Just Don’t Take Away My Smartphone

Just Don’t Take Away My Smartphone

June 02, 2016

The Connecting Soldiers with Digital Applications (CSDA) program under the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) published a white paper titled “Building the Case for a Bring-Your-Own-Device Solution” in which it outlines the need for fully enabled smart devices because “Digital Age Soldiers and civilians continually seek information and want their information needs gratified immediately.” In fact, it says that access to technologically advanced smartphones and tablets, as well as reach-back to the cloud for anytime/anywhere access to information, is vital to professional development and operational knowledge. However, it also laments the inability to bring this technology to the Army because of: 1) cost, 2) security and 3) policy. It further states:Any attempt to provide the “Bring Your Own Device” environment would most likely require . . . a radical change in how [the Department of Defense] and the Army protect its information from one of protecting the network to a philosophy more like the commercial world in which the Internet is for the most part unprotected and each organization protects [its] own information at the source.