Interview: 'Think big, build small' - DISA chief aims to bring Web 2.0 collaboration to Pentagon IT

摘要

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) owes its inception to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Its legacy organization, the Defense Communications Agency, was created after the crisis revealed shortcomings with the Pentagon's long-haul telephone communications. DISA, which has headquarters in Arlington, Va., was formed in 1991, when this mission was merged with the relatively new discipline of mainframe computing. For the past three years, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen Charles E. "Charlie" Croom Jr. has led DISA on its most recent quest: to get out of the hardware business. Under its new business model, DISA is working to adjust its processing and storage capacity to fit user needs. As information systems provider for the entire Defense Department, Croom is in a unique position to comment on the Pentagon's push to join the modern era of information technology.