State Department aims to balance security, user experience in network modernization program ‘Tron’

State Department aims to balance security, user experience in network modernization program ‘Tron’
Written by Jan 4, 2023 | FEDSCOOP

The State Department has delivered new Wi-Fi capability to more than 100 posts around the globe under a network modernization program the Bureau of Information Resource Management is calling Tron.


To end users at foreign posts, it might just seem like they’re getting Wi-Fi for the first time with much better speeds. But according to newly appointed State CIO Kelly Fletcher, it’s about delivering that enhanced user experience while providing better cybersecurity for those posts to reflect the more modern way the department is doing business today.


With Tron, Fletcher told FedScoop in an interview on the DailyScoop Podcast, “we’re doing all sorts of cool things so that our routing changes,” speeding up connectivity for officials at State’s hundreds of posts around the world.


“Historically, doesn’t matter where you are; you’re in Nairobi, you’re in Santiago,” Fletcher said. “Your traffic goes from you to D.C., then to wherever you need it to go. That does not make sense. That is not a modern way to operate a network.”


The solution State is delivering, she said, is more “point-to-point interactions,” with Wi-Fi being a part of that. At the same time, Fletcher said it’s an opportunity to boost the cybersecurity posture of those posts through improved identity management and network segmentation, key tenets of a zero-trust architecture, which State, like the rest of the federal government, has set as its model for modern security.


“What I’m trying to do … is to couple cybersecurity with capability for users,” she said. “My team is going to ..

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