Cybersecurity Strategy
Friday, 05 March 2010 16:25
Under its new chairman, Representative Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities held a critically important hearing recently on private sector perspectives on the Department of Defense’s information technology and cybersecurity activities.
Much of the discussion focused on current threats to military and government networks, and strategies for improving protection. A statement by Philip J. Bond, president and chief executive officer of the trade group TechAmerica, implicitly reflected a major point—that reforming and modernizing the defense IT acquisition process is a vital factor in strengthening cybersecurity.
Bond’s points included:
- DoD needs a trained core of acquisition specialists focused only on IT products, services and systems.
- The acquisition process for weapons and other systems is not fast or agile enough for an industry in which technology can change virtually overnight.
- IT projects should be limited in scope, in order to simplify procurement, while still scalable to future improvements.
- End-users and other stakeholders should be involved in the development process from the beginning.
- Access to COTS products and services should be enhanced by reducing government unique requirements.
The inability of our IT acquisitions process to keep pace with innovation threatens our warfighters’ technical edge. Our adversaries are not hindered by the red tape slowing DoD technology acquisitions. Meanwhile, DoD’s dialogue with our industry on information assurance has been incomplete. The vast majority of commercial software developers and original equipment manufacturers are not part of the conversation,” Bond said. ♦
