Pentagon brings Five Eyes into zero trust and JADC2 summit

During its second summit to advance zero-trust initiatives, the Joint Staff (J-6) included the intelligence alliance Five Eyes, bringing the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand into conversations on command and control.

In December, the Security Interoperability in the Tactical Environment Summit discussed zero trust, a security framework that requires all users to be verified and continuously evaluated to win access to data, apps and information, key for the Pentagon to deliver secure Joint All-Domain Command and Control capabilities.

“The United Kingdom and Australia specifically shared with the forum how their nations are approaching the development of their own zero-trust frameworks,” according to a Defense Department statement today.

The Pentagon unveiled a new zero-trust strategy in November to bolster military components' safeguards against current cybersecurity risks as officials push to implement a zero-trust baseline within the next five years.

“One key outcome of the summit is the collaborative effort between the Joint Staff (J-6) and the DOD CIO Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office to develop an addendum to the existing zero trust strategy,” the announcement states.

The three-day summit was hosted at the Defense Information Systems Agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade, MD.