The Defense Information Systems Agency released its new 2013-2018 strategic plan, capturing both the shift in strategic global focus by the Defense Department and the new realities of supporting DoD’s technology and communications needs on a more limited budget.
Foremost among the shifts in DISA’s new plan: Becoming better positioned to support DoD’s strategic re-balancing efforts towards the Asia-Pacific region – and supporting a “joint force of the future that will be smaller and leaner, but also be agile, flexible, ready, and technologically advanced,” the report said.
The plan also emphasizes a more pronounced – albeit familiar – effort to accommodate the communications and information sharing network needs for the Joint Force of the future.
Among other shifts in emphasis, DISA’s plans for much of the rest of the decade are centered around:
- Posturing the agency in concert with U.S. Cyber Command to expand defensive cyber operations and DoD Global Information Grid Operations mission support.
- Developing and enhancing enterprise solutions in support of national leadership and nuclear command and control.
- Enabling secure end-to-end information sharing and services across the Defense Department.
-
Provisioning services for the Department more rapidly by serving as DoD’s cloud services broker, while consolidating data and network operations centers.
- Employing an agile development acquisition strategy that reduces procurement cycle times and accelerates delivery of critical capabilities.
More specifically, DISA’s strategy revolves around four major goals, each with a series of objectives:
1. Evolve the Joint Information Environment
1.3 Provide a portfolio of optimized and integrated enterprise service offerings that enable DoD-wide efficiencies and effectiveness, and improved responsiveness to dynamic joint and coalition mission partner needs
1.5 Provide a full array of electromagnetic spectrum services and capabilities ranging from short notice on-the-ground operational support at the forward edge to long range planning.
1.6 Promote rapid delivery and utilization of secure mobile capability, leveraging commercial mobile technology to enable an agile deployment environment for new and innovative applications to support evolving Warfighter requirements.
3. Operate and Assure the Enterprise
3.1 Operate and assure a reliable, available resilient, secure, and protected global net-centric enterprise in direct support of joint and coalition warfighting.
3.2 Ensure DISA capabilities are operated and defended; supported by life-cycle sustainment, standardization and interoperability to achieve operational effects.
3.3 Optimize mission partner engagement to anticipate, influence, and respond to DoD mission requirements.
3.5 Conduct, shape, and influence operational readiness, cyber risk management, and compliance processes to operate and secure the DoD enterprise infrastructure.
3.6 Evolve DISA’s global network operations structure through DOTMLPF analysis to maximize service operations, management, and mission assurance of the DISA-provided products and services, Cyber C2, and enterprise information environment.
3.7 Adjust the Agency’s capabilities to accommodate the Department’s shift in global defensive posture for the 21st Century.
4. Optimize Department Investments
4.1 Promote the implementation of acquisition and procurement policies, processes, and practices that enable the development of the enterprise concept and provide agile enterprise IT contract solutions for the Department.
4.8 Integrate industry best practices into the existing DISA operational framework to make internal Agency interactions more efficient and improve service and responsiveness to our Agency partners.