Fiscal Year 2024 Update

Approved by the Judicial Conference 

of the United States

September 2023

Long Range Plan for 

Information Technology 

in the Federal Judiciary
Long Range Plan for Information Technology in the Federal Judiciary: Fiscal Year 2024 Update 

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Long Range Plan for Information 

Technology in the Federal Judiciary: 

Fiscal Year 2024 Update 

Table of Contents 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 

Strategic Priorities ................................................................................................................................... 2 

Continue to build, maintain, and continuously enhance 

robust and flexible technology systems and applications ..................................................... 2 

Electronic Public Access............................................................................................... 3

Case Filing/Case Management ................................................................................... 4

Jury Management ......................................................................................................... 5

Judges and Chambers Staff......................................................................................... 5

Administrative Support................................................................................................. 6

Coordinate and Integrate National IT Systems and Applications .......................................... 9 

Coordinate and Integrate National IT Systems and Applications .............................. 9

Maximize National Systems through Court-Led Best Practices...............................11

Develop system-wide approaches to the utilization of technology ...................................... 12 

Network Enhancements.............................................................................................12

Enterprise Operations Center ....................................................................................12

Enhanced Hosting Services .......................................................................................13

Courtroom Technologies ............................................................................................13

Communications .........................................................................................................14

Continuously improve security practices .............................................................................. 16 

Preventing Malicious Activity .....................................................................................16

Detecting, Analyzing, and Mitigating Intrusions........................................................18

Shaping the Cybersecurity Environment...................................................................19

Investing in the IT Program ................................................................................................................... 20 

Resource Requirements ........................................................................................... 21 

JITF Program Components ....................................................................................... 21 
Long Range Plan for Information Technology in the Federal Judiciary: Fiscal Year 2024 Update 

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Introduction 

The Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary 1

defines the Judiciary’s mission as follows: 

“The United States Courts are an 

independent, national Judiciary 

providing fair and impartial justice 

within the jurisdiction conferred by 

the Constitution and Congress. As an 

equal branch of government, the 

federal Judiciary preserves and 

enhances its core values as the 

courts meet changing national and 

local needs.”

Judges and Judiciary staff regard information 

technology (IT) not as something separate 

from their day-to-day work, but as a means to 

perform their jobs. As business processes and 

technology solutions have become 

interwoven, the Judiciary recognizes that IT 

plays a significant role in the work of the 

Judiciary and offers opportunities to develop 

more efficient and effective processes 

supporting successful outcomes.

Pursuant to section 612 of Title 28, United 

States Code, the Director of the Administrative 

Office of the United States Courts (AO) is 

responsible for preparing and annually 

revising the Long-Range Plan for Information 

Technology in the Federal Judiciary (LongRange Plan). The Committee on Information 

Technology of the Judicial Conference of the 

United States provides guidance in the 

development of annual updates and 

recommends the plan for approval by the 

Judicial Conference. Upon approval, the 

Director provides the annual update of this 

plan to Congress.

1 Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary, approved 

by the Judicial Conference of the United States, 

September 2020.

This update to the Long-Range Plan describes 

key strategic priorities for enterprise-wide IT 

over the next three to five years and 

summarizes the Judiciary’s anticipated IT 

resource requirements for fiscal year (FY) 

2024 through FY 2028. The strategic priorities 

discussed in this document integrate the 

Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary, as 

updated in 2020, with the IT planning and 

budgeting process and Judiciary-wide strategic 

planning efforts. The strategic priorities were 

further informed by discussions within the 

AO’s advisory process, as well as circuit 

judicial and IT conferences.

The Judiciary’s IT program consists of systems 

and services provided both at the national 

level and by the courts individually. The 

program consists of four elements:

• Public-facing technologies that serve the 

general public, as well as litigants, 

attorneys, law enforcement agencies, state 

and local courts, executive branch 

agencies, and other stakeholders.

• Internal Judiciary systems used by judges 

and chambers, court staff, probation and 

pretrial services officers, and AO personnel.

• The technical infrastructure that is the 

underlying framework supporting the 

delivery and processing of information for 

all stakeholders, both internal and external. 

It includes the physical equipment, network 

policies, and rulesets that ensure the 

confidentiality, availability, and integrity of 

the Judiciary’s IT services. 
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• IT security methods and processes that 

protect internal and external Judiciary 

systems, services, and data against 

unauthorized use, disclosure, modification, 

damage, inaccessibility, and loss.

