The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer has released its Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) Cloud Strategy, which strives to enable an all-domain advantage for international operations through cloud innovation.
The DoD CIO’s Twitter account announced the OCONUS Cloud Strategy in a tweet last week, saying the Pentagon’s cloud effort “now shifts to implementation in partnership with the DoD Components.” In 2018, the DoD released its official cloud strategy, but the OCONUS strategy encompasses a universal cloud approach outside the United States.
“The Department of Defense (DoD) Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) Cloud Strategy establishes the vision and goals for enabling a dominant all-domain advantage through cloud innovation at the tactical edge,” John B. Sherman, acting CIO at the DoD, said. “It identifies areas requiring modernization to realize the potential of cloud computing in direct support of the warfighter, specifically: security, redundancy, reliability, and availability.”
The DoD strategy outlines three main goals for OCONUS modernization:
- Goal #1: Provide robust and resilient connectivity to the tactical edge;
- Goal #2: Provide computing power that enables forces at the tactical edge;
- Goal #3: Deploy talent at the point of need.
Additionally, the strategy plans to extend continental U.S. cloud computing to include the African, European, Indo-Pacific, Middle Eastern, and South American Theaters.
“DoD must take action to execute this strategy to ensure cloud capabilities are delivered to the warfighter,” the strategy says. “The Department will convene the DoD Components responsible for the planning, funding, and execution activities that will enable a dominant all-domain advantage through cloud innovation and resilience.”
To learn more about DoD’s cloud strategy and what’s coming down the line for OCONUS, register today to join MeriTalk at GDIT Emerge: Defense Cloud on June 23.
