Innovating Military Management Systems To Mitigate Hardware-Related Vulnerabilities

Three main components of the IT purchasing system are CHESS, IT Approval Service and Army Portfolio Management Solution, with CHESS being completely disconnected from the others and related workflows. IT Approval Service is the approval and staffing process that sends a workflow through the levels of command ending at Army G3/5/7 for final approval, confirming that the requesting unit is using its funds for authorized readiness-improvement purchases for IT equipment. IT Approval Service also ensures that government-approved vendors, such as those found on CHESS, were used for this purchase. Army Portfolio Management Solution is the funding approval and staffing system for the unit’s IT purchases, which is combined with IT Approval Service and has control points that feed into the IT Approval Service IT purchase packet for progression to the final approval. On average, this process takes approximately 30 days to get final approval, followed by another 30 days of staffing the purchase through the local contract purchase management office. Once that stage is complete and the purchase is made, there is likely a wait of another 90 days or more for the manufacturer to produce and ship the ordered equipment. Once the order is placed, there is no status update or estimated arrival date available to the IT manager or S6.

Creating an ITIaaS management system would solve the conflicts and vulnerabilities created by the existing systems not communicating. The proposed system would communicate between Global Combat Support System-Army and Active Directory, replacing IT Approval Service, CHESS and Army Portfolio Management Solution. It would prompt the IT manager/S6 to execute the ALCR purchase with a preformatted package option aligned with the current assigned inventory. Executing this function would let vendors know that a purchase is pending. The system would then conduct the functions currently found in CHESS, IT Approval Service and Army Portfolio Management Solution by creating a quote that reflects 20% of current inventory with approved vendors to be processed through a user-friendly workflow staffed through appropriate channels with the target time for completion of one week. The standard for the user experience would be similar to what customers find on commercial e-commerce websites such as Amazon.

Previously mentioned metadata would be included in all components of the purchase process to include the assignment to the unit. Once the order is shipped to the unit, the logistics manager and S6 will get a notification 96 hours from arrival with a user-friendly workflow to confirm receipt of the order and then have this equipment added to the unit inventory in Global Combat Support System-Army with the associated metadata. This new equipment would then be tagged as part of the unit ALCR equipment to be replaced in four years. This batch of computers would then be assigned to the unit in Active Directory with associated metadata. This allows the unit to produce a commander’s visualization product that could portray the unit’s digital readiness for addressing the monthly patch requirements and progress of the ALCR purchases through an easy-to-digest dashboard integrated with a program like Vantage for reporting tools. This system would also include a “find my” type of service to play a sound to a connected laptop during accountability checks.

ITIaaS management system would better allocate service member hours that could be used to do other tasks to further improve the unit’s readiness. This service would be intended for all units with computers, a significant impact on the entire force, automating many crucial yet time-consuming tasks that the S6 should be doing each year for the ALCR for their unit, yet might not be accomplished because the process and steps required are not often common knowledge.

When it comes to IT inventory, compliance and account management systems, the Army must implement a change to increase readiness across the force. Several databases should be connected or merged into one so units can maintain accountability and cyber compliance much more easily. ITIaaS could solve this problem by implementing artificial intelligence/machine learning to gain visibility of the current inventory and the target of the ALCR unit program to keep 20% of the equipment refreshed each year to ensure digital readiness. The threats against the U.S. government are real and having unprotected older equipment could be the vulnerability that threat actors are looking for. U.S. military leaders should work with their industry partners to implement this solution. These leaders need to shift a portion of their focus to the force’s digital readiness, such as the amount they give weapons systems and vehicles. Computers are the weapons of the warfighting staff that will be critical in the next conflict, so a management system should be implemented that ensures the highest state of readiness against our adversaries to protect the American way of life.

Maj. Jonathan Harbin, USA, is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Upstate, has 22 years of service and currently serves as the future operations officer in charge for the 35th Corps Signal Brigade. His previous assignments consisted of leadership roles at levels of operations ranging from Platoon Leader to Theater Staff.