The U.S. Army – once known as a Blackberry-only world – is embracing mobile devices like Android and iPhones. This is a huge step for an organization that is not known for being on the bleeding edge of technology.
Several recent reports have highlighted Pentagon efforts to overhaul the way classified information is distributed in an effort to pave the way for use of smartphones and tablets.
As someone who works in the cybersecurity world I can tell you that the toughest part of enabling new technology is balancing security with productivity. If you have too much security then you hinder being productive by making the simplest of automated tasks too hard to try. If don’t have enough security in favor of making the use of systems easier, you increase risk of data being compromised or lost.
In light of recent high-profile events like the Wikileaks scandal, the increasingly brazen cyber attacks from foreign countries and other data threats it is almost surprising that DoD is moving forward with smartphones.
It’s fairly clear that it’s a calculated risk on the part of the Pentagon, where push from upper levels of command as well as service members on the ground is to make the technology, and capability, afforded by smartphones more readily available.
"The question they are struggling with is this: In a military that is trying to get more secure, how do we approve technology and protocols that are inherently less secure?" said Brian Hajost, president and CEO of Steelcloud, a company that provides wireless security systems to the military and other government agencies.
I was involved with the early stages of the effort to put smart-phones in the hands of soldiers. One of my duties contracting to the Army was to gather feedback from soldiers returning from war. One of the areas we gathered data on concerned the concept of a smartphone in the hand of every soldier. We queried dozens of soldiers and floated ideas past them.
Questions included – Does every soldier on the battlefield need a smart-phone? Should the devices come pre-loaded and be locked down? How small or light or rugged do the devices need to be? All of those along with many other questions led to hours of back and forth dialogue about what the soldiers would like to see. The details of those sessions and the answers to our questions went right back to the engineers responsible for developing the first devices for the Army. I am very proud to have been part of that process.
It’s clear that a smartphone in the hands of every soldiers is a work-in-progress – a number of questions still need to be answered by network administrators and military leaders. At the end of the day, even DoD’s willingness to move the concept forward and their desire to embrace new technology rather than sit on the sidelines, is serious progress. Anything we can do to put an asset into the hand of service members that empowers them on the ground is worth doing.
Troy is an Army brat and the father of combat medic. He is also a retired Infantry Senior NCO with multiple combat tours, in addition to several stateside deployments. Troy retired from the Army not long after switching careers from the Information Technology consulting industry to becoming a contractor for the U.S. Army. He serves on several task-forces and enjoys working with soldiers every day. Troy is also a recognized and multiple-award winning military blogger who writes at www.bouhammer.com, and a familiar person in many social media circles.
