Congress Calls for Defense Department Plan for Cloud Computing

Congress ordered the Defense Department to develop a plan to use more cloud-computing services, a move that may lead to U.S. contracts for suppliers including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

The fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, approved by Congress on Dec. 15, requires the Pentagon to develop a strategy by April 1 to migrate its data to cloud-computing services to consolidate resources, according to the legislation. The cloud is a Web-based pool of shared computing resources such as software and data storage. The White House is trying to get agencies across the government, including the Pentagon, to embrace cloud computing to reduce $80 billion in annual U.S. spending. Moving Pentagon data to cloud services raises security concerns that call for service contract requirements, said James Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.