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Speed Drives Navy Cyber Actions

Modernization is a must if the fleet is going to maintain effective operations.

Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, USN, director, Navy Cybersecurity Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, spoke at the AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit on July 26.

The U.S. Navy is working to speed cyber capabilities to the force to keep up with both technology innovation and adversarial activities. Major obstacles can be found both internally and externally, and security concerns dominate all modernization efforts.

Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, USN, director, Navy Cybersecurity Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, told attendees at the AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit new cyber capabilities will be necessary to face modern peer rivals in the near future. “Our adversaries don’t wait on our two-year budget cycle to put something new in,” the admiral said. “All the things that are opportunities for us are opportunities for our adversaries. We have to be able to leverage it for us and deny it to them.”

Our adversaries don’t wait on our two-year budget cycle to put something new in.—Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, USN, director, Navy Cybersecurity Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit #afceasmallbusiness
— Bob Ackerman (@rkackerman) July 26, 2018

Adm. Barrett cited several areas on the Navy’s cyber wish list. To take fuller advantage of data in the cloud, the Navy wants to upgrade the pier infrastructure to provide data bandwidth. This would allow ships to transfer data operations to the cloud as they leave the port. Onboard ships at sea, the fleet would benefit from greater wireless capabilities for use by sailors.

We’re looking to upgrade the pier infrastructure for greater data bandwidth to synchronize with the cloud.—Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, USN, director, Navy Cybersecurity Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit #afceasmallbusiness
— Bob Ackerman (@rkackerman) July 26, 2018

The Navy also wants to tag data at the lowest level, which would allow it to employ new data management capabilities that include artificial intelligence. Automating risk management is another target, as Adm. Barrett decried the way that elements of the Internet of Things are being implemented with little concern for security.

We [the Navy] want to be able to tag data at the lowest levels of service.— Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, USN, director, Navy Cybersecurity Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit #afceasmallbusiness
— Bob Ackerman (@rkackerman) July 26, 2018

Saying, “We are in a world of exponentially, accelerated, converging technology,” she allowed that bureaucracy can be an internal obstacle to cyber modernization. Some people understand the need for new cyber technologies and capabilities, and they help bring about needed change. Yet others who don’t have that understanding actually can obstruct needed cyber modernization efforts.