Continuous Authority to Operate

How do you define independence? Some would say it's the ability to act without the interference of others. The military has a term for this: Continuous Authority to Operate. But in a digital world, our ability to act independently isn't just a matter of kinetic force or territorial control: a society must be able to function both online and off. That's a matter of more than just keeping data inside your borders; every technology is a potential vulnerability.

As we kick off FWD50's Digital Independence Day, co-chair Alistair Croll takes a hard look at autonomy in a post-rupture world, and how that changes the way government builds, procures, and deploys digital public infrastructure.