The Air Force established the Combat Information Transport System
(CITS) to provide infrastructure upgrades to all Air Force bases and
units around the world. Elimination of variations in implementation
by deployment of a standardized architecture and solution set for the
management and protection of base networks yielded efficiencies in training,
sustainment, operation, and maintenance. The current technical solutions,
which include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, etc., are being
extended with a common user virtual private network (VPN) and an enterprise
management capability.
MITRE has had significant impact on the program since its inception,
through technical analyses, recommendations, and solutions. Recently,
MITRE developed the certification and accreditation package for the
network management and information protection suite; helped develop
the proposed Air Force-wide, common-user VPN architecture; and has been
a major contributor to the information protection, enterprise network
management, and Local and Metropolitan Area Network (LAN/MAN) Domain
Architecture Working Groups. (Those groups, chaired by the Air Force
Communications and Information Center and Air Force Communications Agency,
will become part of the Joint Technical Architecture--Air Force.)
MITRE continues to play a prominent role in the program by helping
develop a long-term vision for information protection within the Air
Force. This vision includes high-speed firewall technology, Asynchronous
Transfer Mode firewalls, more advanced intrusion detection granularity,
effective cryptographic techniques, advanced virus and malicious code
detection, and flexibility and growth of the current protection architecture.
Sponsor Program Manager: Lt. Col. Dale Hawthorne; Technical POC: Maj.
Jerry Kanski.
