifebook AH530 GFX models are equipped with the new Intel Core
processors that deliver smart performance adapted
to user needs, for a faster and more
responsive user experience.
www.MIT-kmi.com
The advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers. KMI cannot be held responsible for discrepancies due to last-minute changes or alterations.
MI T CALEND A R & DI REC TO RY
ADVERTISERS INDEX
Access Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
www.accsys-inc.com
Blackberry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3
www.blackberry.com/go/smartcardreader
General Dynamics C4 Systems (Needham) . . . . . . . . . 39
www.gdc4s.com/secureproducts
General Dynamics C4 Systems ( JTRS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
www.gdc4s.com/riflemanradio
Harris RF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2
www.harris117g.com
ITT Visual Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
www.ittvis.com
Jive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
www.jivesoftware.com
L-3 Communication Systems-East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4
www.l-3com.com/smeped
L-3 GCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
www.l-3com.com/gcs
McLane Advanced Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
www.mclaneat.com
Office of Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
www.harfordbusiness.org
Pelican . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
www.pelicanoem.com/mit
Sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
www.sprint.com/convergence
Steel Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
www.steelcloud.com
Titus Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
www.titus-labs.com
Ultra Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
www.packetassure.com
Ultra Electronics-Criticom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
www.ultra-criticom.com
University of Maryland University College . . . . . . . . . . 41
http://military.umuc.edu/cyberspace
DISA
Dynamic Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
www.sstew.com
General Dynamics C4 Systems (Win-T) . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
www.gdc4s.com
October 5-7, 2010
C4ISR Exhibition
Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
www.afceac4ist.com
www.MIT-kmi.com
October 2010
Volume 14, Issue 9
Cover and In-Depth
Interview with:
Brig. Gen.
N. Lee S. Price
Program Executive Officer
Command, Control,
Communications
(Tactical)
Special Report:
PEO C3T Product Portfolio
A guide to the diverse programs of the Program Executive
Office Command, Control, Communications (Tactical).
Features:
Access Control
Afghan Mission Network
BRAC Technology
CALENDAR
September 28-30, 2010
Modern Day Marine
Quantico, Va.
www.marinemilitaryexpos.com
NEXTISSUE
SATCOM Value
October 19-21, 2010
InfoTech 2010
Dayton, Ohio
www.afcea-infotech.org
October 25-27, 2010
AUSA Annual Meeting
and Exposition
Washington, D.C.
www.ausa.org
Social Networking
Closing Deadline
October 15, 2010
MIT 14.8 | 51
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
MILITARY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Jeff Lake
Vice President, Federal Operations
Proofpoint Inc.
Jeff Lake directs Proofpoint’s strategic
growth in the U.S. federal government
market, including sales, business development, marketing and technical operations.
With more than 20 years of technology
and security experience, Lake has held several leadership positions in technical sales,
consulting and operations. Most recently,
he served in a similar role at Fortinet,
where he was in charge of growing federal
revenues to record levels. Prior to joining
Fortinet, Lake held leadership roles at
CipherTrust, Lancope and Oracle. Previously, Lake was a commissioned Army
military intelligence officer. He holds a top
secret security clearance, and has a B.S.
from Bryant University.
Q: What types of products and services are
you offering to military and other government customers?
A: Proofpoint secures and improves the
e-mail infrastructure with solutions for
e-mail security, archiving, encryption and
data loss prevention. Proofpoint solutions
defend against spam and viruses, prevent
leaks of confidential and private information, encrypt sensitive e-mails, and archive
messages for retention, e-discovery and
easier mailbox management. Proofpoint
solutions can be deployed on-premises
[appliance or virtual appliance], on-demand
[software as a service] or in a hybrid architecture for maximum flexibility and scalability.
The three primary bundled solutions
are: Enterprise Protect for anti-spam, antivirus, zero-hour malware protection and
reputation analysis; Enterprise Privacy for
data leakage protection (DLP) and encryption; and Enterprise Archive for message
archiving, eDiscovery and mailbox management.
Q: What unique benefits does your company provide its customers in comparison
with other companies in your field?
A: In short, we are focused and flexible. By
that I mean that, first of all, we are laserfocused on messaging security. We are not
trying to cover all the facets of information
52 | MIT 14.8
consolidation, which many of the DoD organizations are looking to perform either in a
smaller number of large data centers or by
deploying solutions via the cloud. The other
objective is to provide these services with
less hardware, real estate and power. This
often goes hand in hand with the enterprise consolidation, but also can encompass
tactical or shipboard scenarios that can be
deployed in virtual environments.
security and assurance in one solution. We
focus on all holistic aspects of messaging
security and how to ease the administrative
tasks for IA professionals. By flexibility I
mean choice in deployment. Many federal
organizations are very interested in the
cloud, but are not ready to make the leap yet.
