Pentagon gives go-ahead to Grid

The Pentagon has approved the Global Information Grid architecture, a worldwide architecture for providing data to military forces around the world from regional commanders to soldiers on the front lines, the acting Defense Department deputy chief information officer said.

That architecture will provide the first slice of an integrated DOD enterprise information technology architecture, Margaret Myers said Aug. 29 during a breakfast forum sponsored by Federal Sources Inc., McLean, Va.

"This is something that we've never really had before," she said.

The department is coming up with innovative ways to use that architecture. "It should allow DOD to acquire IT faster," she said. "It could have an impact on how we acquire information technology."

Meanwhile, Myers said that the Navy has agreed to test the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, and she discounted all the debate about whether NMCI should be tested like a weapons system.

"The Navy has agreed that it makes sense that it works before they buy," she said following her presentation.

"All this hype about testing as a weapon system — that's all it was, hype. Nobody ever told them they had to test it as a weapon system."

When asked when the Navy will be able to move beyond the so-called strategic pause that lawmakers put in place to make sure NMCI was on track, Myers said, "When they're ready."

Navy officials have said that they have an agreement worked out with the Pentagon, but have not commented on what that agreement is because it has not been formalized. That could come as soon as this week, the officials said.