Conglomerate of IT Capabilities
Written by Tom Marlowe
Air Force restructures Combat Information
Transport System to improve networks
and increase security.
The CITS, which incorporates various projects to provide upgraded and secure Air Force network systems, began as a single major defense acquisition program operating with the federal government as a systems integrator.
But as of 2009, CITS has been restructured into several major programs (acquisition category I) and multiple lesser programs (acquisition category III) to become “a conglomerate of capabilities being delivered through various programs,” according to Colonel Russ Fellers, CITS program manager.
The CITS program office may award those contracts as task orders through the Air Force Network- Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) consolidated purchasing vehicle, but it also may explore other options due to the anticipated timing of the awards, Fellers explained.
“Right now, NETCENTS is the contract that we have been directed to use for acquisition of CITS products and capabilities. The current contract is about to run out of its ordering period,” Fellers stated.
“There is a follow-on contract, NETCENTS 2, won’t be in place until next summer, so we have to look at multiple vehicles to procure the capabilities we are trying to put out into the field in the next year,” he added.
The various initiatives are ambitious and critical to maintaining Air Force cyberfunctionality and security, Fellers noted. CITS will continue its Information Transport System (ITS) program as an acquisition category (ACAT) 1 program to redesign the entire network infrastructure at every Air Force base. The ITS program has been going on for a number of years and will continue for another eight years at present, Fellers said.
A separate ACAT I program will install secure wireless capabilities across all Air Force bases as well, while a third ACAT I contract will take the ITS network infrastructure upgrades to the Air National Guard bases.
The CITS program office also supports contracts for another set of ACAT 1 programs under the banner of the Air Force Network (AFNET). The AFNET Increment 1 program has been working for several years toward the goal of creating gateways for the Air Force intranet. Those 16 gateways are designed to protect the Air Force from external threats to its networks from over the Internet. That effort goes into operational test this fall with full operational capability projected for the middle of 2010.
AFNET Increment 2 also will begin next year, Fellers revealed. The program, another ACAT 1, centers on the re-architecture of all base boundaries to protect networks from internal threats from base to base.
The CITS program office will kick off yet another large acquisition program next year to rebuild network control centers at all Air Force bases.
“We will continue to embrace server virtualization to reduce our logistics footprint, our life cycle costs, and our energy consumption across the Air Force for our networks,” Fellers said.
A host of smaller programs also will bring additional benefits to networks. For example, the CITS program office will start up a program called the Cyber Control System within the next few months. It will be a command and control system used for situational awareness of the AFNET.
“The Cyber Control System is the first step toward giving the operator the ability to have real-time knowledge of the operational state of the network,” Fellers said.
SECURITY MENTALITY
The restructuring of the CITS program office and its portfolio is a significant effort requiring the office to double in size over the next year to adequately deliver the capabilities it has been tasked to implement.
“There has been a mentality in the past that our networks need to be fast, responsive, convenient and as open as possible to get our job done,” Fellers commented. “The Air Force is in the process of changing that mentality. The first priority now is that our networks need to be secure. That is trumping the availability and ease of use of the network. We can’t afford to have a compromise. Much of our operational activity now takes place on the network, and we can’t afford to have that taken away from us.”
The flurry of activity now occurring is a result of the CITS program office clearing an audit by the inspector general of the Department of Defense as well as a program support review from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Fellers said. Once CITS resources were freed from those obligations, the office began to turn its attention to fielding new cybercapabilities.
Recent events have underscored the need for the Air Force to rapidly deploy new ways of deploying and securing its networks, Fellers remarked. A sustained cyber-attack against government networks in June, suspected to have originated from North Korea, reminded network managers that DoD is a prominent target for malicious actors.
“So we have to be very secure—more secure than the public sector. There is a lot of activity going on now and over the next several years to improve the security of our networks, to improve the security of our network devices, and to improve the security of the desktops, laptops and mobile devices that our military members use to carry out their missions. This amounts to a defense-indepth activity to try to protect ourselves from cyberthreats,” Fellers commented.
