The US Marine is observed for the accuracy and ability to customize the corps in the battlefield. But behind the IT scenes, another fight was against the old IT systems that made Marines and their families serve difficult.
It was here that Marine Corps Community Services took over. The organization is the department within the USMC which are responsible for programs that improve the maritime quality of life, from child care and family counseling to fitness centers, retail stores and dining facilities.
Nevertheless, MCCS was dropped from sluggish IT procedures. Approval for new systems – is known as the authority to operate (ATOS) -Cold takes years and costs more than $ 1 million per system. These obstacles made it difficult to keep pace with modern needs.
“With IT service distribution, there are many obstacles that form a very long cycle,” says David rally, a digital program manager of MCCS. “It may take five years for ” waterfall ‘practices and ability to be available due to heritage compliance around security.”
The frustration set the platform for the operation storbreaker, a groundbreaking initiative, which used devops and agile development practices so that the IT system was developed, tested for security, and approved.
Operation Stombreker reconsidered the development playbook
By 2023, McCs had gone out of patience with the development of rigid, sequential waterfall, and decided to build operations stumbrekers around the devops and agile practices relying on automation, small recurrence and continuous response.
The rally and his team started by creating a Marine Corps -Promotion Landing Zone in Amazon web services, inheriting security control in many systems. He then added the foundation with the Navy department (rapid assessment and software engineering) platform, which is quickly applied and Deity Practice to embed security in the entire software life cycle. With the guidance connected to external partners Regscale and Reven Solutions, MCCS cut significantly in the ATO approval time.
“With these devices and partners, we were able to create a quick ATO process and a CI/CD pipeline to make custom-bed, safe and deployed systems very faster,” Rale explained.
The effect was immediate. Instead of treating IT systems such as tanks – once prepared, then maintained for decades – Rale and his team can now pursue the software update through a pipeline consecutively a pipeline that was automatically checked for security compliance in real time.
Tech services by Operation Strongerker made more secure and efficient, including:
- All Marine Corps Website
- Material distribution system
- Organizing Management and appointment booking systems
- E-commerce and point of sale system
- Human resource system
Technological innovation challenge in a bureaucracy
According to the rally, the biggest obstacle during the Operation Stombraker was the bureaucracy nature of working inside the government.
MCCS faced that the rally called “Frozen Middle”, which is a web of disconnected gatekeeper and systemic inertia that slowed down innovation. As a result, the rally was against long delays that are very common with all traditional authority processes that depend on large -scale batches of safety checks.
To carry forward these boundaries, the operation storbreaker separated the work in the “batch size of one”, instead of waiting until the end, validated each safety control phase. This new process was a culture shock for teams accustomed to very effective, linear, project-based work.
“We had to help the teams understand the difference between a waterfall project organization and a product-based team culture,” says the rally. “Now, we distribute in two weeks of sprints, focus on minimal viable products, and consider every system as a living, breathing product that develops.”
Equally important departments had to build faith. Operation Stormbreaker brought compliance officers, cyber security leaders and acquisition employees together. With perseverance and transparency, the rally and team helped the suspects turn into colleagues.
Increase speed, strengthen safety, save money
Since the launch in 2023, the Operation Stormbreaker has dramatically reduced the ATO time and cut the cost of wasting millions of dollars.
“The game-changer for MCCS can now provide software ability and get ATOs in a day instead of 18 months,” says rally.
“When you are developing with a CI/CD pipeline, the Rease process is a designation to confirm that the charge (Defense Department) is meeting security requirements. This can be done in 15 minutes through automation. Therefore, the hurdle to wait 18 months to get an ATO as we get the authority while building.”
Additionally, by “shifting” cyber security “to the left”, developers now get quick response, learning the code safe from the beginning. That approach has reduced the approval time along with security weaknesses.
In terms of financial impact, every system approved through new devops and agile development process saves MCCs about $ 1 million per ATO, says rally. In two years, the costs related to delay in the program were over $ 10 million.
Operations, Marines and their families now experience more user -friendly digital services. One of the first win of the project was to consolidate the convenience websites in 17 Marine Corps Installation. Prior to the Stormbreaker, each feature had its own website, which was misleading for Marine to go from one station to another.
“Now they have an integrated experience,” the rally said. “Finding information, navigating websites is easy, and, most importantly that those site now meet all DOD security requirements.”
For his operation storebreaker project, McCS earned 2025 CSO AwardAward respects security projects Excellent idea displays leadership and professional value,
Breaking mold: Lesson from Operation Stormbreaker
For public sector CIOs and security leaders, the operation provides a classic case to modernize IT services without renouncing the stambreaker safety.
The rally has learned three lessons during the project:
How to reconsider you think about risk
Many times in the government, compliance risk mission oversees the risk. The rally urges the leaders to think beyond the checkbox.
“When you only focus on the compliance element, the mission or commercial results are finished,” they say. “But this is not a matter of compliance. There is compliance to consider the mission and safety risks. It should not achieve real business results that you are trying to achieve.”
Do not accept ‘no’ at the inscribed price
Bureaucracy is default to take precautions, but the rally insisted that progress requires firmness.
“I am often called ‘no’ for my IT project requests, but there is no real reason except to say ‘no’, at least a risky option. So I had to press through it and ask, ‘Why is it not? What is the issue? Is it something that we can overcome?”
Understand that speed and safety can occur in co-existence
Moving faster does not mean cutting corners. In fact, the rally argues, makes the speed system more secure.
“There is a false name that is better protection than getting slow and organized, but there is no need to trade between safety and speed,” they say.
“With devops and agile development, we run workloads every night through CI/CD pipeline. If a new vulnerability pop up, And Stay more safe. ,
From bottlenecks to tight success
Operation Stormbreaker is an IT success story – but it is also valid that cultural changes in a bureaucracy are possible. By tearing Silos and embracing Devaps and agile development, MCCS has shown that even the government processes can be strengthened again.
And time cannot be better. With supporting Marines and their families in revenue of 14,000 employees and $ 1.2 billion, MCCs now have tools to serve modern life.
“This process allows us to deploy orders of rapid magnitude capabilities at a fraction of cost,” the rally said. “At the end of the day, this operation is the real value of the storeyaker.”
Modernize
Operation Stormbreakers of Marine Corps prove that even the most disgusting bureaucracy can provide rapid, more secure digital services. Discover how other CSO prize winners are running innovation and leadership – CSO conference and award today → CSO Conference and Awards
