Ask the CIO

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Dennis Clem Chief Information Officer June 26th, 2008

Federal News Network Staff

June 24, 2008 4:06 pm

< a min read

Dennis Clem – Chief Information Officer

Dennis Clem’s role as the chief information officer for the Pentagon and the Office of the Secretary for Defense is as broad as it is long.

Clem must ensure the Pentagon’s systems server thousands of users and ensure that high-ranking political appointees can access voice, video and data no matter where they are in the world. This means relying on commercial satellites to guarantee constant communications.

At the same time, Clem says he is building an enterprise infrastructure for the Pentagon and that includes upgraded server farms and application virtualization. The challenge is providing enterprise services that everyone can hook into while supporting each mission.