Security

Navy Looks To Prove Zero Trust’s ROI to Newcomers

The agency is looking to industry for game-changing cyber capabilities, says Acting CTO Justin Fanelli.

Dave Nyczepir is a Senior Editor for Manifest.

The Navy reduced its number of legacy accepted networks from more than 300 to 179, and it wants to go faster to prove zero-trust security is worth the investment, according to its acting CTO.

Speaking Tuesday at the Zscaler Public Sector Summit 2025, Justin Fanelli said that investing in zero trust improves operational resilience and “is more important than it’s ever been” given the influx of new Trump appointees at the agency.

The Navy long viewed cybersecurity as a cost center, until it unveiled the Flank Speed ecosystem for pushing capabilities out to its entire IT environment in 2021.

“The more that we roll into Flank Speed sooner, the more we can claim cost savings and divest to reinvest,” Fanelli said.

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Escaping the Navy’s Reactive Budget Cycle

Particularly important is that the Navy quantifies a project’s ROI to justify its cost, then scales what’s working to the tactical edge, Fanelli said.

The Navy is further looking to industry for game-changing cyber capabilities that it can make a lean business case for and pilot. Otherwise, the Navy must wait for something bad to happen to justify adding new capabilities, and it needs to escape that reactive budget cycle.

“Some meet in the curve for OT impact, and where to take from in a ’25-’26 budget, is not something you should look to the government to figure out,” Fanelli said.

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Dave Nyczepir/FedTech magazine