Lily Zeleke, acting deputy chief information officer for the Information Enterprise, has highlighted the importance of investing in cloud adoption, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and other information enterprise modernization initiatives to achieve the Defense Department’s missions.

Zeleke said during an event hosted by Worldwide Technology and Intel that funding these technologies within the authorized budget is “a balance between cost-effectiveness and mission effectiveness” for the U.S. military, DOD reported Tuesday.

“Our ability to deliver information at resilience and speed, as well as [delivering] secure information to our people, is paramount to staying ahead of adversaries,” she explained.

One of the mission-critical digital initiatives Zeleke mentioned is zero trust, which she says is key to protecting DOD’s vast amount of data.

“Zero trust is sort of like assuming that the adversary might already be in [the network],” Zeleke said.

Information enterprise modernization has ramped up across the U.S. military following the approval of DOD’s Software Modernization Strategy, which lays out the department’s approach to achieving “technology and process transformation that will enable the delivery of resilient software capability at the speed of relevance.”

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Defense require the U.S. Navy to submit to congressional defense committees its rationale for budget requests that do not seek funding for procurement quantities listed in multiyear contracts. 

GAO made the recommendation after it found that budget requests for three of the seven reviewed critical weapon system programs in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 had reductions in quantities when compared to multiyear procurement contracts, according to a report published Monday.

Those three weapons programs are DDG 51 destroyers, V-22 aircraft and Virginia-class submarines.

For the DDG 51 program, the FY 2022 budget request included funds to buy one of the two destroyers in the program’s multiyear contracts. The service did not request funds for the second vessel but sought $33 million to pay for the government’s cancellation liability for its decision to reduce its purchase to one destroyer.

Failure to notify Congress of the Navy’s rationale for budget request decisions can “hamper the ability of the committees to oversee programs and make decisions without having to request supplemental information and explanations from the Navy,” the GAO report reads.

The Government Accountability Office will conduct an assessment of the Thrift Savings Plan online system in response to a request by two congressional members. 

The GAO review is expected to kick off in November to investigate the contract award, planning, implementation and the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board’s oversight, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s, D-D.C., office said Monday.

Norton and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., made the request to GAO after hearing discrepancies in account balances, missing information, problems accessing accounts and other complaints from constituents.

In its response letter, GAO said the request was assigned to Nicholas Marinos, managing director of the agency’s information technology and cybersecurity, and that it will also reach out to the inspector general’s office to avoid any duplicative efforts.