DOD Cloud Strategy Emphasizes JEDI

The Defense Department on Feb. 4 sent to Congress its long-awaited cloud strategy. 

While the 15-page unclassified document indicates the Pentagon will be using multiple clouds, it also makes clear that the chief cloud the department will use will be its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure architecture. JEDI is a controversial commercial cloud contract, which could be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years and which the DOD still has not awarded. The agency plans to do so to a single cloud provider. 

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DOD calls JEDI a “general purpose” cloud for Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service, which sits at the top of its hierarchy. It is followed by the DOD's MilCloud, as well as “fit for purpose” clouds built for specific mission needs. The strategy says DOD will use JEDI for “the majority of systems and applications” and that it will allow for the agency “to take advantage of economies of scale, broadly provide common core services, and ensure information superiority through data aggregation and analysis.”

“Only when mission needs cannot be supported by General Purpose will Fit For Purpose alternatives be explored,” the strategy states. “In such a case, a mission owner will be required to submit for approval an Exception Brief to the Office of the DoD CIO describing the capability and why the General Purpose cloud service does not support their mission.”