BY TOM MARLOWE MIT CORRESPONDENT marlowet@kmimediagroup.com
AIR FORCE RESTRUCTURES COMBAT INFORMATION TRANSPORT SYSTEM TO IMPROVE NETWORKS AND INCREASE SECURITY.
As part of an effort to fundamentally out into the field in the next year,” he added. change the ways in which it manages and The various initiatives are ambitious and operates networks, the Air Force is implecritical to maintaining Air Force cyberfuncmenting a restructuring of its Combat Infortionality and security, Fellers noted. CITS will mation Transport System (CITS). continue its Information Transport System The CITS, which incorporates various (ITS) program as an acquisition category projects to provide upgraded and secure Air (ACAT) 1 program to redesign the entire Force network systems, began as a single network infrastructure at every Air Force major defense acquisition program operating base. The ITS program has been going on with the federal government as a systems for a number of years and will continue for integrator. another eight years at presBut as of 2009, CITS has ent, Fellers said. been restructured into several A separate ACAT I promajor programs (acquisition gram will install secure wirecategory I) and multiple lesser less capabilities across all Air programs (acquisition catForce bases as well, while a egory III) to become “a conthird ACAT I contract will glomerate of capabilities being take the ITS network infradelivered through various prostructure upgrades to the Air grams,” according to Colonel National Guard bases. Russ Fellers, CITS program The CITS program office manager. also supports contracts for Col. Russ Fellers The CITS program office another set of ACAT 1 promay award those contracts as grams under the banner of task orders through the Air Force Networkthe Air Force Network (AFNET). The AFNET Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) consolidated Increment 1 program has been working for purchasing vehicle, but it also may explore several years toward the goal of creating other options due to the anticipated timing of gateways for the Air Force intranet. Those the awards, Fellers explained. 16 gateways are designed to protect the Air “Right now, NETCENTS is the contract Force from external threats to its networks that we have been directed to use for acquisifrom over the Internet. That effort goes into tion of CITS products and capabilities. The operational test this fall with full operational current contract is about to run out of its capability projected for the middle of 2010. ordering period,” Fellers stated. AFNET Increment 2 also will begin next “There is a follow-on contract, NETyear, Fellers revealed. The program, another CENTS 2, won’t be in place until next sumACAT 1, centers on the re-architecture of all mer, so we have to look at multiple vehicles to base boundaries to protect networks from procure the capabilities we are trying to put internal threats from base to base. 16 | MIT 13.7
The CITS program office will kick off yet another large acquisition program next year to rebuild network control centers at all Air Force bases. “We will continue to embrace server virtualization to reduce our logistics footprint, our life cycle costs, and our energy consumption across the Air Force for our networks,” Fellers said. A host of smaller programs also will bring additional benefits to networks. For example, the CITS program office will start up a program called the Cyber Control System within the next few months. It will be a command and control system used for situational awareness of the AFNET. “The Cyber Control System is the first step toward giving the operator the ability to have real-time knowledge of the operational state of the network,” Fellers said.
SECURITY MENTALITY The restructuring of the CITS program office and its portfolio is a significant effort requiring the office to double in size over the next year to adequately deliver the capabilities it has been tasked to implement. “There has been a mentality in the past that our networks need to be fast, responsive, convenient and as open as possible to get our job done,” Fellers commented. “The Air Force is in the process of changing that mentality. The first priority now is that our networks need to be secure. That is trumping the availability and ease of use of the network. We can’t afford to have a compromise. Much of our operational activity now takes place on www.MIT-kmi.com