Notes Stuart Wagner, chief digital transformation officer for the U.S. Department of the Air Force and hackathon organizer, “Across the previous hackathons, we have honed methods to build and fight with classified and protected data of increasingly larger size and varied origin...Hurlburt Field (U.S. Air Force installation in Florida) will prototype joint use cases, data and software infrastructures from combatant commands and various military departments.”^[1]

In January 2022, the department undertook BRAVO 0 at Nellis Air Force Base, the first department-wide classified innovation hackathon with Air Force weapons systems data. What surprised Wagner and others the most in 2022? “...What we found was that the fastest and most reliable network for classified data in the United States Air Force is the United States Postal Service…This was actually quite shocking to me.”^[2]

As for a little bit of military history, the BRAVO hackathon series is named after “Project B,” a 1921 series of joint Army-Navy target exercises based on Army Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell’s then-rather controversial claim that bombers sink battleships. 

^[1] https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3283344/department-of-the-air-force-to-conduct-hackathon/

^[2] https://federalnewsnetwork.com/air-force/2022/07/air-force-hackathons-show-some-ways-security-can-be-too-much-of-a-good-thing/

About Arlington

We are Arlington, a team of innovative, solution-oriented, highly agile, and well-versed professionals with decades of experience in working with America’s defense industry. From emerging cybersecurity regulations to helping our clients solve complex security & compliance solutions – and so much more – you can trust Arlington, the firm that’s Dedicated to Defense®.  Learn more at arlingtonintel.com.