DISA Successfully Migrates First Round of JRSS Network Upgrades

After much anticipation and preparation, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), along with the U.S. Army and Air Force, successfully migrated network traffic through the first of several Joint Regional Security Stacks (JRSS) at Joint Base San Antonio, according to an agency press statement released Wednesday.

The JRSS upgrade is a step toward the realization of the colossal concept of connecting the entirety of the Defense Department’s network system under the Joint Information Environment (JIE).

The migration at the joint base in Texas marked a first step in the agency's effort to build momentum. "This is a significant network security infrastructure upgrade and milestone for JIE," David Stickley, vice director, PEO-Mission Assurance, says in the statement. "It allows DISA, Army and Air Force to monitor compliance and apply consistent security policy to information traveling over DOD networks."

Multi-Protocol Label Switching will enable a virtual “traffic management system that moves data faster, improves command and control, and prioritizes and streamlines data flow, significantly reducing the chances of data being stalled or lost due to high volume and congestion,” according to DISA.

Joint Base San Antonio is the first of 25 data sites to host the suite of equipment on the nonsecure Internet protocol router network (NIPRNet). Secret, or SIPRNet, upgrades will be made over the next year at the same 25 sites, DISA says.

Already, installation is complete at 10 JRSS sites within the continental United States. An 11th installation will take place during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Overseas, a JRSS installation in Europe is complete with three more sites planned in Southwest Asia for the third quarter of fiscal 2015. With the installations complete, the migration can begin. 

“The problem we’re trying to address [with JIE] is that neither the DOD nor combatant commanders have adequate capabilities to effectively defend their networks, provide operational end-to-end situational awareness or execute enterprise-wide command and control,” Danielle Metz, the JRSS program manager at DISA, said during a recent interview.

The JRSS will provide multiple layers and redundancies of security controls that will protect information rather than making it more vulnerable, says Chris Kearns, director of DISA programs within Enterprise IT Solutions for Lockheed Martin, the prime defense contractor on the project.

DISA is coordinating with the Navy and Marine Corps and other DOD offices for eventual migration. "We must build on the momentum of this effort and work to bring the rest of the department to JRSS," Stickley says.