The Air Force is developing a smartphone app that would give airmen a one-stop digital shop for information and answers on pay, benefits, and potentially other subject, a top service official said.
The service is currently designing the app, and hopes to have the first version up and running sometime next year, said William Marion II, the Chief Information Officer and Deputy Director for Plans and Integration for the Air Force.
It's part of moving Air Force services over to mobile platforms at the same time that mobile usage has grown by leaps and bounds among both service members and civilians.
"We have moved very heavily into Web services infrastructure over the past couple years, but we are very light on the mobile front end. Very, very light," Marion said. "Right now, if you took one of our Web pages and tried to shrink it on an iPhone, it's not usable. That user experience is not there."
Speaking at an event hosted Tuesday by mobile cybersecurity company Good Technology at the Newseum, Marion said the Air Force is trying to make sure airmen have access to the information they need no matter what digital platform they're using.
"One of the most transformative pieces is how do we take some of our HR applications and bring them truly forward facing beyond the generic web presence," he said. "What's more forward facing, what's more user facing, then your pay data and your benefits and your insurance policies and your fill actions?"
The Air Force is currently designing the app and deciding what types of information to include. The plan is to have the app available for airmen to test sometime in 2016.
"My goal is certainly inside of a year, at least for the initial prototype and get it out to some airmen's hands," Marion told Air Force Times. "I always like to think inside of a year because IT just moves so fast … I would say it's Phase One, but so far we're pretty energized. It's a pretty slick capability, what we think we can build with this."
In addition to airmen wanting to use their personal smartphones, Marion said the drive towards mobile technology was prompted partly by Air Mobility Command. Pilots and crew wanted an "electronic flight bag," where they could use a tablet for maps and to keep track of records and flight logs.
That would cut down on the hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages of charts and records that some planes would have to carry onboard.
"They had flight books like this," Marion said, holding his hands about a foot apart. "It's hundreds of pounds. It means fuel, it means dollars."
But more digital devices means more access points that hackers could use to breach security and gain access to critical networks.
Good Technology is working with the Defense Department on providing secure platforms and apps that troops can use for things such as e-mail and calendars on smartphones.
Chris Roberts, Good Technology's vice president of worldwide public sector, said he's seen marked improvements in the government's response to cyber threats and believes that progress is being made.
However, people do need to keep in mind the potential consequences of a cyber breach, Roberts said, and the Pentagon is concerned about a "nightmare scenario" such as "somehow, someway, creating some situation where lives are at stake because there was a breach on a device."
While improvements to cybersecurity are being made, Roberts said he's still worried about the way some people are reacting.
"I'm a little concerned that it's become a bit blasé," he said. "It seems that with cyber breaches, we're all pretty numb to it. We almost expect it in the news. It's going to come out and it doesn't get the reaction."
"The director of the CIA's e-mail has been hacked, and we're not shocked," Roberts said, referencing the announcement Oct. 19 that the director of the intelligence agency, John Brennan, had his personal e-mail account hacked.
Marion said members of the military must remain vigilant against possible cyber threats.
"You just have to be mindful of every e-mail and every text and every social media post," he said. "You've really got to think, not as just a normal person on the streets — not to get overly dramatic — but every airmen is targeted in some way, shape or form. So be cognizant of what you're doing … what you post, what you send, how you verify senders, all that kind of stuff is absolutely key."
