Vanguard Magazine

20 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 www.vanguardcanada.com cloud, etc., we will have to adapt our views of capability that focuses on the effect we are trying to achieve, rather than linear approaches to acquisition, or traditional views of "ownership". All of this is part of the cultural challenge that I spoke of ear- lier. Q Are there emerging conflicts be- tween the Government of Canada and Departmental imperatives and timelines on Digitization, and the CAF's Five Eyes interoperability imperatives and time- lines? CC: Ok let's first agree on terminology. The Government of Canada (GoC) has published digital (digitalization) standards – geared towards departments that offer "external services to Canadians". I would not characterize our differences as conflicts but as requiring interpretation and contex- tualization. The GoC standards align to the needs of the CAF especially as it relates to data and interoperability. This is, as al- ways, a question of interpretation and pri- oritization and seeing how these standards can help us deliver our strategic priorities. The GoC digital ambition is also of in- teroperability of "like" mandates or mis- sions, in the public safety domain or di- saster management. The possibilities are endless, but to harvest the benefits and effects we need discipline, and we must be willing to learn from our FVEY allies. Undoubtedly the US is moving faster, but we are fast-followers, which means that we can harvest the lessons they learn, and con- sider how to scale their solutions to our circumstances. RAdm JZ: The imperative is clear, and is shared amongst our FVEY Allies, which is to stay abreast of our partners, and ahead of our adversaries. It is inherently under- stood that we will not be operating alone, and that interoperability remains the cor- nerstone of collective capability. The US has placed interoperability within the Mission Partner Environment (MPE) at the forefront of all of their ini- tiatives, and nowhere is this more evident than with their Joint All Domain Com- mand and Control (JADC2) initiative. In fact, the MPE is essentially the US instanti- ation within the NATO Federated Mission Network (FMN), and as your audience knows, Canada plays a large role in the development of that FMN. Furthermore, our key Allies have adopted the NATO Data Standards, and are in the process of agreeing on minimum data meta-tagging standards. This will greatly enable our in- teroperability. As to timelines, as Ms Cavazzoni said, there is no denying that the US is moving at a substantially faster pace than other key Allies, including us. We have some ground to make up, but with some determination, strategic leadership, and resource alloca- tion, we will close that gap. Q How does the pace of evolution of the Department's Protected B "busi- ness environment" for digitization differ from the Classified CAF operational and sensor environment? Are they evolving independently? CC: Within the Institutional aspect of our business, we are enabling O365 Protected B for enterprise use at some speed and scale. So far, this has been a success, and I am proud of how quickly both the ADM IM team, and more broadly the institu- tion reacted to the demands of the CO- VID environment through adaptation and embracing change. This is actually a good sign that we are ready for further transfor- mational challenges! Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada (TBS) has published Protected B con- trols for cloud, and to be perfectly clear, although in the Institutional and PB space we can absolutely digitalize on-premise, the power of the cloud is a game-changer for digital in terms of speed, agility, and ecosystem. We must leverage that. As to the relationship between the insti- tutional and the operational digitalization needs, I do not believe they are develop- ing independently, and nor do I think they should. I would characterize the approach as one of incremental discovery. Our in- tent in the CIO team is to enable the CAF with the Pan Domain Command and Control (PDC2) backbone, and yes, that means classified. We must leverage GoC partners like CSE and TBS, and we are definitely all aiming in the same direction. RAdm JZ: As I mentioned earlier, I be- lieve that in the digitalization space, DND and CAF must remain indivisible. We share a goal of enhanced decision-mak- ing, be it in the corporate space or in the battle space. Without the Defence Supply Chain, there is no Defence. Equally, finan- cial reporting is not an output – rather it supports our shared output, which is the conduct of operations in support of GoC's strategic objectives. In other words, our business is operations. Perhaps a better construct for under- standing the DND and CAF Business Ar- chitecture is to identify that there is both an Operational Aspect to the business, and an Institutional Aspect. Nonetheless, there are clearly differences in type, classifica- tion, scale, and sheer magnitude of data, technical backbone demand signal, and in- deed criticality of outcome between those two aspects of DND / CAF business. The evolving Data Governance Framework re- flects that, and will ensure that we create an integrated and aligned data fabric for both aspects of our business. INTERVIEW Exercice MAPLE RESOLVE. Photo DND

• Cover