The memo, signed by Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun and acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Brett Seidle, established a new DON-wide policy for “containerization technology usage.”

Containerization is a software deployment process that “bundles an application’s code with all the files and libraries it needs to run on any infrastructure,” according to an AWS description of the concept.

Navy officials see major benefits in adopting that capability for the department.

“Software containerization offers transformative advantages for the DON’s IT infrastructure and software deployment capabilities. This technology enables the Department to deploy applications consistently across highly varied environments while enhancing security, reducing computing resource overhead, and accelerating development cycles. Prioritizing containerization technology aligns with the Department’s software modernization goals and supports mission-critical operations with greater reliability and efficiency,” the memo states.

The new directive, publicly released Wednesday, applies to all new software development efforts across the department’s commands and programs enabled by cloud services and deployment models where enterprise container platforms and DevSecOps pipelines exist or are in development. It comes as the Navy and Marine Corps are pursuing wide-ranging software and IT modernization initiatives, including cloud adoption and migration.

“In the drive to increase operational agility, resiliency, optimization of our investments, and to achieve an organically digital state; we must advance to modem, proven software development and delivery practices. Securely accessing and transporting data across boundaries at the speed of relevance requires operating in a cloud-enabled ecosystem and software must be designed to effectively maneuver within it,” Rathbun and Seidle stated. “Effective immediately, all software development activities transitioning to the cloud and/or upgrades that are hosted in a cloud as outlined above must utilize containerization technology to the greatest extent practical.”

Seidle signed the directive July 17. Rathbun had previously signed it.

Officials can request exemptions to the policy, but they must provide the designated cybersecurity technical authority with a detailed justification.

“Exceptions will be granted where the risk of not leveraging containerization technology is deemed acceptable or the implementation would be prohibitively expensive. Potential exceptions may include production representative digital twins (where production cannot be or is not containerized), alternative cloud scaling capabilities like serverless technologies, or virtualization technologies for hardware in the loop. An itemized bulk exception can be granted,” per the memo.

The policy will be reviewed and updated annually, according to the directive.

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In an unclassified memo viewed by DefenseScoop this week, the Navy’s Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun unveiled this policy change and overarching plan to overhaul networks and their respective infrastructure into an integrated system that leverages enterprise IT services. 

“All shore legacy and excepted networks must transition to designated enterprise networks no later than December 31, 2027,” she wrote.

In response to questions Thursday, Rathbun said her team decided to set an absolute deadline in that timeframe because they recognize that migration can be hard, but they’re “looking for mavericks to figure out a better way to approved paths like Naval Enterprise Network (NEN) and Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) soonest.”

The CIO will process waivers on a case-by-case basis for the networks that officials determine cannot move into a designated enterprise environment due to their unique mission requirements. 

“Change is hard and not everyone will be happy that we are turning off their legacy and exception-based networks, but operational resilience is better, it’s more secure, more adaptable and users are happier and more effective — it’s time to move,” she said.

To enable the transition, network owners are directed in the memo to carry out a list of activities, including but not limited to: reviewing and updating the Pentagon’s Information Technology Portfolio Repository for the Department of the Navy’s registered networks to reflect those documented in this revamp process; completing a network assessment to map network requirements to the enterprise IT services catalog; developing a transition plan and timeline for transitioning legacy assets; and supplying a detailed breakdown for funding and resourcing their elements of the consolidation effort.

Resource-informed transition proposals for each legacy network will be evaluated by senior officials in the Navy and Marine Corps’ CIO offices to determine resource adequacy and certify the DON IT and Cyber Activity (IT/CA) budget for fiscal 2027.

“Failure to submit an executable transition plan with documentation of resources per above will result in decertification of the IT/CA budget under the cognizance of the applicable Budget Submitting Office,” Rathbun wrote in the memo.

This new policy builds on some modernization initiatives launched by the Navy during the Biden administration, and also aligns with President Donald Trump’s key priorities in his second term associated with eliminating government waste and accelerating tech-driven innovation. 

“One of the benefits of making use of world class commercial capabilities, is that we don’t need to carry around hundreds of inferior capabilities that were developed before the enterprise service existed,” Rathbun said Thursday.

She pointed to the Navy’s cloud-based office suite of tools known as FlankSpeed, and the Marine Corps’ unclassified M365 cloud environment called Hyperion, which were both recently designated as official DON enterprise IT services for messaging and collaboration.

After that, “the doors for divestment have swung wide open,” she explained.

