The Department of Defense is targeting the implementation of federal identity, credential and access management, or ICAM, connections on unclassified networks across all military services by the end of fiscal 2015. Brian Hermann, program executive officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Program Executive Office Cyber, provided a timeline of anticipated ICAM milestones across military services during a recent media roundtable.
Federated ICAM Solutions Across US Military
At the beginning of fiscal 2025, DISA established a federation hub to give the agency increased visibility into all the information an individual can access and ensure that ICAM across the DOD works as intended.
Through the federation hub, DISA started working with the Army and other military services to get their ICAM solutions federated. Hermann expects the Army to get its ICAM solutions federated by the end of March and then the Navy three months later.
The official estimates that the Air Force will get its ICAM solutions federated by the end of fiscal 2025.
According to Hermann, the order in which the services will achieve federated ICAM is based on “deconfliction of timing.”
“I can’t really say for example, that the Army’s technical solution was more advanced or more mature than any of the others,” he revealed. “I think it was just a timing issue.”
DISA’s work does not end once all the services have achieved federated ICAM. Hermann shared that the agency will collaborate with other components of the Pentagon and its allies and partners.
In December, the DOD announced that it achieved a federated ICAM connection with Canada. Leslie Beavers, acting chief information officer at the DOD and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said in December that the Pentagon will next expand ICAM to the Five Eyes alliance and NATO.
What Is ICAM?
ICAM is a critical part of the DOD’s zero trust strategy. It secures a system by conducting constant checks of users who are allowed to access information.
Hermann explained that ICAM is the DOD’s way to facilitate cooperation across the department and with mission partners.
“Enabling our work with allied and coalition partners means we have to have some connectivity and understanding of who we’re working with in that coalition, to make sure that we have an understanding of their access rights and grant them access to DOD resources,” he stated.
