Software Engineering Institute

The threads that support successful DevSecOps "path to production" implementations at both the platform and application levels require agility to persuade, adapt, and bind various existing fundamental principles (e.g., cyber, networking, software development). The Operations and Integration Directorate (OI) Mission Support Department (OI-MS) Technology Solutions Division (OI-MST) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has applied real and operational scenarios to achieve overall success in their DevSecOps journey. This talk emphasizes underlying foundational shifts that occurred across culture, organization, leadership, teams (e.g., infrastructure, Information Assurance, Configuration Management), architecture, and tools (e.g., leaning toward open source) – all contributing to making OI-MST successful. Anyone can implement a framework offered as a service, but they must complete a journey to be successful.

This keynote presentation by Christopher J. Brazier of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was given virtually at DevSecOps Days DC 2020 on October 1, 2020.

Mr. Christopher J. Brazier is the chief of the Operations and Integration Directorate (OI) Mission Support Department (OI-MS) Technology Solutions Division (OI-MST) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). As the OI-MST Chief, he supports DTRA’s mission by providing oversight and direction to enable the dissemination of operational information and technology through analytical tools to aid in countering threat networks throughout the world. Flexibility is critical to this evolving threat landscape and Mr. Brazier guides the oldest (5+ years) DoD DevSecOps paths to production. The agility of this pipeline has supported rapid updates to the tools and underlying cloud stack to accommodate the rapid programmatic changes associated with threat domains. Prior to coming to DTRA, Mr. Brazier’s federal employment included providing leadership and technical direction to various government agencies Including the Department of State, Department of the Interior, Department of the Treasury, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Mr. Brazier was active duty military for seven years and is a veteran of the First Gulf War, where he received several medals to acknowledge his achievements while in service.

Watch the video.