Dubbed the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastruture (JEDI), the contract sees its awardee build and maintain the US government’s “war cloud,” handling the processing and storing large amounts of classified war-related data. It also includes an artificial intelligence system to assist with war planning. It’s also a process that has dragged on considerably. As noted by New York Times, defense secretary Mark T. Esper had previously told reporters it was time to abandon the challenges and get on with building the cloud, claiming that American national security was at stake. As for what’s next, the Defense Department is expected to soon be granted 120 days to reassess the decision, meaning it’s likely it’ll be at least four more months before anyone starts working on JEDI.
