Defense Department CIO outlines new IT advancement strategy

By DISA Office of Strategic Communication and Public Affairs

Continuing its mission to outpace digital adversaries and enhance seamless agency interoperability, the Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer has developed a new strategy outlining ways to leverage the power of technology to drive transformative change.

Information technology, industry and Defense Information Systems Agency professionals were among the first to hear Principal Deputy DoD Chief Information Officer Leslie Beavers discuss Fulcrum: The Department of Defense Information Technology Advancement Strategy, during AFCEA International TechNet Cyber 2024 in Baltimore on June 25.

“It’s called Fulcrum because it sits at the nexus between our national security strategy, our strategic management plans, our big thinking strategies, our workforce implementation strategies,” Beavers said during her fireside chat. “It gives you tangible steps to turn that strategic vision into an operational reality. It’s the department’s guide to help us as a community get to an interoperable, integrated platform.”

One of Beavers' key messages is that we must deliver functional, scalable, sustainable and secure 21st century solutions that enable the United States Department of Defense to achieve its objectives.

The new strategy serves as a tipping point for catalyzing digital modernization for the warfighter and will be followed by an implementation plan later this year, Beavers said.

Fulcrum consists of four crosscutting lines of effort that embrace technology as a mission enabler, enhance operational effectiveness and deliver superior value to the warfighter.

-- LOE 1: Provide joint warfighting IT capabilities to expand strategic dominance of U.S. forces and mission partners.

-- LOE 2: Modernize information networks and compute to rapidly meet mission and business needs.

-- LOE 3: Optimize IT governance to gain efficiencies in capability delivery and enable cost savings.

-- LOE 4: Cultivate a premier cyber workforce ready to deploy emerging technology to the warfighter.

Fulcrum is now considered the foundational strategy for the CIO portfolio, crystalizing the department’s vision of success for the next five years. It outlines a vision of an IT enterprise that delivers warfighter decision advantage and addresses the use of mission partner environments and mobile apps.

Beavers said she wants the Fulcrum solution to be used across all DOD platforms, noting that users can help by changing how the DOD handles IT operational security on a day-to-day basis. User experience is at the heart of this strategy.

“I will need everybody’s help to turn that vision into reality by changing the decisions that you make every day as you’re solving your problems in the digital workspace. I need you to prioritize this interoperability and security,” she said.

DISA Next nests with Fulcrum

The DISA Next Strategy, also released recently, nests with Fulcrum, synchronizes agency actions and enhances workforce engagement to drive organizational excellence in keeping with DISA’s role as a combat support agency.

“This DISA Next strategy describes where the agency is headed over the next few years,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner, DISA director and Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network commander, says in the strategy. “Our first priority is to simplify the network with large-scale adoption of a common IT environment. Consolidating combatant commands and defense agencies and field activities into this environment is a whole-of-agency effort and a key first step in providing a DOD-wide warfighting information system.”

Watch Beavers' full keynote via YouTube.