The head of the Defense Information Services Agency (DISA) wants the Defense Department’s information technology (IT) effort called Joint Regional Security Stacks (JRSS) categorized as a weapon system.

DISA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins said Tuesday categorizing JRSS as a weapon system is about having operators who are “certifiably trained,” remain at the ready and have a combat operations readiness level. Hawkins also said at the C4ISR and Networks conference in Arlington, Va., if JRSS was categorized as a weapon system, it would report to the U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) chief, which is Adm. Michael Rogers.

DISA Headquarters at Ft. Meade, Md. Photo: Army.
DISA Headquarters at Ft. Meade, Md. Photo: Army.

JRSS is a set of equipment meant to upgrade a secure, consolidated and collaborative Joint Information Environment (JIE) across DoD. JRSS tools perform firewall functions, intrusion detection and prevention, enterprise management, virtual routing and forwarding and provide network security capabilities. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said in January JRSS would make the Pentagon “far more defendable” as a network (Defense Daily, Jan. 28).

DoD Chief Information Office (CIO) Terry Halvorsen said in December the department was aiming to establish initial capability for JRSS by the end of 2016 and complete it by the end of 2017 (Defense Daily, Dec. 5).