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Defense Department Expands Classified Mobility Program

Senior leaders will receive tablets under new pilot program.

U.S. Air Force students use a tablet for training and education. The Defense Information Systems Agency is supplying tablets to senior leaders under the one-year pilot program.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is expanding its offerings under the Department of Defense Mobility Classified Capability-Secret (DMCC-S) Program through a new pilot program that puts 8-inch tablet computers into the hands of designated senior leaders across the department.

The pilot expands the DMCC-S' support for smartphones and acknowledges the need to enable leaders to work with classified data in a mobile environment just as they would in an office.

"We're bringing the mobile device from something you use mostly to consume information to being able to actually do work on the device," says Jake Marcellus, the department's mobility portfolio manager, in a written announcement.

The first tablet was issued May 19 to Dr. John Zangardi, the department's acting chief information officer, and 23 others have been issued since then.

The change from a 5-inch phone screen to an 8-inch tablet screen offers greater flexibility and an improved user experience, according to the written announcement.

The program has incorporated capability enhancements, such as support for the Unified Video Dissemination System (UVDS), which enables viewing live full-motion video feeds collected for the purpose of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The pilot management team already has received positive feedback from combatant commanders, who have praised the enhanced capability to view UVDS.

“While the yearlong pilot is in its initial stages, it will be a game changer across the department,” says Leticia Parra, DMCC-S tablet pilot program manager. “As we continue to enhance capabilities, modern information technology will continue to join forces with cybersecurity to provide situational awareness and create a manageable battlefield communications infrastructure.”