‘Star Wars’ References Stripped From Pentagon Memo on Cloud Computing

  • C3PO and Jedi invoked before top official rewrites message
  • Defense Department trying to sell cloud computing across silos

Pat Shanahan

Photographer: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The Force just wasn’t with the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian when he tried to inject “Star Wars” references into a memo setting up the Defense Department’s multibillion-dollar cloud computing initiative.

In a and rescinded about an hour later, Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan announced a new “Central Cloud Computing Program Office” -- or “C3PO” -- to “acquire the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Cloud.”