Department of Defense Use of Commercial Cloud Computing Capabilities and Services

Abstract

This papers addresses requests made by both the U.S. House Armed Services Committee and the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee for independent assessments of the Department of Defense (DoD) approach to using commercial cloud computing. As of 2015, the Department of Defense (DoD) is taking action to offer a wider selection of commercially owned and operated cloud services to DoD mission owners. DoD has instituted a process to evaluate and issue Provisional Authorizations for cloud service offerings, based on the security controls that the provider implements and the sensitivity level of the data that it intends to host. The timing of DoDs move towards the commercial cloud is reasonable given the risk and assurance requirements of many of its missions. However, the Department could offer better guidance about the risks of cloud computing and what mission owners should consider as they mitigate or avoid those risks. We also recommend that DoD consider allowing its Defense Industrial Base partners to participate in high-sensitivity community cloud infrastructure, thereby increasing the efficiency and utility of those systems.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1002758

Entities

People

  • Laura A. Odell
  • Ryan R. Wagner
  • Tristan J. Weir

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Cloud Computing
  • Computer Networks
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Contracts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Centers
  • Data Storage Systems
  • Electronic Mail
  • Governments
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Information Security
  • Information Systems
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Operating Systems

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.