Department of Defense e-mail policy and government-wide e-mail initiatives

In support of the goals of the National Performance Review (NPR), the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) is proactively advancing the administration's initiatives to streamline government operations through the use of information technologies. Since 1988, the ASD(C3I) has championed the Defense Message System (DMS) as the single electronic messaging capability for the Department of Defense (DoD). The DMS improves communications through secure, business-grade messaging for the DoD. The DoD also fosters and participates in several federal committees and their initiatives for implementing business-grade electronic mail (e-mail) services for federal, state, local, and tribal agencies. This paper describes the actions that ASD(C3I) is taking to advance the NPR's initiative to improve government operations. Defense level policy on DMS is well defined. Actions by government-wide messaging working groups and the role of the DMS Program are intertwined from two perspectives. First, the DMS has a basic requirement to interoperate with partners in other government agencies and industry, and second, these partners also need business-quality messaging. Many of the DMS initiatives are serving as examples for large-scale interoperable electronic mail initiatives that can be used for business-quality, secure messaging in the government (federal, state, local, and tribal), commercial, and private sectors.