FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. – The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and its Army and Air Force mission partners initialized the first Joint Regional Security Stacks (JRSS) at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) in September to provide a consolidated, collaborative, and secure Joint Information Environment (JIE) across the Department of Defense.
“This is a significant network security infrastructure upgrade and milestone for JIE,” said David Stickley, Vice Director, PEO-Mission Assurance. “It allows DISA, Army, and Air Force to monitor compliance and apply consistent security policy to information traveling over DoD networks.”
The Joint Regional Security Stacks include failover, diversity and elimination of critical failure points as a means to assure timely delivery of critical information to warfighters around the globe.
The use of Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) switches inside security stacks provides a virtual traffic management system that moves data faster, improves command and control, and prioritizes and streamlines data flow, significantly reducing the chances of data being stalled or lost due to high volume and congestion.
Joint Base San Antonio is the first of 25 DoD NIPRNET data sites to host the suite of equipment, which performs firewall functions, intrusion detection and prevention, enterprise management, virtual routing and forwarding (VRF), and provides a host of network security capabilities. Additionally, 25 SIPRnet Data sites will be implemented into the same locations over the next year.
Installation is complete at ten JRSS sites within the continental United States (CONUS), with the eleventh taking place in first the quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. Their final implementation will be a phased approach over the next fiscal year. Overseas, JRSS installation in Europe is complete, with three more sites planned for completion in the third quarter FY15 for Southwest Asia.
While the current implementation of JRSS is a joint effort with Air Force and Army, DISA is coordinating with the remaining military services and other DoD components to identify opportunities and resources for continuous implementation and deployment of JRSS to enable the top down security and visibility foundational to JIE.
“We must build on the momentum of this effort and work to bring the rest of the department to JRSS,” said Stickley.
For more information, please visit: Defense Information Systems Agency.