By Amy Hilbert, executive vice president of government solutions at Casepoint and Kelly Swank, vice president of business development for government solutions at Casepoint
Like other federal agencies, the Department of Defense requires resources to conduct investigations, manage litigation and respond to a growing number of Freedom of Information Act requests and congressional inquiries. Agencies find that these use cases often involve large volumes of complex data and are burdened with managing the increasing volume and complexity with reduced staff and outdated technologies and processes.
This creates several challenges that DOD legal offices, investigative components and FOIA divisions will need to address to meet evolving data management and discovery needs.
To hear from top defense agencies on where they need help modernizing systems, be sure to attend Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Digital Transformation Summit on April 24. POC events are premier GovCon networking spaces and provide opportunities for high-level dialogue with the public sector representatives you need to meet.
Data Requirements Becoming More Complex
Data management and discovery practices are becoming more complex as the demand for information surges. The amount of data that needs to be sifted through and properly managed to meet compliance requirements is expanding rapidly.
Electronically stored information, or ESI, is being generated at an unprecedented pace, and DOD agencies are confronted with data stored in an array of unstructured formats, including GenAI prompt data, emails, documents, images, chat logs, and audio and video files. The variety of formats, in addition to new formats being created, makes it increasingly complex to search and review all pertinent information efficiently when using manual or outdated methods.
Data required for investigations, litigation, FOIA requests and more are often managed across multiple offices and agencies. Each office may have different processes and technologies, which adds to the challenges of managing complicated data discovery tasks.
Without the proper technology infrastructure, itâs nearly impossible to effectively search and review all relevant information within necessary timeframes without overly burdening IT and legal staff. Government agencies must be able to manage ESI at a greater scale to avoid delays in response time, missed compliance deadlines and increased or prolonged litigation.
Security Concerns Growing
Whether malicious or unintentional, data breaches within government agencies carry significant legal, financial, and reputational consequences. The impact can be especially severe for DOD agencies where national security concerns are paramount. As cybersecurity threats grow increasingly sophisticated, the evolving landscape of data security requirements and regulatory changes has raised the bar for stringent security standards and certifications.
Beyond data breach threats, DOD agencies must constantly balance the requirements for transparency in litigation, investigations and FOIA compliance with the need to protect data. They need a solution to accurately and efficiently identify and redact sensitive information throughout the eDiscovery lifecycle.
Legacy Tech & Processes Ineffective in Meeting Needs
Many agencies with tight budgets and staffing challenges rely on manual processes or legacy technology solutions to manage the evolving challenges of data discovery. Unfortunately, many of these outdated systems simply arenât up to the task of dealing with the diversity and complexity of current needs. Offices that havenât committed to newer, more efficient data discovery solutions will likely struggle with delays, errors, inconsistencies, lack of transparency and increased legal risk.
One fundamental problem is that despite a government-wide mandate to move to cloud-based solutions (including the DOD Software Modernization Strategy), many offices still rely on on-premises software that have been slow to innovate and fail to offer flexibility in scaling.
On-premises systems can also make it difficult to work between offices and agencies or across geographically dispersed offices and installations.
Meeting DODâs Data Discovery Challenges
Given these challenges government agencies face, it has become imperative for federal government teams involved in data discovery to seek forward-thinking SaaS solutions that are well-equipped to scale, streamline and improve their operations. Meeting the unique demands of data discovery and data management within the complex environment of DOD agencies requires carefully selected, multifaceted SaaS solutions, such as those offered by Casepoint.
DOD agencies should seek a platform that encompasses a broad spectrum of use cases and incorporates automated features that can assume a substantial share of the workload. In practice, many agencies are piecing together various technologies to meet the full discovery workflow.
Modern, all-encompassing data discovery solutions provide comprehensive data management features, including data automation, audit trails, dashboards, and reporting features that allow for better insight and control of data. These improved tools can manage specific datasets, track job requests, view statistics and provide key insights into data management.
Modernized tools offer a more comprehensive solution that supports multiple workflows and use cases (ligation, investigation, legal hold, congressional inquiries, FOIA and smart data storage), integrates tasks such as case management and early case assessment, or ECA, and allows for AI-assisted review and streamlined processing and production within a unified platform. They also increase efficiency via integrated data collectionsâfor example, through M365 connectorsâand streamlined review with the help of generative AI.
Opting for a single solution provider to combine these offerings reduces manual work and increases automation. This approach also safeguards against spoliation, data loss and compatibility issues. Selecting one secure platform encompassing all these functions is a clear upgrade from managing multiple disjointed solutions.
DOD agencies must also seek a solution, like Casepoint, that is available on NIPR and SIPR and meets the most stringent security requirements by having authorizations for DOD Impact Level 4, Level 5, and Level 6. To meet security concerns, authorized solutions are hosted on distributed cloud-based networks accessible anywhere with an internet connection. Cloud providers often invest more heavily in security infrastructure and employ teams of cybersecurity experts beyond the capabilities of government agencies with limited resources. Not only are such options safer and more secure than on-premises systems, but they also provide agencies with unprecedented flexibility.
Conclusion
In light of the increasing demand and in recognition of DOD initiatives and cloud mandates, there has never been a greater need for DOD legal offices to adopt data discovery SaaS solutions to improve operations and be more efficient. Cloud-based systems can drive efficiency and savings, improve security, and deliver mission-serving solutions faster and more accurately.
Amy and Kelly are executive members of the government team at Casepoint, the leading provider of end-to-end data discovery solutions for the federal government. To learn more about secure data discovery solutions to meet the goals of DODâs Modernization strategy, download Casepointâs free white paper here.