We can help them ease into that transition
as our solutions can be deployed via appliance, virtual or completely in the cloud. All
of our solutions are cloud-enabled, whether
for security updates, encryption key management or archival storage.
Q: How are you working to strengthen the
security of your solutions?
A: As with any technology security company,
it’s a balance between innovation and certification. Because our solutions are powered
by the cloud, many threat-mitigation techniques are provided by real-time updates
which do not require software changes. As
we look to incorporate new features for our
federal customers, like IPv6 and CAC support, we build those into new releases and
then subsequently put them through the
certification processes like Common Criteria and FIPS. Although we have already
completed both CC and FIPS, you’re never
done due to new release innovations, so it’s
a constant iterative process.
Q: What are some of the most significant
programs your company is currently working on with the military?
A: Based on the flexibility of our deployment options, and the scalability of our
product, we are working on a number of
large Department of Defense and intelligence community programs. They really
equate to two objectives. One is enterprise
Q: Are you currently developing new products and services relevant to military and
government customers that you hope to
bring to the market in the future?
A: Absolutely. We are constantly adding
features which will benefit DoD, the intelligence community and civilian agencies.
One such feature add was the support for
Internet content adaptation protocol proxies, which enables an administrator to have
one central place to enforce DLP policies for
the two most pervasive information sharing mediums—e-mail and Web. Additionally, the growing requirements for message
archiving detailed by the National Archives
and our desire to offer a cost-effective,
secure archiving solution to our federal
customers has driven us to supplement our
existing controls of this cloud solution in
order to achieve FISMA certification. We
expect to complete this in November, and
receive our ATO for a large civilian agency
customer using our Enterprise Archive
solution for 130,000 users.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to
add?
A: As a former Army officer, I have a high
degree of respect for the men and women
serving in the military to help protect and
defend the United States. It has always been
my goal while serving in technology leadership positions to offer secure, cost-effective
solutions that can enhance the warfighter
mission. Proofpoint is committed to delivering messaging security solutions which
deliver value, reduce administration and
adhere to federal IA regulations, as evidenced by our certifications in Common
Criteria and FIPS. ✯
www.MIT-kmi.com
Your Secure Mobile
Communications
Channel Just Got
Better.
The US Military relies on the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server solution
to safeguard mission-critical data and provide timely access to
information used to make important decisions.
The BlackBerry® Smart Card Reader has proven its effectiveness
in strengthening the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution security and
extending the CAC and PIV card functionality to your mobile personnel,
has just got better.
•
Sleeker and lighter form factor increases its convenience
and comfort,
•
Ultrasonically welded case has further hardened the
physical security of the hardware,
•
Longer battery life extends its use in the field before
requiring recharging,
•
Larger LED display clarifies pairing information and
simplifies the activation procedure.
Our industry leading BlackBerry® Smart Card Reader continues to
deliver a “two factor authentication” level of security plus a “proximity”
feature that locks the BlackBerry smartphone or PC when separated
from its owner. Your mobile personnel can continue to quickly utilize
S/MIME certificates stored on their CAC or PIV card with their BB
smartphone to sign/decrypt emails. Your Network Operations staff
can wirelessly enforce security policies on BlackBerry® smartphones
and BlackBerry® SCRs.
At BlackBerry, we are dedicated to continuing to deliver industry
leading security for your mobile personnel through the BlackBerry®
Enterprise Solution, including the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader.
To find out more on the BlackBerry® Smart Card Reader please visit
www.blackberry.com/go/smartcardreader
© 2010 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion®, SureType®, SurePress™ and related trademarks,
names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.
d
ie
tif
er
-C
SA
N
HANDHELD TACTICAL SECURE COMMUNICATIONS WHEREVER YOU GO
Introducing the L-3 Guardian® — the only secure handheld device you need for
voice, e-mail and Web communications on the battlefield or in the war room.
Leading the next generation of converged SME PED devices, the L-3 Guardian
combines NSA-Certified high-speed secure access and global connectivity
with an amazing array of communications into one lightweight handheld. The
device allows users to easily configure operating domains to either classified
(SIPRNET) or unclassified (NIPRNET) networks — and navigate seamlessly
between them. To learn more about the L-3 Guardian and secure the future of
your tactical communications, visit L-3com.com/SMEPED or call 856-338-2351.
C o m m u n ic ation Sy s tem s -E as t
L-3com.com