Moving ECMA away from the Army’s chief information officer aims to more closely integrate cloud management and cyber defenses.
The Army is ramping up efforts to defend its sprawling ecosystem of critical software and data under a new order reassigning its central cloud management organization to Army Cyber Command, the service said in a release Tuesday.
The order, signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Monday, directed the newly renamed Enterprise Cloud Management Activity to report to ARCYBER at Fort Gordon in Georgia. ECMA previously reported to the service’s chief information officer.
“This organizational transition marks a significant milestone in the Army’s modernization journey, strengthening ARCYBER’s role in securing, governing and operationalizing the service’s digital terrain,” the service said.
Founded in 2019 as the Enterprise Cloud Management Office and later rebranded as an agency, the organization makes a host of tactical and business systems like Microsoft Office 365 accessible to soldiers around the world. Each of the major cloud service providers — Amazon, Microsoft and Google — have joined the cArmy cloud ecosystem, allowing users to share software and data on the platform that works best for their needs.
The Army has inked contracts for forcewide licenses to use software from Palantir, Salesforce and Appian. Then-Army Chief Information Officer Leo Garciga said in February the service was eyeing other enterprise licensing deals with commercial firms as it looks to overhaul software procurement.
“You’re going to see those common services and that architecture start to expand globally,” Paul Puckett, another former ECMA boss, said in 2022. “You’re going to start to see a focus on more software-defined ecosystems as we move away from this physical scaffolding of the DoD enterprise network.”
But as the pace of threats to military networks accelerates and more tactical applications are added to the mix, giving units information they need in the field without relying on higher headquarters, the push to strengthen cloud security has grown as well.
The team under ARCYBER will rely on zero-trust principles and defensive cyber tools to protect its growing cloud infrastructure “from day one,” while continuously monitoring the devices on its network.
ECMA plans to add more “landing zones,” or areas on a cloud-based network that are configured for troops to easily launch new applications, while finding ways to cut down on cloud ownership costs and rolling out systems that can track military spending in near-real time, among other projects, the Army said.
The announcement follows a recent update to Army software acquisition policy directing contracting officers to buy commercial software under enterprise agreements and to avoid custom-built options.
“Testing and cybersecurity processes will enable, not impede, rapid delivery,” the July 22 memo added. “The commanders of Army cybersecurity organizations will implement continuous authority to operate processes and accept reciprocity across Army organizations.”
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