Defense Information Systems Agency
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The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA, formerly known as the Defense Communications Agency) is a combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) responsible for planning, developing, fielding, operating, and supporting command, control, communications, and information systems that serve the needs of the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Combatant commanders, and other DoD components under all conditions of peace and war.
DISA currently manages the Global Information Grid-Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE) program which reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) in 2005 and is now called the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) Core.
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[edit] History
[edit] Defense Communications Agency
The Defense Communications Agency (DCA) was established May 12, 1960 by then-Secretary of Defense Thomas S. Gates. Its mission was to manage the Defense Communications System (DCS), a consolidation of the independent long-haul communications functions of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
In the 1960s, DCA moved to Arlington, Virginia, and took on several major organizations. The Air Force Office of Commercial Communications Management (now the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization), the White House Signal Agency (now the White House Communications Agency), and the DoD Damage Assessment Center (now the Joint Staff Support Center) all became a part of DCA. DCA also established six regional communications control centers and two area centers for operational control of the DCS.
In the 1970s, DCA subsumed the Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network and the Military Satellite Communications Systems Office. It also became responsible for engineering and operating the Worldwide Military Command and Control System. In the 1980s, DCA absorbed the Joint Tactical Command, Control, and Communications Agency, improving its ability to manage and enhance the interoperability of command, control, and communications systems. The Joint Interoperability Test Command was formed within DCA to provide interoperability compliance testing and certification.
[edit] Defense Information Systems Agency
On June 25, 1991, DCA was renamed DISA to reflect its role in providing total information systems management for DoD. DISA implemented several Defense Management Report Decisions (DMRD), most notably DMRD 918, which created the Defense Information Infrastructure, now known as the Global Information Grid (GIG). DISA consolidated several (148) information processing centers, then operated by the Service Components and Defense Agencies, into 16 Defense megacenters and, within a few years, consolidated them further into five mainframe-processing centers known as Defense Enterprise Computing Centers (DECC) operated by DISA. The Joint Spectrum Center and the Defense Technical Information Center also became part of DISA. Employment peaks at more than 12,000 military and civilian members.
Today, DISA is in the process of consolidating computing services even further; by September 2005, DISA computing services will consist of one headquarters component, four production system management centers, and several optimally staffed processing sites. Approximately 8,000 military and civilian employees work in DISA, and with the consolidation of computing services that number will be reduced by another 1,200.
DISA has been awarded five Joint Meritorious Unit Awards and continues to offer DoD information systems support, taking data services to the forward-deployed warfighter.
[edit] Current Programs
Many of the worldwide networks that govern the US Government are controlled by DISA. As technology progress and government policy changes these networks can either evolve or become replaced.
[edit] GIG-BE
The GIG-BE (Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion) Program is a fiber optic network that provides increased bandwidth to 87 sites throughout the world. This network links major sites of Department of Defense and US government Intel community together. The network is an enormous FDDI ring that provides secured internet access between groups. OC-192 fiber cables connect each of the major hubs. It was reached full operability on 20 Dec, 2005. DISA considers this network to be the future of government networks in its scalability, security, and bandwidth.
[edit] SIPRNet
The SIPRNet (Secret [formerly Secure] Internet Protocol Router Network) is a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information (up to and including information classified SECRET) by packet switching over the TCP/IP protocols in a "completely secure" environment. It also provides services such as hypertext documents and electronic mail. In other words, the SIPRNet is the DoD’s classified version of the civilian Internet together with its counterpart, the Top Secret and SCI Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, JWICS.
[edit] NIPRNet
NIPRNet (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network) (formerly called the Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network). NIPRNET is used to exchange unclassified but sensitive information between "internal" users as well as providing users access to the Internet. NIPRNet is composed of Internet protocol routers owned by the United States Department of Defense (DOD). It was created by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to supersede the earlier MILNET.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- DISA Mission Page
- DISA History Page
- DISA GIG-BE Page
- Globalsecurity.org GIG-BE Info
- DISA NIPRNet and SIPRNet page
[edit] External links
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Communication Agency (CA)
- Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
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