“We now have an award-winning capability that Sailors and Marines tell us is better than their out-of-work experience for the first time in their careers. Our warfighters deserve this and more — it’s so good that they want it,” Rathbun said. “And with that, the other side of the coin is that there are a lot of old or bespoke networks that have to go.”

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The moves — outlined in a pair of memos issued to the chief of naval operations, Marine Corps commandant, Navy assistant secretaries and general counsel — are pursuant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “commitment to strategically rebuild our military, restore accountability to the Department of Defense, cut wasteful spending, and implement the President’s orders,” Phelan wrote.

The IT contracts axed by the SECNAV include those for the Naval Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (NMRO) program.

The NMRO system was designed to provide mobile access for users, embedded job performance aids, lobby functions providing customizable work areas of interest, and 3D interactive renderings of ship systems enabling sailors to click on an object to access technical and logistics data, according to a news release last year from Fleet Force Command.

“The NMRO logistics program is critical software for the Navy. However, for 5 years systems integrators have over-engineered the software to the point where it is unusable. Upon the recommendation of Navy leadership, the current contracts under the NMRO program shall be terminated. This will allow the Program Office to apply the savings towards a new strategy to meet our needs,” Phelan wrote in a new memo obtained by DefenseScoop from a Navy official.

He also directed the Navy’s chief information officer to prepare a new acquisition strategy by July 31, along with management review of the program.

“Collectively, these contract terminations represent over $568 million in total contract value, which we estimate can allow the Navy to repurpose up to $200 million in taxpayer funds in a more effective manner,” Phelan wrote.

“I commend the Navy leaders who raised this opportunity that will result in a more effective fighting force. Moreover, I encourage leaders across the Department of the Navy to follow this example in identifying opportunities to eliminate wasteful spending which we can then re-invest into critical mission needs,” he added.

In a separate memo obtained by DefenseScoop, Phelan ordered the termination of 45 other contracts and grants. He said the cuts target “wasteful spending” on climate change, DEI, social science, and “other activities which are not aligned with DoD and DoN priorities.”

The cuts include grants for studies of “Persuasion, Identity, and Morality in Social-Cyber Environments” and “engendering and leveraging trust in longitudinal human-AI interactions,” among others, according to the memo.

“Collectively, these 45 terminations represent over $87 million in total award value, which we estimate can save up to $41 million in taxpayer funds the Navy can better apply to critical priorities,” Phelan wrote.

The cuts come as Pentagon leadership has been working with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, led by tech titan and presidential adviser Elon Musk, to review spending.

“I commend the DOGE team for finding these opportunities to help save the Navy and increase our readiness and warfighting capability,” Phelan said in a video posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk. “Stay tuned — there’s more to come.”

Earlier this month at the Sea-Air-Space conference, Navy CIO Jane Rathbun noted that the Trump administration’s DOGE team was examining the Navy’s software enterprise and use of commercial software.

“It’s actually being led through the DOD CIO, and it is collaborative and they are asking for information from us. They are asking for information from the industry partners and really understanding how we buy, how we consume, and how we could do it more effectively,” she told DefenseScoop.

Hegseth has also been pushing to rein in Pentagon spending on IT services contracts. About two weeks ago, he issued a directive ordering the termination of several major contracts, with estimated savings of more than $4 billion. He also directed the Pentagon’s chief information officer to draw up plans for in-sourcing, among other measures.

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The aim is to “cut wasteful spending” and “support the continued rationalization” of the Defense Department’s IT enterprise, Hegseth wrote.

The move comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to implement Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives across federal agencies.

Hegseth’s new memo to senior Pentagon leadership ordered the termination of contracts affecting a variety of DOD components, including a Defense Health Agency contract for consulting services; an Air Force contract to re-sell third party enterprise cloud IT services; a Navy contract for business process consulting services; and a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract for IT helpdesk services.

In a video released on social media touting these DOGE-related efforts, Hegseth estimated that those contract terminations would save the Pentagon approximately $1.8 billion, $1.4 billion, $500 million and $500 million, respectively.

“These contracts represent non-essential spending on third party consultants to perform services more efficiently performed by the highly skilled members of our DoD workforce using existing resources,” he wrote in the memo.

Hegseth also tasked the Pentagon CIO to work with the DOGE team to produce a plan within 30 days for how DOD will in-source IT consulting and management services to the department’s civilian workforce.

The new call for in-sourcing comes as Pentagon leaders are advancing efforts to make major cuts to the civilian workforce. Hegseth has said he wants to reinvest savings from employee reductions into higher-priority warfighting capabilities.

The plan from the CIO that Hegseth ordered in Thursday’s memo must also address how the Defense Department will negotiate “most favorable rates on software and cloud services, so the DoD pays no more for IT services than any other enterprise in America,” the SecDef wrote.

