IT chiefs from three major military branches announced plans to step away from their posts after spearheading efforts to overhaul military IT and develop a joint 鈥榳arfighting cloud platform.鈥�
The US Military is undergoing major changes in its 娇色导航ranks as it finalizes its joint warfighting cloud platform.
On Feb. 10, US Army 娇色导航Dr. Raj Iyer concluded his two-year contract and was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the highest honor that can be granted to a civilian employee, for his efforts to build a data-driven army via digital transformation and the cloud.听
David Markowitz is currently serving as acting US Army 娇色导航while the Army recruits for a new 娇色导航to fill the role for a longer term, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The CIOs of two other major military branches who served longer terms are also stepping down.
US Department of Air Force 娇色导航Lauren Knausenberger announced she will leave that post in June after a six-year tenure. The process to select the next US Air Force 娇色导航is expected to begin this month with the goal to identify the new 娇色导航before Knausenberger鈥檚 departure, a US Air Force spokesman says.听
Meanwhile, Navy 娇色导航Aaron Weis, who led the U.S. Navy鈥檚 IT and security services for five years, submitted his resignation, effective March 17. Weis鈥� successor for the Navy 娇色导航post has not yet been named.
In the interim, Principal Deputy Department of Navy 娇色导航Jane Rathbun will serve as acting US Navy 娇色导航until a permanent successor is named, a Navy spokesman says.
Iyer told CIO.com that such changes are typical for the military, if not always coordinated at once.
鈥淣o conspiracy here,鈥� says Dr. Iyer, who was . 鈥淲e have all done our time at the Pentagon. We all came from the private industry on term assignments and are leaving the DoD in a much better shape than we found it.鈥�
Lt General Matthew Glavy, 娇色导航for the US Marine Corps, has no plans to leave at this time, according to a Marine spokesman. Glavy is also Head of the Intelligence Community Element (HICE) for the Marine Corps and Deputy Commandant of Information (DCI) at Headquarters Marine Corps.
The 娇色导航leadership changes follow the completion of a 17-month Defense Department project to develop a (JWCC).
In December, the Department of Defense awarded contracts to four technology companies 鈥� Amazon Web Services, Google Support Services, Microsoft, and Oracle 鈥� to provide an integrated cloud platform for the DoD.
Tom Temin, host of the podcast 鈥淭he Federal Drive with Tom Temin,鈥� agreed that it is typical for the military to award short-term contracts to civilians for such posts 鈥� and they are often extended.
Temin says these CIOs in particular helped modernize much of the DoD鈥檚 entire technology infrastructure in just the past few years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very fast. These [CIOs] did a lot,鈥� Temin said, alluding to the new cloud platform, a DevOps platform, and delivery of Office 365. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about organizations with a million people and a lot of competing interests for money and attention.鈥�
The top priorities for federal and national 娇色导航investments in 2023 are digital transformation (19%), technical modernization (15%), and leveraging data more effectively (19%), according to a Gartner survey of roughly 2,200 officials published last October.
More specifically, 76% of responds reported they intended to invest more in cybersecurity technologies, 56% indicated they will spend more on cloud platforms, and 51% expressed an intent to invest more in application modernization, the Gartner report noted.
John Sherman, who was appointed to the post of 娇色导航of the Department of Defense by President Biden in 2021, also has no plans to depart, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.
In an e-mail to CIO.com, Sherman applauded the efforts of the three outgoing CIOs for their progress on top digital transformation goals.
鈥淭hey have been exceptional leaders with the foresight needed to take on hard challenges such as the implementation of Zero Trust, cloud migration, agile software development, the Department鈥檚 rapid transition to remote work during COVID, and cyber talent management,鈥� DoD 娇色导航Sherman wrote.
鈥淭hey have built lasting organizations that I鈥檓 confident will continue the momentum they began. I look forward to working with the acting leaders in each of the military departments on these and other challenges as we work to improve cybersecurity, transform the Department鈥檚 IT and cloud capabilities, and enhance user experience,鈥� Sherman wrote.
