DOW CISO: Prepping Overhaul of Cyber Compliance, RMF Process
DOW CISO: Prepping Overhaul of Cyber Compliance, RMF Process
https://www.govconwire.com/articles/pentagon-rmf-overhaul-aaron-bishop-ciso-cyber
Publish Date: 2026-05-27 05:48:00
Source Domain: www.govconwire.com
“department’sThe Department of War is preparing a sweeping overhaul of its cybersecurity compliance and risk management processes, according to Aaron Bishop, acting principal deputy chief information officer and chief information security officer at the Pentagon.
Speaking Thursday at Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Cyber Summit, Bishop outlined plans for major reforms to the Department of War’s risk management framework process, arguing the current approach is too slow, paperwork-heavy and outdated to support modern cyber operations and future warfare requirements.
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“I hate it the way it is today,” Bishop said of the current RMF process. “It is absolutely, I’m going to say, 1990s mentality.”
Bishop said the Pentagon plans to roll out what he described as “RMF reform” over the coming months, with a focus on simplification, automation and continuous monitoring.
“It will start with simplify. It will end with automation. No more paper,” he said.
The remarks indicated that the Department of War is preparing significant changes to how cybersecurity compliance, authorization and monitoring are managed across military systems and contractor environments.
Why Is the Pentagon Reforming RMF?
Throughout his keynote, Bishop repeatedly contrasted the speed of technological change with what he described as the department’s historically slow-moving modernization processes.
“As we all know, technology moves at a transformational pace, not an evolutionary pace,” he said. “Therein lies the delta we have to close.”
Bishop argued the Pentagon has traditionally relied on incremental modernization approaches while…