The memo also tasks the chief information officer to complete an audit of Pentagon software licensing by April 18. The purpose of the audit is “to ensure we are only paying for the licenses we actually use, the features we actually need, at the most favorable rates,” according to Hegseth.

Katie Arrington is currently performing the duties of DOD CIO.

Earlier this week at the Sea-Air-Space conference, Navy Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun said DOGE and the DOD CIO were reviewing the service’s software enterprise.

“It’s all about making the right investments in modernizing, but modernizing with an eye towards effectiveness and efficiency. We’ve got this new administration. We’ve got the DOGE in working with us, and they’re focused on effective consumption of commercial software. Are we doing the best job we can deliver in buying and utilizing the software that we have?” she said.

The Navy is a huge purchaser of software licenses, Rathbun noted.

“It’s a big number. And so are we buying effectively? Are we utilizing the things that we’re buying effectively? There’s always opportunity for improvement. And I would say that’s an area in my portfolio that I want to focus on but have not a lot of people to do that, which is something that has always bothered me and I want to be doing better at is really this optimization concept. I’ve got to continuously modernize but I have to do it in an optimal way,” she said.

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The review comes as the administration is undertaking a broad look at the Defense Department’s and other federal agencies’ contracts and workforce in search of what it considers wasteful spending and opportunities for savings.

The Navy has been pursuing an initiative known as Information Superiority Vision 2.0, CIO Jane Rathbun noted during a panel Tuesday at the Sea-Air-Space conference.

“It’s all about making the right investments in modernizing, but modernizing with an eye towards effectiveness and efficiency. We’ve got this new administration. We’ve got the DOGE in working with us, and they’re focused on effective consumption of commercial software. Are we doing the best job we can deliver in buying and utilizing the software that we have? So I think the Department of Defense spends like $5.2 billion on just software. And how can we make sure that we’re buying it effectively and getting the biggest bang for our buck … out of that consumption?” Rathbun said.

She told DefenseScoop that the review of the software enterprise is being coordinated through the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief Information Officer.

“It’s actually being led through the DOD CIO, and it is collaborative and they are asking for information from us. They are asking for information from the industry partners and really understanding how we buy, how we consume, and how we could do it more effectively,” she said.

The Navy is a huge consumer of software. For example, it has more than 800,000 software licenses from Microsoft, Rathbun noted.

“It’s a big number. And so are we buying effectively? Are we utilizing the things that we’re buying effectively? There’s always opportunity for improvement. And I would say that’s an area in my portfolio that I want to focus on but have not a lot of people to do that, which is something that has always bothered me and I want to be doing better at is really this optimization concept. I’ve got to continuously modernize but I have to do it in an optimal way,” she said.

She used financial operations as an example of an area where the Navy is working to improve.

“We are making strides in financial operations, big time. But if I cannot really actively manage my consumption of these capabilities in an effective way, then I’m not going to be optimizing my utilization,” Rathbun said.

Trump officially established DOGE via an executive order Jan. 20, the day of his inauguration. Its purpose is to “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” according to the directive.

The administration’s DOGE efforts are being led by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.

Trump issued another DOGE-related executive order in February, which aims for “a transformation in Federal spending on contracts, grants, and loans to ensure Government spending is transparent and Government employees are accountable to the American public,” according to the EO.

Meanwhile, Pentagon leadership is pushing forward other DOGE-related initiatives.  

Last week, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg initiated implementation of a DOGE-influenced regulatory review.

The department is also offering a deferred resignation program and voluntary early retirement. And a civilian hiring freeze, with some exemptions, is also in effect at DOD.

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The FCC announced Thursday that it had agreed to modify an existing spectrum-sharing framework used to protect the Department of Defense’s military operations conducted in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band, potentially expanding the commercial telecommunications industry’s ability to provide unencumbered internet access for millions of Americans. A proposal for the changes was submitted via a letter by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which collaborated with the Department of the Navy on the request.

“The changes outlined in NTIA’s letter will expand Internet access to more people across the country,” NTIA Administrator said in a statement. “They could not have been implemented without the collaboration of the Navy and our ongoing coordination with the FCC.” 

In NTIA’s letter to FCC, the organization requested to reduce the size of geographical areas where the Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) is used today and government spectrum access takes precedence over commercial — mainly along U.S. coastlines and around federal facilities. 

Established by the FCC in 2015, the CBRS is a wireless communication framework that permits federal and commercial users to share the 3.5 GHz frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum without interference. The model uses a three-tier approach to allocation, prioritizing the Defense Department’s use of the spectrum and then allowing commercial entities to access the band when the government isn’t using it.

