Collaboration between the U.S. military, government and civilian technology leaders is critical to protecting the nation from cyber threats, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and commander of the joint headquarters for the Department of Defense’s Information Network.
In remarks at DefenseTalks 2024, Skinner, a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said the DOD is continuously asking its partners to help forces better understand the state of the cyber battlespace so they can perform their jobs without getting “bogged down with the technical complexities that some capabilities offer,” the Pentagon reported on Wednesday.
One of the most notable threats in the cyber domain is the People’s Republic of China, which Skinner said is “trying to get into our critical infrastructure … because they want to gain the strategic positional advantage.”
“I don’t think you can overstate the threat that we live in, in the cyber domain today. All you have to do is go look at open-source reporting,” he said.
As a combat support agency, DISA is focused on “the bad day,” or the start of armed conflict. This responsibility serves as the foundation for the recently released DISA Next strategy, which lays out four strategic imperatives for the agency, the first of which is operating and securing the agency’s portion of DODIN.
“The networks that we provide have to be ready. As we look at diversity of transport, there is not one mission that I know of that happens in the department of defense, that DISA is not underpinning — not one,” Skinner said.
The other three objectives are supporting strategic command, control and communications, modernizing the network and operationalizing data.
Skinner underscored that partnerships are critical in the information technology area.
“And … what sets us apart is our partnerships like these engagements, and partnerships that we [have] each and every day to enable [DOD] and the nation to be successful,” he stated.
Want to know more about how the U.S. government is approaching cyber? The Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 8 will give you the opportunity to hear key public and private sector cyber experts share their insights on this important domain. To learn more and register to attend the event, click here.