The Pentagon is closely monitoring the progress of the military services as they work towards implementing the department’s zero trust strategy, aiming to achieve a baseline level of zero trust by fiscal 2027. However, coordinating the individual efforts of each service into a unified approach has proven challenging, according to Randy Resnick, the director of the Defense Department’s zero trust portfolio management office.
Key Points:
- The Pentagon released its zero-trust strategy in November, mandating each military service to devise a plan to reach a basic level of zero trust by fiscal year 2027. These plans are due to be submitted by October.
- The Department of Defense (DoD) is holding weekly “huddles” and larger monthly meetings with the services to guide them on executing the department’s zero trust vision.
- The Pentagon is trying to simplify the 91 activities outlined in the strategy to reach the target baseline level of zero trust while still maintaining the capability to halt adversaries.
- The department has recognized its end goal for zero trust needs to be an integrated product rather than a set of individual tools.
- Resnick highlighted the challenge of maintaining the strategy in the “last mile,” referring to denied, degraded, or disconnected environments, with each service having different interpretations of what this entails.
Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2023/06/dod-zero-trust-cyber-services/