By reducing the areas where CBRS is employed, the commercial industry could provide uninterrupted 5G services and other wireless internet to approximately 72 million people without having to navigate around the Pentagon’s schedule, according to the FCC.

Spectrum access system administrators — those responsible for managing dynamic use of the spectrum — will be required to demonstrate their ability to effectively operate under the refined model in a non-operational environment prior to full implementation, according to NTIA’s letter.

“Today, we are improving access to the 3.5 GHz band for tens of millions of Americans,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “The CBRS dynamic spectrum sharing framework is already fertile ground for wireless innovation, and through collaboration with Department of Defense, NTIA, and stakeholders, we are expanding opportunities for reliable spectrum access while also ensuring that federal incumbents remain protected.”

The move is the latest in a decades-long effort to improve spectrum sharing between the Defense Department and the telecommunications industry, especially as ongoing innovations in wireless technologies — from 5G broadband to autonomous capabilities — increase demand for access to the electromagnetic spectrum.

Commercial companies have found that the mid-band of the spectrum, approximately 3.1-3.5 GHz S-band, is ideal for providing high-speed wireless tech to civilian users. However, that band has been used by the DOD for decades to operate its radars, satellites, navigation systems and other equipment in military operations.

As the telecommunications industry calls on the U.S. government to reallocate part of the S-band for commercial companies to offer services and create new wireless technologies, the Pentagon asserts that doing so would require the military services to completely redesign many of their existing systems to use different frequency bands and delay other programs already under development.

Leaders at the Department of the Navy have been particularly vocal about the potential ramifications of reallocating its part of the spectrum to commercial companies, warning that the process could cost the organization billions of dollars and take decades to complete. For example, the Navy’s Aegis Combat System — equipped with multiple computers, radars and navigation systems — depends on mid-band spectrum to track incoming targets and guide weapons to destroy them.

As a result, the DON is taking a key approach to current efforts to expand spectrum-sharing possibilities in order to ensure its operations aren’t negatively impacted.

“The Department of the Navy is committed to developing a dynamic spectrum sharing capability with our industry partners to appropriately balance national economic and defense priorities,” DON Chief Information Officer Jane Overslaugh Rathbun said in a statement. “Agile spectrum access is critical to preserving the DON’s maritime warfighting competitive advantage and we are actively pursuing the development of innovative wireless solutions that will increase the quality life for Sailors and Marines.”

While the modifications to CBRS affect the 3.5 GHz range of the spectrum, the Defense Department and NTIA are working on a study to determine if any of the remaining 3.1-3.45 GHz frequencies could contribute to a future spectrum pipeline for shared use between the Pentagon and commercial industry.

The study was mandated in President Joe Biden’s National Spectrum Strategy published in November and is a follow-on effort to the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing (EMBRSS) feasibility assessment, which found that dynamic spectrum sharing with industry was feasible if “certain advanced interference mitigation features and a coordination framework” were established.

The analysis is expected to be completed by 2025, according to the White House.

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Published in 2020, the document had three key focus areas: modernize, innovate and defend. Now, Jane Rathbun wants to move to a more data-centric approach.

“We are going to evolve to 2.0 in our information superiority vision [which] is going to go from modernize, innovate and defend — all very important things, we’re not going to stop doing any of those things — to optimize, secure and decide,” she said at the Google Defense Forum Thursday. “How do we make data a central focus of our efforts to make sure that it’s available, transparent, trustworthy, consumable and decision worthy? You’re going to see over the next six months our evolution of that concept.”

The Department of Defense writ large has begun to shift to more of a data-centric approach vice a network-centric approach that envisioned a castle-and-mote mentality to network access. A data-centric model is about ensuring the right information can be accessed by the right person anywhere, with the proper security controls in place.

As the DOD is moving toward the notion of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJAD2) — which envisions how systems across the entire battlespace from all the services and key foreign partners could be more effectively and holistically networked to provide the right data to commanders for better decision-making — placing a premium on data will be of the utmost importance.

“I think emphasizing and focusing on how do we get the data there” is key, Rathbun told DefenseScoop following her remarks. “How do we architect an ecosystem that allows us to move data, allows us to see the data, allows us to tag the data, allows us to consume the data, allows us to do deep analytics on the data? That kind of needs to be the driving force of how we get to a platform as a strategic asset with data [as] the center.”

The Marine Corps, which falls under the Department of the Navy, is also beginning to shift to a more data-centric model that focuses on getting the right information to decision makers at all echelons and levels on the battlefield.

