On DoD: Open source software in the Defense Department

The Defense Department spends billions of dollars each year to buy and build software — not just in its enterprise IT systems, but, increasingly, as a vital aspect of each and every one of the weapons systems the military places on the battlefield.

Or, as Defense secretary Ashton Carter put it earlier this week:

“In today’s world, there’s no point in having all of our ships, planes and tanks unless you can connect and secure it all. We spend an enormous amount of effort and money on this, and it’s one of the areas where we welcome people to come and help us.”

But a new report from the Center for a New American Security argues the department needs a drastically different approach to building and buying software to break a longstanding habit of buying proprietary systems and move to a world of open source.

The authors argue that necessarily doesn’t mean revealing DoD’s cyber capabilities to the rest of the world: If it’s done appropriately, it does means the government can build and improve its systems more quickly, more cheaply and more securely.

Ben Fitzgerald, the director of the center’s technology and national security program discussed the CNAS report with Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu.

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