Accelerating Mission Success: Optimizing DevSecOps in Government and Defense
Before diving into the details, here's what you need to know: DevSecOps isn't just another tech buzzword - it's a critical enabler for delivering secure, mission-critical capabilities at the speed of relevance. The DoD has already laid groundwork with software factories, security tools, and guiding principles - but optimizing these resources requires leadership commitment, culture change, and strategic investment in automation and continuous processes.
The State of Government DevSecOps: Moving at the Speed of... Government?
The Department of Defense has embraced DevSecOps as a "core tenant of software modernization, technology transformation, and advancing an organization's software development ecosystem". With initiatives like Platform One and Iron Bank, the DoD has created the foundation for unifying historically separate functions - development, security, and operations.
Yet, let's be honest: despite this progress, many government programs still approach software development like they're building the Hoover Dam - massive requirements, years of planning, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony five years after the initial need was identified. By then, the software might be as relevant as a floppy disk at a cryptocurrency convention.
As one DevOps joke goes: "How many government program managers does it take to change a lightbulb? Four. One to write the requirements, one to create a five-year strategy, one to manage the acquisition, and one to explain why it's still dark."
Why Optimizing Your Existing DevSecOps Resources Matters Now
The threat landscape isn't waiting for your Authorization to Operate (ATO). As CISA's Eugene Heim notes, "Before we moved to a DevSecOps approach, it used to take a considerable amount of time for teams to go through the process of validating the security for any given product before we could promote it to production."
The benefits of fully optimized DevSecOps are clear:
Reduced mean-time to production
Increased deployment frequency
Decreased mean-time to recovery
Decreased change-fail rate
Fully automated risk management
Security baked in, not bolted on
For agency leaders and flag officers, this translates to: more capabilities delivered faster, fewer security incidents, and better use of taxpayer dollars. What's not to love?
Five High-Impact Strategies for DevSecOps Optimization
1. Shift From "Security as Gatekeeper" to "Security as Enabler"
Pentagon leaders have been experimenting with new approaches, including "Accrediting a developer's process rather than necessarily the product," according to Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel of DISA. This means a developer demonstrates "Here's my process, here's the controls ... Here's how I work into my process," providing assurance about the security of the resulting software.
Action for Leaders: Champion a culture shift where security teams are involved from the beginning of projects, not just at the end. Establish clear security requirements upfront and empower teams to meet them throughout development.
Think of security not as the Department of No, but as the Department of How. Instead of "You can't deploy that," try "Here's how we can deploy that securely."
2. Leverage Automation Like Your Mission Depends On It (It Does)
The DoD's DevSecOps guidance emphasizes "Integrated, automated & continuous end-to-end testing and monitoring, from ideation through production, with clearly defined control gates for release candidate promotion".
At CISA, Heim highlights that "The automated processes take the human out of the loop. If you attempt to deploy code, it must go through the requisite checks before it can be released. That automated process becomes our gatekeeper, rather than having to make sure that a person remembers to follow the process."
Action for Leaders: Invest in automation tools that integrate security scanning, compliance checks, and testing throughout the pipeline. Make sure these tools are accessible to development teams, not just security specialists.
Remember: A manual security process in 2025 is like bringing a typewriter to a hackathon.
3. Adopt Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and Dependency Visibility
The DoD's recent guidance "places a greater emphasis on software bills of materials (SBOMs), which provide transparency into software components and dependencies. This is essential for identifying and managing risks, particularly in open source components."
With open source components making up as much as 90% of today's software applications, knowing what's in your software is no longer optional.
Action for Leaders: Mandate SBOMs for all software development projects and establish processes to continuously monitor dependencies for vulnerabilities. Ensure your teams have access to secure artifact repositories like Iron Bank.
Think of an SBOM as the nutritional label for your software. You wouldn't eat something without knowing what's in it, so why would you deploy software without the same information?