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She will also serve as special assistant for information management, according to a release issued Nov. 3 by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, and be the principal staff assistant to the SECNAV on information technology, digital modernization, cybersecurity and data management.

Rathbun had been performing the duties of CIO since Aaron Weis departed in March to take a job with Google Public Sector. She oversees the department’s $12 billion-plus IT portfolio including efforts related to cyber readiness, zero trust, cloud and enterprise services delivery, among others.

“Jane’s leadership, technical acumen, and personal character stood out amongst a very competitive field of candidates and represent the best of our ongoing efforts to build a culture of warfighting among our one Navy-Marine Corps team,” Del Toro said in a statement. “She is the right person to drive our efforts to implement the Department of Defense Digital Modernization Strategy and enable our ability to leverage data for decision advantage.”

Before becoming acting CIO earlier this year, Rathbun was the deputy secretary of the Navy for information warfare and enterprise services and the department’s chief technology officer. She’s also held other positions at the Pentagon including deputy director for defense business systems in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3, Cyber and Business Systems, according to her official bio.

“I am honored and humbled to serve the DON as the [special assistant for information management] and CIO,” she said in a statement. “I take seriously our mission to build a modern, agile, and adaptive naval information environment that can be leveraged anytime and anywhere to meet the challenges during all phases of competition, crisis, and conflict. I look forward to working with the [chief of naval operations] and [Marine Corps] Commandant to achieving the operational and business outcomes articulated in the NAVPLAN and Force Design 2030.”

Like other Department of Defense components pursuing information-technology modernization, the Navy and Marine Corps are trying to adopt more cloud capabilities, and they recently set up the Neptune Cloud Management Office to help streamline acquisition and delivery of these types of capabilities.

During remarks last month at AFCEA NOVA’s Naval IT Day, Rathbun highlighted some key cloud pursuits, including the Flank Speed initiative.

“In our work with Flank Speed … we actually physically put a cloud on a ship and are extending that enterprise IT concept more to the tactical edge,” she said. “I think that there’s going to be a lot of opportunity going forward to rethink cloud in a tactical environment.”

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Like the other services and the Pentagon at large, the Navy and Marine Corps have made strides towards migrating data and applications into the cloud, such as its cloud-based office suite of tools known as Flank Speed. And while much of those efforts have previously concentrated on sights located ashore, the Navy is now experimenting with a cloud on a ship to inform how those capabilities can be leveraged for users while at sea, acting Department of the Navy CIO Jane Rathbun said Friday.

“In our work with Flank Speed … we actually physically put a cloud on a ship and are extending that enterprise IT concept more to the tactical edge,” she said during a keynote at AFCEA NOVA’s Naval IT Day. “I think that there’s going to be a lot of opportunity going forward to rethink cloud in a tactical environment.”

A 2020 memo co-signed by the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition and the service’s CIO created a policy to accelerate promotion and acquisition of cloud services. Since then, the Department of the Navy awarded Amazon Web Services (AWS) in December a $724 million contract to give the Navy access to its commercial cloud environment for at least five years.

The department also recently created a new Neptune Cloud Management Office to help streamline acquisition and delivery of cloud capabilities to both the Navy and Marine Corps. That office will help the sea services leverage the Pentagon’s $9 billion enterprise cloud solution, the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC).

Service leaders in the past have signaled a need for better cloud access while at sea, especially as both the Navy and Marine Corps pivot to preparing to conduct more operations in remote, communications-denied environments in the Indo-Pacific. For many, the difference in connectivity while ashore versus while deployed on vessels is night and day.

Even with work to push the cloud out to deployed ships, Rathbun noted that sailors and Marines still might have to work disconnected at times.

“When I’m on an airplane flying somewhere, I can still work on my Flank Speed account. I can type up emails and I can edit documents, and then when I’m connected I can push those things back to my cloud environment and they’re saved,” she said. “I think we will have something similar, and many of the applications that we’ll need to bring are going to work disconnected, but they’re also going to be able to pop up every once in a while and connect when they need to to get more data in and push more data out.”

Evolving warfighting tactics for operations in the Indo-Pacific are also influencing how the Department of the Navy thinks about cloud access at the tactical edge. Rathbun pointed to the Marine Corps’ new emphasis on forward deployments on small, remote islands closer to potential adversaries — meaning they need to be less detectable on the electromagnetic spectrum.

“The Marines are learning how to manage spectrum [and] hide on the spectrum,” she said. “I think that is an innovation that will evolve our thinking about how disconnected you really will be in the future.”

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