ABSTRACT

In response to the Senate Armed Services Committee's concerns over advancing cyber threats, the Department of War is operationalizing a new strategy to transition formal methods more broadly into production, ensuring our most critical national security systems can be mathematically and provably secure. This talk presents the Department's latest thinking on a phased, evidence-based approach that relies on strong industry partnership to address adoption barriers. We are actively seeking feedback on this roadmap to successfully transition this critical capability and strengthen our collective defense.

Dr. Forrest Shull is the Principal Director for Advanced Computing and Software at the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW (R&E)). With a strong background in software engineering and research, Dr. Shull leads the strategic direction for implementing advanced computing and software solutions across the Department of War (DoW), while coordinating scientific and technical development activities.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Shull served as the Lead for Defense Software Acquisition Policy Research at the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI). There, he led the SEI's technical response to the DoD, supporting critical initiatives and improving acquisition processes through the incorporation of modern software development practices. An important outcome was the development of the Department's first software-specific acquisition policy in 2020, which facilitated the rapid and iterative delivery of software capabilities to meet urgent user needs.

Before joining SEI, Dr. Shull spent 15 years at Fraunhofer USA, where he established and served as the Director of the Measurement and Knowledge Management Division. His extensive research work included collaborations with organizations such as the DoD, NASA, DARPA, the National Science Foundation, and commercial companies. Notably, his contributions to NASA software products earned him a Group Achievement Award for advancing the state-of-the-art in the software industry.