There has been a growing focus within DoD on cybersecurity, including such departmentwide initiatives as the recently announced establishment of U.S. Cyber Command. But Fellers said the timing of the CITS initiatives to upgrade Air Force networks has sprung from a predictable and necessary technology refresh.
“For the purposes of CITS, we are not in the business of developing the network infrastructure, the network management or network defense tools. We are purchasing COTS products. We are following the industry lead and purchasing best of breed to defend our networks,” Fellers stated.
The Air Force, meanwhile, is establishing the 24th Air Force to oversee its cyber-activity and moving its cyber-operations to Air Force Space Command.
These moves are part of a significant change to how the Air Force previously conducted its cyberbusiness, Fellers emphasized. Previously, the Air Force established networks and maintained them at every base, and the major commands were responsible for managing their networks.
“Now we are moving toward an Air Force enterprise concept for managing and defending our networks. All of the tools that we are putting in place now from the CITS program office are focused on enabling the Air Force to manage the Air Force intranet at the enterprise level. That is a departure from the way our networks were managed previously,” Fellers said.
INDUSTRY RELIANCE
Fellers highlighted the importance of following the lead of industry in standing up new network connectivity and security. Given the reliance on industry for this expertise and the host of projects coming from the CITS program office, it was no surprise that an industry day held this spring drew attendance from more than 100 contractors, large and small, interested in providing support to CITS.
Among the companies represented at the industry day was General Dynamics Information Technology, which has worked with the CITS program office in the past.
“A large number of our delivery orders have directly contributed to the Air Force making great strides toward achieving true net-centricity and a more secure cyberposture,” said Paul Besson, staff vice president of business development for Air Force IT solutions at General Dynamics IT.
While supporting the ITS program, General Dynamics IT delivered turnkey survey, design, installation, training, integrated system testing and warranty support for the backbone IT infrastructure at more than 75 sites worldwide— including Vandenberg, Petersen, F.E. Warren, Eglin, Edwards, Beale and Ellsworth Air Force bases, Besson said.
General Dynamics IT also provided the Air Force with robust, standardized, secure wireless infrastructure with multi-tiered administration and management for 29 bases, with 25 more in process, as the prime contractor for the Second Generation Wireless LAN delivery order for CITS.
“We fielded and sustained Air Force telecommunication switches across the Air Force for many years, providing reliable voice communication within the existing telephone system, and supporting future net-based voice capabilities,” Besson recounted. “General Dynamics IT has also played a key role in evolving the Air Force’s voice switching systems from circuit- to IP-based telephony by engineering, furnishing and installing Voice over IP solutions at Keesler, Wright-Patterson and Vandenberg Air Force bases.”
Among its major contributions to CITS, General Dynamics IT has supported the move from decentralized management of networks at the Air Force major commands to the new Air Force Network Operations (AFNETOPS) construct, Besson continued. Under AFNET Increment 1, the company assisted with product acquisition and standing up the 16 Air Force intranet gateways. It also designed and implemented integrated network operations and security and provided operational support for the Air Force enterprise network at the Air Force Network Operations Center Network Operations Division.
It’s a critical time for the CITS program office as the Air Force makes key strategic decisions, Besson noted. “The CITS program is being restructured to provide the most effective means to quickly tackle such issues using standardized, proven processes and sources to acquire, deploy and sustain the ground-based data and voice elements of the cyberspace domain,” he stated.
That restructuring comes with challenges. Besson anticipated that opening multiple, complex ACAT programs concurrently will involve oversight challenges for both the Air Force and for industry.
“However, it’s those changes that will also allow for the more efficient, rapid and flexible acquisition agility,” he said. “Fostering a continued environment of partnership with industry will serve as key enablers to meeting those challenges.”
Looking ahead to the future of CITS, Besson emphasized the need for all involved to bring innovative and forward-thinking solutions to meet mission requirements. “The restructured program may require industry to be more proactive in the future by aggressively assisting in the development of technology roadmaps, consolidation initiatives, innovative lab environments, flexible sustainment options and assured compliance with mandated security standards and procedures,” he said. ♦
