Becoming Cloud Smart in the Department of Defense

The US Federal government has, for some years now, promoted a strategy to modernize technology usage, delivery, and operations to improve outcomes to citizens and warfighters while capturing cost efficiencies. This strategy, CloudFirst, was embraced by the US DoD with a mandate to all military departments (MILDEPS) to move to the cloud. This strategy has recently been updated by the US Federal CIO. While CloudFirst focuses on moving everything to the modern-day cloud, CloudSmart emphasizes the consideration of mission readiness, statutory requirements, and practical considerations (operations, cybersecurity, or otherwise) in how resources would be deployed in the move to the cloud.

While the end goal was always to maximize value to the citizen and the warfighter, it has to be considered in the appropriate context so as to make more realistic decisions and appropriately deploy resources. CloudSmart as the next iteration of a continually evolving cloud strategy is designed to modernize and mature the government’s workforce, processes, and technologies.