Bringing about a Joint Information Environment that is more secure and agile and has more mission capabilities is among his top priorities, the Defense Department’s acting chief information officer told a conference audience here today.
Terry Halvorsen delivered the keynote address at the MeriTalk 2014 Federal Forum, a gathering that brought together government information technology specialists with industry to examine how government agencies can harness the changing IT landscape while ensuring network security.
Such an integrated system would have to be secure and state-of-the-art, Halvorsen said, and must allow information to be exchanged between the United States and coalition allies who may not necessarily want to share information with each other.
“We hope to have an environment of networks where we have encrypted security [and] better mission effectiveness, coupled with business efficiency,” he told his audience. “It will probably be the largest modernization effort we have ever undertaken inside DoD.”
In addition, he said, the Defense Department needs to take more advantage of the commercial sector in moving forward. Havorsen acknowledged that some risk will have to be accepted with the development of any integrated information-sharing environment.
The question, Halvorsen said, is where that risk is assumed. “I certainly don’t want to take risks on my classified data,” he added.
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