Cybersecurity

Obama unveils national cybersecurity action plan

Clay Dillow, special to CNBC.com

This article discusses President Obama’s plan to increase cybersecurity spending to $19 billion and to also launch a $3.1 billion Information Technology Modernization Fund to retire and replace systems in the federal government. To do this, Obama will enlist the help of Silicon Valley to fight military cyber-warfare across the Internet using a new organization, called Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx.

DIUx’s primary function is to serve as a matchmaker, directing defense program offices toward companies that might be able to help solve their technology problems and directing companies toward government labs or technology programs that could be potential customers. The purpose of this facilitator isn’t to make a lot of money, but to help connect those companies with billions in federal dollars that the Obama administration wants to channel into cybersecurity and other high-tech innovations in the next budget. The importance of this plan is to uncover all the information the Department of Defense has. Although they have a wealth of information, without information technology, none of it can be uncovered fully. The disconnect between problems and solutions is what seems to be the Pentagon’s core technology problem.

The Pentagon wants to change this problem by making it easier to put military problems in front of the coders and engineers so they can attempt to solve these problems. Thus uncovering how the Pentagon plans to create a bridge between Silicon Valley and themselves, as this is where the most talented programmers and engineers reside. The Pentagon is working very hard to fix this gap, considering the vast differences including the location difference and speeds of both markets.

What I found to be missing from this article would be a potential solution to these problems from a Silicon Valley perspective. Also, what type of solution is to be had? Does the Pentagon seek a blind solution, or do they intend to work closely to interpret to solution the programmers and engineers come up with? What will this solution mean to the Department of Defense, and will it be permanent? These are just some of the questions I felt myself asking at the end of this article. All and all I found this article very interesting and informative since it’s comforting to hear our government is seeking solutions to new and important problems regarding up to date technology in this day and age.