Tuesday, July 6th 2021

Pentagon Cancels $10 Billion Microsoft JEDI Cloud Contract

The Pentagon has recently confirmed that they have canceled the JEDI cloud-computing contract with Microsoft which could have been worth $10 billion. The JEDI contract was awarded to Microsoft in October of 2019 which prompted a slew of legal challenges from Amazon who were widely expected to win the contract claiming the decision was tainted by politics. The Pentagon is now planning to pursue a new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability contract with Amazon and Microsoft with the potential for other large cloud providers such as Google, IBM, and Oracle to join. The new program appears to be an attempt to placate both companies and will last 5 years with an expected cost in the billions.
PentagonWith the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD's capability gaps.
Source: Associated Press
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49 Comments on Pentagon Cancels $10 Billion Microsoft JEDI Cloud Contract

#26
Sabishii Hito
$10 billion in tax money was earmarked for this project. The fact that it got cancelled doesn't change the reality that it was budgeted for. And Americans always claim the government would have to raise taxes in order to have state-sponsored healthcare like practically every other first world country on the planet :rolleyes:
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#27
bug
Sabishii Hito$10 billion in tax money was earmarked for this project. The fact that it got cancelled doesn't change the reality that it was budgeted for. And Americans always claim the government would have to raise taxes in order to have state-sponsored healthcare like practically every other first world country on the planet :rolleyes:
Why do you say it was budgeted? Do you think they'd spend all that money this year?
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#28
windwhirl
Sabishii Hito$10 billion in tax money was earmarked for this project. The fact that it got cancelled doesn't change the reality that it was budgeted for. And Americans always claim the government would have to raise taxes in order to have state-sponsored healthcare like practically every other first world country on the planet :rolleyes:
bugWhy do you say it was budgeted? Do you think they'd spend all that money this year?
It was supposed to be spent over the course of 10 years.

www.wired.com/story/microsoft-surprise-winner-dollar10b-pentagon-contract/
JEDI, potentially worth $10 billion over 10 years, has been positioned by the Pentagon as crucial to modernizing its use of technology—and making the US military more deadly.
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#29
Nordic
N3utroTranslaton: projected validated by Trump, denied by Biden
As I understand it, Biden had little to do with it if anything. Amazon sued and used the courts to break up the deal.
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#30
DeathtoGnomes
Vayra86The list is long. And that's only based on what was officially acknowledged. But public knowledge has a much longer list of pretty rancid spy cases, on our own citizens, and the US is no exception to that rule. In fact, the Netherlands over here is number one (or at least, was until China figured out computers and cameras) in wire taps per inhabitant. We're really good at it, apparently and similar discussions and issues arise.

As always though, intelligence agencies are blessing curse and necessity. Much like other conflict a lot of it defies common sense until you really figure out what's underneath.
As @lexluthermiester already said such spying is the realm of other departments, If there is any spying done directly by the military its on its own people only.
I only wanted a better explanation from @TheGuruStud, it was a reasonable request since I am not a mind reader.
ThrashZoneHi,
Google personnel won't help US military or law enforcement lol
Are you sure? Who is doing facial recognition software ?

cloud.google.com/vision/docs/detecting-faces
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#31
lexluthermiester
DeathtoGnomesIf there is any spying done directly by the military its on its own people only.
This is correct.
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#32
claes
Uhhhh it’s a DoD contract... Last I checked the DoD houses the NSA, which does in fact spy on American citizens.

That said, JEDI, rebadged as the "Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability,” which will probably be doing some geosurveillance, is not the kind of spying folks here are referring to, and is probably a project that has little input from the NSA other than auditing.

Finally, it’s been a bipartisan project for ten years, but Amazon sued and won against the Trump administration due to perceived biases against Jeff Bezos, which is probably why they’re opening the contract to multiple vendors.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Enterprise_Defense_Infrastructure
DeathtoGnomesAre you sure? Who is doing facial recognition software ?

cloud.google.com/vision/docs/detecting-faces
There was (and have been) many campaigns by Google employees against working with the DoD. Not that you’re wrong, in that commercial surveillance technologies are often used by law enforcement agencies, but there is a difference.
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#33
MentalAcetylide
windwhirl"Would you recommend this build of Windows Military Edition to an ally?"


