Last week, Inside the Pentagon reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had quietly agreed late last year to transfer responsibility for the Defense Department's information network to U.S. Cyber Command, but reversed that decision in the twilight of his tenure, according to a memo he wrote. Further:
Gates' memo on the disestablishment of the Pentagon's Networks and Information Integration (NII) office, issued earlier this week, describes DOD's plans for shuttering the office following months of uncertainty about how the department would proceed.
Inside the Pentagon reviewed a copy of the memo, which is addressed to DOD acquisition executive Ashton Carter, NII boss and Chief Information Officer Teri Takai and Christine Fox, the director of the cost assessment and program evaluation shop.
Gates -- who retires today and will be succeeded by Leon Panetta -- first announced plans for NII's closure last August. Gates' chief of staff, Robert Rangel, set a March 30 deadline for the task. When DOD failed to meet the deadline, Pentagon officials admitted the task was harder than expected, but they declined to comment on the details of internal deliberations.
But the new memo reveals Gates "tentatively agreed" last December to "a conceptual approach that involves transferring significant responsibility for the operation of the DOD information network" from NII and the Defense Information Systems Agency to CYBERCOM.
The website for Takai's office states she is responsible for setting policy and providing oversight of information processes, systems and technologies. DISA provides information technology and communications support to the White House, the armed services and the combatant commands. CYBERCOM chief Gen. Keith Alexander has said his command coordinates, integrates and synchronizes activities to direct the operations and defense of DOD networks.
Gates writes that issues raised by Fox's office in February led him to "recognize there are a number of significant policy, operational and practical concerns with shifting DISA to CYBERCOM that no longer make it a viable approach."
The department will abandon plans for such a shift and refocus on disestablishing NII, the memo states.
"To this end, I believe the best course for the Department is to return to the original goal of disestablishing NII into a smaller and more focused and strengthened Chief Information Officer (CIO) office that has a strong relationship between DISA and CYBERCOM and achieves savings from eliminating functions that are duplicative or no longer necessary," Gates writes.
We now have a copy of the memo. Click here to view it.