US Defence: OSS Important to National Security

In a report prepared for the Under Secretary for Defence in the US there is a clear indication that Open Source Software and Open Standards are central to keeping the armed forces up to date with the most advanced software technology. In summary it says "OSS and Open Source development methodologies are important to the National Security and National Interest of the U.S". Cited advantages included enhancing the agility of IT industries to adapt to user needed capabilities, reduces lock in to a specific vendor, addresses balance of trade concerns, increases security and allows rapid changes to the technological base. This is of course not the first time the Department of Defence has identified Open Source as critical to its infrastructure, and put Open Source on a level playing field to commercial systems in 2003. Ironically the New Zealand Defence Force is still very much committed to Microsoft.