I doubt they're gonna be that stupid. The military will probably have countermeasures against that kind of interference, both on the cloud system as a whole and also on each relevant unit of armament (for example, a single jet aircraft)
Countermeasures wouldn't be enough. They need to use equipment that isn't dependent on dominating space & cyberspace, which has way too many variables to properly mitigate enemy attacks that can degrade, corrupt, or outright disable systems.
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#34
windwhirl
MentalAcetylideCountermeasures wouldn't be enough. They need to use equipment that isn't dependent on dominating space & cyberspace, which has way too many variables to properly mitigate enemy attacks that can degrade, corrupt, or outright disable systems.
That's why intelligence and counter intelligence exist in the first place, to reduce the chances of such a catastrophic event happening. Both work to assure that you have the correct info (and not just trusting whatever a computer says) and that your enemy doesn't have the correct info they need to take you down.

And regardless, if your hypothetical enemy is close or at the same level than you in terms of technological advancement, weaponry capabilities, etc., then it will always be a bit of a coin toss, at least if the theater is level field for all sides involved. There's no avoiding that when you have two military forces that are too close to each other in capabilities. Because both sides will be trying to predict how their own equipment could be rendered useless and trying to either make their equipment unable to be rendered useless or have an alternate weapon/equipment that can do the same function or provide the same result if main weapon/equipment is not usable because of a certain condition.
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#35
Guwapo77
lexluthermiesterKeep the personal insults to yourself or the mods will be asked to help you out. And the US Military is not reading emails or putting a mic in peoples homes. That is the domain of DHS, the FBI and in certain cases the NSA. Get to know the authority charters and jurisdiction statues Mr Gurustud.
This is correct, they only read the official email given to you by the military. Anything and everything sent via Outlook (military) will be monitored. Your private email is safe while at home; however, if you access it on a government computer, they will read it.
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#36
64K
700 billion dollars in spending in the USA on the military last year. It's insane. They have to find a way to spend all of those billions or possibly see their funding cut the next year.
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#37
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
64K700 billion dollars in spending in the USA on the military last year. It's insane. They have to find a way to spend all of those billions or possibly see their funding cut the next year.
Thats true, use or lose. Its been that way since before my Time in the USAF from 2004-2012.
Posted on Reply
#38
95Viper
Stay on topic.
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Short and pointless posts like "yeah", "me too" or "haha" can be made on the rest of the internet, not here. Post count doesn't increase your e-penis.
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#39
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Guwapo77This is correct, they only read the official email given to you by the military. Anything and everything sent via Outlook (military) will be monitored. Your private email is safe while at home; however, if you access it on a government computer, they will read it.
And is a Code of Conduct violation which can result in LOCs, LORs, A15s/NJPs, CMs
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#40
lexluthermiester
eidairaman1And is a Code of Conduct violation which can result in LOCs, LORs, A15s/NJPs, CMs
Not to mention Court-Martial. Or is that what you meant by "CMs"?
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#41
ThrashZone
DeathtoGnomesAre you sure? Who is doing facial recognition software ?

cloud.google.com/vision/docs/detecting-faces
Hi,
They do not do secrete special projects for US military
There have been at least a couple protests from google personnel in the recent past.
Posted on Reply
#42
Guwapo77
eidairaman1And is a Code of Conduct violation which can result in LOCs, LORs, A15s/NJPs, CMs
When you log onto any computer on the network (I'll speak on the Air Force as this is where I served for 20 years), you must consent to monitoring. All sites visited are logged. Send nude images in your email if you want to and see if you don't catch an LoC, LoR, or A15.

Looks like you are/were Air Force as well. So what I speak of is the Comm SQ doing their jobs. I'm not saying someone in your chain of command looking at your emails, yes they will receive paper work. However, it is Comm's responsibility.
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#43
bug
Guwapo77When you log onto any computer on the network (I'll speak on the Air Force as this is where I served for 20 years), you must consent to monitoring. All sites visited are logged. Send nude images in your email if you want to and see if you don't catch an LoC, LoR, or A15.
Is this any different from, say, entering a public building?
The only people that have any sort of privacy on government/army/air force/navy computers are probably the Russians and the Chinese :D
Posted on Reply
#44
Guwapo77
bugIs this any different from, say, entering a public building?
The only people that have any sort of privacy on government/army/air force/navy computers are probably the Russians and the Chinese :D
Not really... The Network Admin is probably doing the exact same thing. Except you as a private citizen, you'll have a little more rights...kind of.
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#45
DeathtoGnomes
claesLast I checked the DoD houses the NSA,
the NSA doesnt follow the DoD rules, most governmental departments have their own policies they follow. The structure is about who is the HMFIC is, and not so much what they do independently. That would be like the narcotis unit telling the vice squad to arrest someone for jay-walking.
ThrashZoneThere have been at least a couple protests from google personnel in the recent past.
yep and those protests were largely ignored.
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#47
Lycanwolfen
Smart Move in my opinion. Cloud is nothing more but your data hosting on another computer on the internet. Most secure systems are closed no internet at all.
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