The Department of Defense is asking for $42.5 billion in IT funding, a 5.3 percent increase over last year. From that top line number, $9.3 billion is reserved for classified investments and expenses, with $33.2 billion going to unclassified investments and expenses, according to  documents from the department’s comptroller reveal.
The Pentagon’s IT budget request includes cyberspace operations as well as traditional IT infrastructure, and the documents reveal a number of the DoD’s chief information officer’s strategic goals, including a resilient cyber defensive posture, enhanced cyber situational awareness, a secure DoD cloud environment, survivability from sophisticated cyber-attacks,  and “a modernized IT enterprise with enhanced network performance that is more secure and visible throughout.â€
“Technology capabilities underpin nearly every aspect of modern defense and war-fighting strategies and objectives, from the Pentagon to the front line, space and now cyberspace,†state the documents. “A seamless, transparent infrastructure that transforms data into actionable information and ensures dependable mission execution in the face of the persistent cyber threat is vital in this new IT-driven operational environment. The strategic landscape for DoD IT is an environment that delivers unified capabilities across DoD and connections with critical mission partners.â€
The Army requested $11 million for IT; while Navy came in at $9 million and the Air Force at $7 million.
For acquisition, the DoD requested $549 million; $2.8 billion for battle-space networks, $14.9 billion for DoD IT infrastructure and $1.7 billion for health.
Although the fiscal 2018 request represents a 5.3 percent increase over last year, the documents note that funding levels for 2018-2022 remain “relatively†consistent. The documents also mention that $271 million was saved due to the closing of 748 data centers between fiscal years 2010-2017, and that fiscal year 2018 savings are estimated at $64.1 million.