4. Implement Zero Trust Architecture Within Your DevSecOps Pipelines
The DoD requires "Zero Trust Architecture" as a baseline security tool for all DevSecOps reference designs. This means "accepting the position that perimeter only and/or 'bolt-on' cybersecurity tooling is no longer enough."
Action for Leaders: Direct your teams to implement zero trust principles within your development environments and pipelines, not just in production systems. Ensure mTLS (mutual TLS) tunnels are "baked in to each of the eight phases of the DevSecOps SDLC."
As Platform One's guide humorously notes: "We will never be the best at everything, so don't claim or try to be. Be open-minded about what others can bring to the table." This applies to security too - leverage commercial expertise when available.
5. Measure What Matters: DevSecOps Metrics That Drive Mission Success
The DoD's DevSecOps strategy emphasizes that "performance metrics related to both team performance and cyber survivability are collected at each control gate, every time."
Action for Leaders: Establish clear, mission-focused metrics for your DevSecOps initiatives. Move beyond traditional measures (like number of applications deployed) to metrics that measure resilience, security posture, and mission impact.
Key metrics should include:
Deployment frequency
Lead time for changes
Mean time to recovery
Change failure rate
Mean time to detect and resolve vulnerabilities
Breaking Down the Talent Barriers
Platform One's guide emphasizes: "The best investment you can make is in yourselves. The next best investment you can make is in the people next to you."
You can have the best tools and processes in the world, but without the right talent and culture, your DevSecOps initiative will move at the pace of a congressional budget approval.
Action for Leaders:
Invest in continuous learning platforms for your teams
Make "Everyone Codes" a principle - even leadership should understand the basics
Break down traditional government silos between development, security, and operations teams
Encourage a "Simple and Robust" mindset - "Make features as if 100,000 developers will use what you've developed"
As Platform One puts it: "Live in the Trenches - Success or failure is found in the details. Don't ignore them because you don't have time to understand."
Moving From Authority to Operate to Continuous Authority to Operate
One of the biggest DevSecOps optimization opportunities in government is moving from traditional Authority to Operate (ATO) processes to Continuous Authority to Operate (cATO).
As DoD guidance notes, continuous monitoring and automated security gates form "one of the bedrock principles behind cATO, producing a certified software factory."
Action for Leaders: Champion the transition to cATO by:
Establishing clear control gates based on security requirements
Implementing continuous monitoring of deployed applications
Automating security testing and compliance verification
Building relationships between development teams and authorizing officials
Remember, the goal isn't to bypass security requirements, but to meet them continuously rather than periodically.
Partnering for Success: Internal and External Relationships
The DoD Enterprise DevSecOps Strategy Guide emphasizes that management must be both "top-down" and "bottom-up" to balance larger strategic goals with staff-level ownership.
Action for Leaders:
Build partnerships with industry leaders in the DevSecOps space
Establish communities of practice across your organization
Share lessons learned and best practices
Encourage innovation at the edge while maintaining enterprise standards
As one government DevSecOps practitioner put it: "When they succeed, we succeed."
The Path Forward: Speed, Security, and Mission Delivery
The adoption of DevSecOps isn't just a technical change—it's a strategic imperative for government and defense organizations operating in a world where software capabilities determine mission success.
By optimizing your existing DevSecOps resources, you can deliver secure, mission-critical capabilities faster and more efficiently than ever before. The technology and guidance exist today; what's needed is leadership commitment to transforming how we develop, secure, and operate software in the government context.
As you embark on this journey, remember the words from Platform One's guide: "Shoot for the Moon - Be bold and strive to make monumental changes that sound so crazy people won't believe you... even after..."
After all, the most secure software is the one that's updated, monitored, and continuously improved. In government DevSecOps, as in so many areas, perfect is the enemy of good enough to deploy—but with the right approach, you can have both security and speed.
Your mission operators are waiting. Your adversaries aren't. The time to optimize your DevSecOps capabilities is now.
