Project JEDI: A Cloud of Controversy Case Study

Most major companies have moved some of their computing operations to the cloud, and now the U$.$S military wants to follow suit. Unifying information in the cloud is more necessary than ever as the armed services deploy large numbers of remote sensors$,$ semiautonomous weapons, and artificial intelligence applications. All of these capabilities require immediate and instantaneous access to very large quantities of data gathered from many different locations. This is even more crucial now that the United States Cyber Command has been elevated to the equivalent of Central Command, which runs operations in the Middle East, or the Northern Command, which defends the continental United States.

Project JEDI is the U$.$S$.$ Department of Defense's plan to modernize its IT infrastructure so that employees, officers, and soldiers on the front line can access and manipulate data at the speed of modern enterprises. Project JEDI aims to create a unified cloud infrastructure across the entire Department of Defense $($DOD$)$ that will speed the flow of data and analysis to combat troops. The new plan is part of a larger move toward replacing the military's branch$-$specific systems and networks with a more efficient and manageable enterprise model.

On July $26,2018$ the DOD issued a Request for Proposal $($RFP$)$ for a Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure $($JEDI$)$ Cloud Program, which calls for a cloud services solution that can support Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret requirements with a focus on using commercially available services. The JEDI program calls for a ten$-$year $$10$ billion government contract to go to a single cloud computing vendor, which will serve as the exclusive cloud computing provider for the U$.$S$.$Department of Defense. The U$.$S$.$ Department of Defense maintains more than $500$ public and private cloud infrastructures that support Unclassified and Secret requirements. The DOD's current cloud services are decentralized, creating an additional level of complexity for managing data and services at an enterprise$-$wide level. Current DOD systems are fragmented, slowing the decision$-$making process within the DOD both at home and abroad. Much of the U$.$S$.$ military operates on outdated computer systems built during the $1980$s and $1990$s$.$ The Defense Department has spent billions of dollars trying to make these systems talk to one another. What the DOD wants and needs is an enterprise$-$wide cloud that supports rapid data$-$driven decision making and provides worldwide support for DOD operations. The JEDI contract is central to the Pentagon's efforts to modernize its technology.

The $10-$year JEDI contract set off a showdown among Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and Google for the work to transform the military's cloud computing systems. $($Google dropped out in October $2018$ without submitting a formal bid, claiming the military work conflicted with corporate principles prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry.$)$

Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft stated that the DoD shouldn't use a single cloud vendor for JEDI. Some experts have backed them up$.$ Justin Cappos, associate professor of computer science and engineering at New York University, said a single cloud solution is out of the norm. Many companies use multiple cloud vendors because it's safer. Leigh Madden, Microsoft's general manager for national security, stated that his company wants to win the contract, but $80$ percent of businesses use multiple cloud vendors. Other experts have pointed out that deployment of a single cloud conflicts with established best practices and industry trends in the commercial marketplace. They believe that such a large contract should not be awarded to a single company. Those favoring a single JEDI vendor note that using one provider would reduce complexity in military IT systems and streamline communications.

Oracle America and IBM both filed pre$-$award bid protests against the JEDI Cloud solicitation, claiming it favored Amazon and Microsoft. These were dismissed by the General Accounting Office $($GAO$)$ in late In the end, Amazon and Microsoft, which have numerous data centers around the globe, became the two finalists, and Microsoft was awarded the contract in October $2019....$

Based on your experience with or knowledge of another large organization that has embarked on a digital transformation effort, write a one$-$page $($single spaced$)$ reflection paper that addresses the following:

$-$What were some of the issues that were faced by that organization?

$-$What technologies were implemented?

$-$How did these technologies resolve the issues?

$-$Were thy successful? What remains to be done?