Dana Deasy – DISA Forecast to Industry 2018

Not a single question for her? Really? I expect you all to do the same for me now this morning. What do you think the over-under will be on that? All right. Well, good morning.

So I like to just start off by saying that when Admiral Norton asked me to join this event and I said, 'What do you want me to cover?' And I'll go through that speech this morning. She says, 'Talk about your perspectives on DISA.' And I said, 'That will be really easy.' Because DISA's threaded through just about everything we're doing across the Department of Defense, especially when it comes to the main priorities. But I just want to say thank you for the opportunity and thank you for the opportunity you've given me to join you this morning. I also like to thank the people who put on these events. I think oftentimes, we all rush through these events and forget that there's a heck of a lot of organization that goes into these things and so just hats off to everybody here in the room today who made this possible. I had a chance to look at the speaker line-up. Great job on all those you recruited and it seems like for what you're going to get out of this today, you're going to talk to all the right people. So the annual Forecast to the Industry event is incredibly important for the Department of Defense. It provides an ongoing dialogue with our industry partners and is needed for us to continue to maintain superiority over a near peer competition.

As I said earlier, DISA is an integral part of the Department of Defense and as you know, DISA has a long and distinguished history and although the agency has only been called DISA since the early 1990s, a central location for military communications has been around the world since World War II. Of course, since the 1940s, the way that military communicates has somewhat changed, I'd say, quite dramatically. Yet the mission remains the same: to provide secure and effective communications to the warfighter. DISA today provides a wealth of information and support to our warfighters as well as our coalition partners around the world. Many of you are familiar with the DISA program, Defense Mobility Unclassified Capability. That is a mouthful, by the way, known as DMUC. You'll be happy to know this program is not only expanding but what I'm especially thrilled to know is that the program will not increase its cost. Good job.

Just recently, when Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas, DISA had the tools in place that were ready to support. The Army contacted DISA in order to run the Ready North Carolina application from the DMUC app store. The mobility PMO for DoD was able to provide security analysis and accurate results that were essential to providing effective aid during the hurricane. Additionally, the South Carolina National Guard worked with DISA to create an app that was used by the guards to tell if their families were in the evacuation zone and provided real-time updates about supplies as well as school and government closings. This app provided ease of mind to the emergency workers because they knew their families could access updated information and were able to find a safe place for evacuation. Both these apps allowed aid workers to focus on supporting community rescue efforts. I think it goes without saying, DISA provides a wealth of capabilities in times of national crisis. So thank you to your team for everything you guys did in the Carolinas this year.

Last summer, the annual exercise with DISA and the Joint Spectrum Center wrapped up their multinational exercise which focused on rapid and interoperable communications during disaster relief. This year, the exercise included 20 Asia-Pacific countries. Exercise scenarios allowed the troops the opportunity to detect radio interference and how to manage electromagnetic spectrum during crisis situation such as large-scale flood or earthquake. No doubt these training scenarios contribute to reducing loss of life during unforeseeable natural disasters.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article on Signal Magazine about the innovation that is going on at DISA to secure critical infrastructure around the world. The article highlighted the scope of the threats facing the networks and the innovative measures that DISA continually is working on to defeat those threats and with threats evolving daily, we all know this is no small task that DISA is undertaking. I'd like to continue elaborating DISA's efforts but I need to get on to other things today and want to share some of my priorities but I do want to make it abundantly clear that DISA is an incredibly valuable asset to the Department of Defense.

Today, I'm taking the opportunity to share with you the priorities and the challenges that we face not only across this great nation but the challenges I know each and every one of you face as providers of defensive technology to us. There is no doubt that most of you here today are aware of the national security strategies that Secretary Mattis has put in place. They're shown here on this chart and they include delivering lethality to the warfighters, fostering and growing our partnerships and enacting reforms that will maximize resources. As you can see, these three areas tie directly back to the importance of close working relationships with you in industry. I'm pointing this out because at the end of today on my comments, I'm going to be reminding you that when people ask what it is that each of us be focused on each and every day whether you're working for the Department or you're providing services and technology, everything needs to focus back to these three goals.

When I came onboard six months ago, I identified four priorities where I felt technology could make the most impact supporting the Secretary's goals for the Department. As you can see here on these charts, the modernization for the Department of Defense consists of four key elements: a Cloud, an acting artificial intelligence, next generation command and control communications and of course, cybersecurity. The Cloud enables the ability and the capability for us to make components to modernize the Department of Defense technology. I think it's not a surprise to anybody in this room. We have too many disparate networks, too many data centers. We have silos of data and therefore, it's very important that we think about managing all these assets in an enterprise manner. DoD's committed to maintaining a multi-vendor, multi-Cloud environment. We will have a combination of general purpose Cloud and fit-for-purpose Clouds.

