In recent years, there has been a steadily increasing push to optimize and embolden systems for sharing information in the U.S. military. This is most clearly seen in the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control initiative, which entails an interlocking network of communications for warfighters.
World events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have spurred a greater focus on creating reciprocal and sustainable relationships with allied nations, in which experts such as George Kamis, chief technology officer for global governments and critical infrastructure at Forcepoint, writing for C4ISRNET, say an exchange of information is critical.
In order to safely and securely disclose often top-secret information with national collaborators, Kamis and others assert that establishing a well-protected mission partner environment is key.
If you are interested in learning more about the meeting point between JADC2 strategies and the implementation of a mission partner environment, look no further than the upcoming Mission Partner Environment and JADC2 Intersection Forum, hosted by Potomac Officers Club. The event will occur at the scenic 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia on Jan. 19 and will be accompanied by a delicious breakfast. Register here.
Booz Allen Hamilton Senior Vice President Khalid Syed handles the company’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and integrated air defense business for the U.S. aerospace sector. Syed asserts that effective MPEs utilize data-centric, cloud-based networks rather than traditional information technology set-ups. He also enumerated that a successfully mounted MPE should institute zero-trust security policies and an open architecture approach.
In its March 2022-released JADC2 Implementation Plan, the Department of Defense stated that the “ideal mission partner system integration is realized when data from each partner’s C2 systems can be accessed, viewed and acted upon by every other partner.” An April 2022 General Dynamics Information Technology report said that “disparate data types and formats at varying levels of releasability, streaming from different sensors and environments, present significant challenges” to the creation of a mutually beneficial MPE.
“These challenges exist across the combatant commands, our mission partners and even the individual defense services themselves,” GDIT continued, likewise invoking data-centricity, zero trust and “transport agnostic architecture” as enablers of interoperability for collaborating military powers.
“These technologies allow us to develop environments with the ability to federate and control access to data based on identity, regardless of the user’s location or enclave,” the company wrote.
According to Kamis, “the good news is that cross domain solutions can help the DOD ensure the fast and secure transfer of information from classified networks, like SIPRNet, to its MPE—and vice versa…cross domain solutions enable high assurance connectivity to networks and classification levels that would otherwise be kept separate.”
POC’s Mission Partner Environment and JADC2 Intersection Forum is slated to bring together government, military and industry officials alike who are seen as thought leaders in the fields of JADC2 and MPEs.
Edward Drolet, vice president at CACI International, will lead a panel discussion between CACI’s Peter Gallagher, the U.S. Air Force’s Rick Kellogg, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s BG Mark Miles and the Department of the Air Force’s Colonel Jeff Mrazik.
The event will touch on issues such as connectivity resilience, edge technology and the necessary convergence of funding, schedules and interoperability. Join us at 2941 Restaurant on Jan. 19—register here today.
