Forge.mil OK'd for Classified Endeavors

The Defense Information Systems Agency granted Forge.mil - the military's collaborative open-source software development platform - interim authority to operate on SIPRNet, the Defense Department's classified version of the Internet.

"This was a remaining crucial capability to offer our DoD development community," Forge.mil Project Director Rob Vietmeyer said in a statement. "With 2,200 users, 500 contributors with engaged development and 93 projects on Forge.mil, we'll now be able to offer even more with this interim authority to operate for classified use up to secret."

This leaves only top secret classification off-limits to Forge.mil. Top secret materials would cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if publicly available. Secret material would cause grave damage to national security if publicly available.

DISA implemented Forge.mil last October for limited, unclassified use.

According to DISA, Forge.mil allows collaborative software development and cross-program sharing of software, system components and services in support of net-centric operations and warfare. Forge.mil is a collaborative environment for shared development of open source and DoD community source software.

DISA says it expects four more components of Forge.mil to be launched in future releases: CertificationForge, which will support agile certification; ProjectForge, which will provide private project portals; StandardsForge, which will drive collaborative standards development; and TestForge, which will provide on-demand software testing tools.

Forge.mil is available to the U.S. military, Defense Department government civilians and DoD contractors for new and existing projects. DISA says Forge.mil lets organizations save money, improve software development efficiency and drive collaborative dynamics that help deliver better software faster to the war fighter. To register or host a project on Forge.mil, visit http://www.disa.mil/forge for more information.

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