Thread by @nimkef

8 Dec 2021

The new CIO of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Douglas Cossa, has made it one of his top priorities to modernize the military and intelligence community’s top-secret IT network, the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System.

fedscoop.com/jwics-moderniz…

In a “huge effort … to modernize JWICS w/ support from the Hill, ODNI & Office of the Under SecDef for Intel & I’m excited to share those capability needs we have & discuss w/ industry partners where they can help,” Cossa said at DIA’s DoDIIS Worldwide conference in Phoenix

JWICS has evolved over its 30 yrs of use to become the “top secret network of the entire federal govt,” said Cossa, who’s been CIO since July. The network was created to be a video teleconferencing system but really evolved in the early 1990s with the advent and addition of email

“In doing that, it really grew legs. It’s kind of like a flywheel. We started getting the momentum moving and then we kept it moving faster and faster and faster,” Cossa said.

Today, there are “100k's of users in the IC and DOD, & more beyond when you consider the other parts of the federal govt, LE, academia, our industry partners who have that need to share & collaborate on info,” he said.

“And I’m proud to say not only did we cement our role in leading JWICS as the executive agent … but we actually have now taken upon an approach supported by the Hill, the congressional staffing committees, the intel cmtes, ODNI, DoD, and really the entire IC to modernize JWICS”

Cossa has the support of his boss DIA Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier in retaining and modernizing JWICS. Berrier spoke at the conference about how the modernization of JWICS plays an essential role in DIA’s larger strategy to compete with China, Russia and others.

DIA will look to modernize its DoD Intel Info System (DoDIIS), the LAN that the agency operates for itself and on the behalf of the combatant commands and others who handle top-secret info, as well as the global integration of networks with the nation’s Five Eyes allies.

DIA is looking to modernize DoDIIS “not only in terms of the equipment itself and replacing equipment, but really modernizing our local networks to take on the new capability needs for artificial intelligence and our ability to process a lot of data,” Cossa said.

DIA operates a network called Stone Ghost to work w/ 5Eyes. “[It] requires modernization of not only how do we share intel, but how do we operate in our native networks & connect together rather than creating independent, potentially redundant systems across the community"

We want a “DevSecOps env that adds governance, creates a single pipeline to migrate to the cloud & build apps, make audit controls, data standards for interconnectivity, standards for accreditation, all go through the same process & have complete visibility of all in one place”