The Department of Defence appears to have abandoned a two-decade-long quest to create a unified single tech stack that spans across civilian enterprise and military systems, letting the two elements of the so-called diarchy go their separate ways under a radical shake-up of the agency’s huge IT shop.
In a key announcement blurted out in the middle of the massive nationwide Optus outage that hit millions of consumers and cruelled the online availability of dozens of government agencies, Defence has rebranded the millennial-sounding Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG) to become the Defence Digital Group, headed by recently-appointed Defence chief information officer Chris Crozier.
The shift follows the publication of the Defence Strategic Review that appears to have superseded the August 2022 Defence Information and Communications Technology Strategy launched by assistant minister for defence Matt Thistlethwaite that had pitched a “Single Information Environment 2.0”.
A year after that launch Defence recruited Crozier, a former Orica tech chief and senior executive, to succeed CIO Stephen Pearson, also previously a resources industry tech leader with a strong background in operational systems, logistics and supply chains.
“The Group, previously known as Chief Information Officer Group, has transformed to take a strategy-led approach to shaping, delivering and sustaining Defence’s ICT landscape in a faster, more agile way,” Defence said in a statement.
It’s also moved a few people around and is looking for fresh talent.
Defence chief technology officer (CTO) Justin Keefe has moved into the “First Assistant Secretary Digital Capability” with Peter Alexander, now a first assistant secretary (FAS) anticipated to take on the CTO role. Alexander is a former Digital Transformation Agency deputy chief executive and was also previously the Australian government chief digital officer.
The newly named Defence Digital Group has also been looking for bodies with openings for SES Band 2 FAS roles recently posted via a private recruiter and on the Defence website that heavily emphasised that salaries “may be negotiated with the successful candidate” listed at the very top of the casting call.
Defence’s civilian salaries are already comparatively high, with an Executive Level 2.2 hitting a base of $184, 829.
According to the unclassified version of Defence’s 2022-23 annual report, the SES Band 2 salary range as reported at 30 June 2023 was a minimum of $234,346 to a maximum of $286,389 — which is less than a lot of developers and software engineers get paid.
However, it also notes that “individual arrangements” for SES Band 2 pushed the range to $424,875.
“The enterprise agreement allows for remuneration and other benefits to be varied so that Defence can attract and retain selected employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver capability,” the Defence annual report said.
The role descriptions published by Defence on its website add more light and colour to the shake-up of CIOG to become the Defence Digital Group.
“Our ideal candidates will have a strong background in successful delivery of significant business outcomes in complex and large scale ICT environments, together with a well-developed ability to negotiate outcomes in a contested environment,” Defence says.
Contested environment? Read: people don’t want you there, don’t want to change and will seek to shut you down. All within the APS Code of Conduct, of course.
“You will require astute judgement and political awareness, and an ability to influence and provide compelling argument to Defence Senior Leadership. You will also have excellent interpersonal and representational skills, a strong results orientation, resilience, and a proactive approach to professional and organisational development,” Defence says.
Read: The roles are political nitro-glycerine. As a SES Band 2, you’ll eat what you kill. Expect some top-level support, but internal change has been suffocated previously so expect entrenched resistance. A survivalist skillset and bureaucratic cage-fighting prowess come with the job.
“You will exemplify Defence Values and Behaviours and engender a culture of innovation, collaboration and agility. You will be self-aware, and positive in considering and respecting a diversity of ideas and perspectives of others,” Defence says.
Read: Assassins need to be able to smile and read the room. Camouflage and decorum are non-negotiable.
The most notable aspect of the role descriptions is a split between a first assistant secretary military systems division and a first assistant secretary enterprise systems division. This is a deviation from the previous singular defence information environment (DIE) and later single information environment (SIE).
In some respects, it recognises that the functions and security of the military versus civilian networks are intractable and so too is the previously desired fusion of the infrastructure and software platforms. Some of this will be down to sovereign clouds and secret clouds where a single stack is as much a liability as it is a cost-saving.
What’s not a secret is that major vendors like Microsoft have walked away from the localised Australian sovereign requirements of a top-secret cloud.
Network separation has been a long-standing tenet of Defence’s estate and in the current strategic context, better known as AUKUS, fusion is now unrealistic. This is more broadly reflected in the US policy of restricting advanced semiconductor sales to strategic interlocutors and reshoring advanced domestic silicon manufacturing.
The days of commoditised cheap and cheerful kits are over. Bake it yourself if you have to.
What’s especially clear is the ability to communicate the new action plan to potential interlocutors, including ministry and brass.
“The Defence Strategic Review is a call for immediate action in light of our changing strategic circumstances,” Crozier said in a Defence statement.
“A genuine partnership between the Government, industry and unions will be critical to growing Australia’s defence industry and speeding up the acquisition of vital defence capabilities.”
Not too many IT unions out there, but it’s the hat tip that matters.
“We will be working closely with our partners from across the Defence ecosystem to ensure our ICT strategy and approach is well understood, and that we are attracting the best skills and capabilities from across the nation to support the Defence mission,” Crozier said.
Crozier comes from an explosives manufacturing background. Defence is the explosives delivery mechanism in the supply chain.
Worse choices have been made. Gotta love the smell of jet fuel in the morning.
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