The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is advertising for a business to assist it in building a secure messaging app using distributed ledger (Blockchain) technology for the Department of Defense (DoD).

An advertisement for the role appeared on the Defense Business portal and states that there is a “critical DoD need to develop a secure messaging and transaction platform accessible via web browser or standalone native application.”

The said platform would be required to offer separate message creation, from the transfer of the message within a secure courier to the reception and decryption of the message.

Along with providing a transport protocol and encryption of messages, DARPA then specifically states all of this must occur on a “customized Blockchain implementation of message deconstruction and reconstruction, and decentralized ledger implementation.”

DARPA describes the need as follows:

With this messaging platform the business logic of the DoD ecosystem would be mapped onto a network of known entities using distributed ledgers. By doing this significant portions of the DoD backoffice infrastructure can be decentralized, ‘smart documents and contracts’ can be instantly and securely sent and received thereby reducing exposure to hackers and reducing needless delays in DoD backoffice correspondence. As an example, Military Interdepartmental Purchase Requests (MIPR) could be implemented using the secure ledger. Regulators with access to the ledger could read the correspondence and thus easily verify that a MIPR transaction didn’t violate Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

There are several phases to the project, with the first being to build of the platform on the existing Blockchain framework, the second phase to decentralize back end Blockchain implementation, and the third being the commercialization and full-scale implementation of the platform, including beta testing and “industrializing the back-end platform in terms of decentralized ledger architecture and Blockchain implementation,” according to the DARPA description.

Excellent

The decision by DARPA to pursue a fully secure messaging platform using the Blockchain comes at a time the United States Government, and its law enforcement agencies, are arguing against encrypted messaging platforms, from legislation in the senate through to FBI cases against Apple, Inc, which makes the timing excellent.

There is some defense logic in the move to use the Blockchain as the platform for the system as well, as DARPA explains:

The messaging platform would act as the transport for a cyptographically sound record of all transactions whether they be MIPRs, contracts, troop movements or intelligence. Troops on the ground in denied communications environments would have a way to securely communicate back to HQ and DoD back office executives could rest assured that their logistics system is efficient, timely and safe from hackers. The benefits are broad and could even be applied to domains such as space. With crowded skies it’s important to maintain situational awareness of all satellites and those concerned with space situational awareness/telemetry or air traffic control could instantly share data between nations using a separate but equivalent ledger implementation thus removing questions as to the authenticity and integrity of the data.

The short version is that because the distributed digital ledger under the Blockchain confirms all transactions, in the event of problems with direct communications the Blockchain literally distributes the message, securely, across all its nodes, allowing even troops in difficult situations the ability to be able to communicate with the chain of command.

There is no cut off date listed for companies interested in applying to participate in the program, but presumably the time for applications would be limited.

Image credit: soldiersmediacenter/Flickr/CC by 2.0