A fulcrum is a pivot point around which a lever turns, and it is also the name of the latest Department of Defense (DoD) IT Advancement Strategy. It’s a fitting moniker, as the DoD has worked to modernize its IT systems for years under the direction of the Defense Modernization Act and the DoD Data Strategy. This latest piece of guidance is intended to take that progress and level it up to make an impact on the warfighter.
A key focus of Fulcrum is the end-user experience. How can technology be implemented to make information technology a critical strategic enabler? It also shifts the focus from the DoD being a hardware-defined organization to a more flexible, software-defined enterprise.
The document is structured around four lines of efforts that tie into larger DoD IT goals.
- Provide Joint Warfighting IT Capabilities: Tied to the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) goals, this line is focused on improving the information available to the warfighter in order to gain decision and competitive advantage in high-tempo, multi-domain operations.
- Modernize Information Networks and Compute: Leveraging a data-centric Zero Trust cybersecurity approach, this line aims to deliver a secure modernized network that has faster data transfer and lower latency, with improved global dynamic resiliency.
- Optimize IT Governance: Supporting the need to improve how the DoD conducts the business of defense, this line will drive efficiencies in capability delivery and management while enabling cost avoidance and savings.
- Cultivate a Premier Digital Workforce: This line looks beyond already established cyber workforce goals and efforts to include data, AI, and software development roles. It aims to identify, recruit, develop, and retain the best digital talent the country has to offer.
The guidance offered across these lines is focused on the U.S. combatant commands as the end-user or customer. Fulcrum starts with the customer experience first in its recommendations.
DoD’s IT strategy and implementation challenges and successes are highlighted across a number of resources from GovWhitePapers and GovEvents:
- Defense Primer: Emerging Technologies (white paper) – A number of emerging technologies could have a disruptive impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As these technologies continue to mature, they could hold significant implications for congressional oversight, U.S. defense authorizations and appropriations, military concepts of operations, and the future of war.
- DevSecOps: Continuous Authorization Implementation Guide (white paper) – The exigencies of today demand the agility to respond to changing mission needs by delivering capabilities more rapidly than with traditional DoD processes. To enable such a rapid pace, the industry has moved to using DevSecOps software development, often delivering new capabilities multiple times per day.
- Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment (white paper) – This paper provides a DoD-enterprise approach to ensure improved integration and oversight of information forces and information capabilities, operations, activities, programs, and technologies.
- Disruptive Technology for Defense Transformation USA (August 6-7, 2024; Austin, TX) – Experts from the defense and industry communities will explore the game-changing technologies shaping modern warfare and address gaps in U.S. critical technology areas.
- 2024 Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition (August 7-9, 2024; Washington, D.C.) – Explore the innovations that will shape national security for the next century. Hear directly from technology leaders in government, the defense industry, the commercial sector, and academia on cutting-edge developments, operational needs, business opportunities, and in critical mission areas.
- TechNet Augusta (August 19-22, 2024; Augusta, GA) – Examine and explore the intricacies of the cyber domain. The conference is designed to open the lines of communication and facilitate networking, education, and problem-solving.
- Defense News Conference 2024 (September 4, 2024; Arlington, VA) – Military, government, and industry leaders will gather to discuss the future of defense. Panel topics will include modernizing the Army and its battlefield tactics, future-ready Air Force, technology priorities for USMC, and the Pentagon’s role in innovation.
Find more insight and examples of DOD IT modernization by exploring GovWhitePapers and GovEvents.