I've been asked a lot recently about our Cloud strategy and pointing out the fact that there will be multiple clouds in our environment. And today, I want to just give you one example of what do we mean by a fit-for-purpose cloud offering. So we recently released the DEOS RFI which is the Defense Enterprise Office Solution. DEOS will provide solutions for collaboration and productivity tools that are used on a regular basis throughout the Department. Whether you're in the Pentagon or deployed around the world, DEOS will eliminate inefficiencies, enhance cybersecurity and improve information-sharing capabilities. For this Cloud offering, we plan to leverage the GSA IT Schedule 70 contract vehicle to acquire DEOS. By using the flexibility of the GSA contract vehicle, it will allow the DoD to transition to the Cloud with less schedule risk and at a lower cost. The RFQ for DEOS will be released in early 2019.

I have to tell you, it really has been an absolute pleasure especially for me new coming into government to work with both Emily Murphy at GSA and Suzette Kent, the federal CIO on the DEOS procurement. We started focusing on this early in my tenure. I have to tell you, the collaboration with my office with these agencies has been nothing short of outstanding. I find it incredibly important that government continue to look forward to ways where we don't reinvent the wheel. Schedule 70 is just one such example of that. I look forward to the continued collaboration with our agency partners to create the most efficient and effective procurement process as we continue to modernize federal IT. Our enterprise Cloud will benefit and support each of our CIO's top priorities especially that of artificial intelligence.

In case you've not heard, last summer, we submitted the AI strategy to Congress which details about standing up the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center as shown on this chart and this chart shows you many of the components that make up JAIC. JAIC is a top priority not only across my office but that of the entire Department of Defense. As JAIC matures, no doubt, it will be utilized by DISA especially for operations within the DODIN. In addition to AI, we must recognize the importance of modernized C3 capabilities. We must work to modernize C3 capabilities that match the digital age we are living in today. As I often like to say, a lot of our command, control and communications was built in an era prior to cyber. It's critical that we provide warfighters with the right communications at the right time that will not only protect but also enable them. Updated command, control and communications are key successful mission assurances at the DoD and will no doubt also support lethality.

As hopefully you've heard, October was National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Not only within the DoD but across the nation. Although we highlight cybersecurity every October, I cannot stress enough that good cyber hygiene must be practiced throughout the year. DISA has continually highlighted these messages across Department workforce. We have a huge surface space to protect. This chart was one that we created shortly after I joined. I think it's a really good chart to remind all of us especially those that provide technology solutions and technology into the Department of Defense but the sheer scale of size and the complexity of the surface space we're trying to protect. The mantra at the DoD that I have been really pushing hard is a cyber first, cyber always. What does that mean exactly to our industry partners? We must bake in cybersecurity in every network, every piece of equipment and software that is procured within the Department. Cost, schedule and performance is something we are all very well-versed in at this conference. However, what we really need to be saying is security, cost, schedule and performance. Our soldiers downrange, our sailors at sea, civilians in their offices and yes, our industry partners all play vital roles in protecting the DoD. Cybersecurity is a responsibility for all of us to work together and practicing good cyber hygiene is something each of us every day should be thinking first and foremost about.

Networks at DOD are vulnerable to cyber threats. Operators and our defenders have modeled the problems to face. Just look at that chart for a second. Think about the fact that there's close to four million endpoints and all the complexities of everything shown on that chart. They have multiple problems to face on a daily basis. They cannot defend what they cannot see and they cannot harden what they cannot find. This is where comply to connect comes into play. Comply to connect will allow the DoD to identify, protect devices that are connected to the DODIN and will ensure that these devices are properly patched. The ongoing threats to our network's mandate that we must be agile and comply to connect will help us get there.

The Department recently released a cyber strategy which addresses our challenges that lie ahead of us. Within our strategy, we are focused on five key objectives which will ensure that we have open and reliable access to information which is vital to U.S. prosperity and security. Our key objectives are ensure that the Joint Force can achieve its mission in a contested cyberspace environment. Next, strengthen the Joint Force by conducting cyberspace operations that enhance U.S. military advantage. Third, defend forward U.S. critical infrastructure from malicious cyber activity that individually or as part of a campaign is likely to cause significant cyber incident. Four, secure DoD information and systems against malicious cyber activity including such activity on non-DoD-owned networks. And finally, expand DoD cyber cooperation with other federal departments and agencies, industries as well as international partners.

Cloud, AI, C3 and cyber all will have their unique challenges as we move forward. DISA will provide expert support for each of these areas as we continue to move forward and modernize our capabilities at DoD. The challenges we face at the DoD will continue to evolve but when I look around this room today, I know the Department does not face these challenges alone. As I've said before, our industry partners are key to the long-term success and I do sincerely appreciate your engagement with us. I appreciate the challenge you bring us. I appreciate the ingenuity and the collaboration and I say that with all sincerity. In order to compete, deter and win, we really, really need your help. What I'd like to tell industry is to bring the solutions in the lens of those priorities I talked about earlier. How your solutions will benefit the national defense strategy and that we all need to work together. Thank you again for inviting me to speak today and I look forward to an ongoing dialogue with all of you in this room. Thank you very much.

Okay. Are we going to go two for two?

Okay. Well, that one gone in a hurry. All right.

Where are you?

Oh, no wonder why this is like the voice that's coming from somewhere in the room. Oh, back here. Okay. It's interesting. When we've talked about our cyber strategy, we have this really cool place map that shows the top ten cyber risk across the Department of Defense. And of course, you wouldn't be surprised that I told you, it starts with the endpoint. We get this really interesting debate when you talk about the endpoint because all you have to do is look at that DODIN chart you realize there's a lot of different types of endpoints and one of the things I keep stressing is we have to step up and face the reality that the world around us is becoming more and more mobile each and every day. And I always do this thing that drives my team crazy. I pull out my CAC card and say, 'I'm not sure how I'm going to plug this into my mobile device.' So it really does talk about the fact that I believe mobility is going to become ubiquitous. The devices out there are such that we're going to have to move to a strategy of identity credential and access management that moves us beyond the physical CAC as I believe the mobile device is a device that's going to become the predominance of how we work and interact and communicate across the Department going forward.

Wow. Moving money, warfighter. Really, it is that distinctively different and I mean that with all sincerity on both of those challenges. The private sector, I literally came to work every day and for me, it was all about how do I ensure that the accounts where each of you placed your money that you could confidently know would be there tomorrow and you can confidently move it from point A to point B? Here, it's all about how do we ensure that we can confidently support the warfighter. Enabling them. Protecting them. This is why those four strategies that I outlined, Cloud, AI, C3 and cyber are so important because I'm incredibly passionate about the idea of just like I was in private industry of protecting your wealth and ensuring it was there for you each and every day. I'm incredibly passionate about ensuring that the warfighter is protected and enabled every day.

I think I did already. I truly believe whether we're ready to have all the solutions in place, mobility is a way of life. All I got to do is look around the room and half of you are looking at your mobile devices right now. I mean, the fact is, it permeates every aspect of our life. It permeates the way we conduct our lives and I think the reality is, is that the warfighter is going to need mobility out of the tactical edge. I think we're going to need to support mobility in a way where it could be degraded. We're going to need to make sure that from point A to point B, the information can get out to the mobile device in a secure manner. So I see it as an integral part of the future.

To the extent that it sits inside those four priorities. We'll obviously want to ensure that the solutions we provide, I like to call, are stitched up. That they're seamlessly working together. So the way I like to talk about this, whether we're going to do things internally across those four priorities or we're going to use partners or we're going to do a combination of both, what I am really passionate about, what I'm really focused on is to ensure that whether it's in a partner outside or whether it's our own internal folks that they truly understand how these four priorities connect together, why they're important and what it is they're all in support of. And once again, they're all in support of the warfighter.

Yeah. I mean, if we can go back to that chart, I don't know if it's possible to put up the JAIC chart. Someone could figure that out here. What is it we're really trying to do here at the end of the day? AI is moving at a rapid pace. There's a huge appetite across the Department to use it. Except that the number of resources we have right now are limited. When you think about AI, there's two things that come to the forefront. It's about data and it's about the algorithms. And it's how do we use a center such as the Joint Artificial Intelligence to get after where are the sources of data? How do we bring the right data together? How do we take really smart the data science aspect of this so the algorithms will create and bring them together? But most importantly, what we're really focused on for the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is this idea that I refer to as the national mission initiatives. These are cross-service solutions we're trying to solve for and what I really believe is that AI will become more than just a tool. I believe AI will be a partner. It will help us in many ways. No doubt first and foremost from a lethality standpoint but I think AI will serve us incredibly well inside of DISA. I think it can help us protect the DODIN better. I think it can help U.S. Cyber Command, and I think it will also help us in our reform efforts and then finally, just last week, I happened to be at the Five Eyes Conference with our allied partners in the U.K. and we spent a significant amount of time talking together about how does tools such as AI and Cloud help us as allied partners fight better in the future.