Strategic Priorities 

The Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary

includes the strategy, “Harness the potential 

of technology to identify and meet the needs 

of court users and the public for information 

service, and access to the courts,” as well as 

four associated goals which form the basis of 

strategic priorities for IT: 

• Continue to build, maintain, and 

continuously enhance robust and flexible 

technology systems and applications that 

anticipate and respond to the Judiciary’s 

requirements for efficient communications, 

record-keeping, electronic case filing, case 

management, and administrative support.

• Coordinate and integrate national IT 

systems and applications from a Judiciarywide perspective; continue to utilize local 

initiatives to improve services; and leverage 

Judiciary data to facilitate decision-making.

• Develop system-wide approaches to the 

utilization of technology to achieve 

enhanced performance and cost savings.

• Continuously improve security practices to 

ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and 

availability of Judiciary-related records and 

information. In addition, raise awareness of 

the threat of cyberattacks and improve 

defenses to secure the integrity of Judiciary 

IT systems.

The following sections describe significant 

initiatives that are planned over the next three 

to five years to address each of these 

strategic priorities.

Strategic Priority

Continue to build, maintain, and 

continuously enhance robust and flexible 

technology systems and applications that 

anticipate and respond to the Judiciary’s 

requirements for efficient communications, 

record-keeping, electronic case filing, case 

management, and administrative support.

IT is inextricably part of the execution of the 

Judiciary’s business. Applications to perform 

case filing, case management, and 

administrative support are supported by 

communications and collaboration systems. 

These systems and applications require 

ongoing maintenance, improvement, 

upgrades, and replacement to remain 

functional in a continually changing external 

environment as well as relevant to the current 

needs of the Judiciary. In addition to 

managing a structured lifecycle-management 

process to identify, manage, and implement 

user requests for system improvements, the 

Judiciary regularly assesses whether business 

needs or new technologies necessitate more 

extensive upgrades or even full replacement 

of existing systems. The Judiciary currently 

dedicates a majority of its IT resources to 

sustaining legacy (sometimes outdated) 

technologies but, in order to take advantage 

of technology advances and to protect the 

Judiciary from cyberattacks, the Judiciary must 

take measured steps to modernize its IT 

environment. Descriptions of anticipated 

system and application changes are provided 

as examples of this planning process in action 

and to delineate the areas on which the 

Judiciary will place priority over the next three 

to five years. 
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From January through June of 2022, more 

than 40 stakeholders from across the 

Administrative Office and the judiciary 

embarked on an effort to collaboratively 

create a modernization strategy which would 

serve as the roadmap for how the judiciary 

would invest resources to modernize its 

infrastructure, business applications, and 

workforce. The development of the 

modernization strategy was requested by the 

chair of the IT Committee, and several 

members of the Committee participated in the 

development, review, and approval of the 

modernization strategy. Once the 

modernization strategy was approved and 

published, several foundational modernization 

initiatives began, such as modernizing the 

judiciary’s identity management systems, 

network infrastructure, authentication and 

access management systems, and several

critical business systems. Additionally, efforts 

are underway to formalize the development, 

approval, and implementation of enterprise 

technical standards, which will help drive 

uniformity across the technology framework of 

the judiciary. Currently all modernization 

initiatives are closely monitored to ensure the 

appropriate level of progress is being made in 

achieving the outcomes expected for each 

initiative.

Electronic Public Access

The Judiciary provides electronic access to 

case information, including the documents in 

case files, through its Public Access to Court 

Electronic Records (PACER) service. The public 

and other external stakeholders do not need 

to visit courts in person to obtain a case file 

and photocopy documents. Instead, the 

program’s 4.2 million registered users can 

obtain these documents and other case 

information online. At the same time, to 

strengthen security and protect privacy, the 

Judiciary has instituted policies and there are 

federal rules of procedure that restrict 

electronic public access to certain types of 

cases, information, and documents. The 

Judiciary’s Electronic Public Access (EPA) 

program has worked to improve electronic 

public access to court information and 

documents through several ongoing 

initiatives. Future improvements to electronic 

public access to court records are discussed 

below and will be directly tied to the Case 

Management Modernization effort described 

on pages 3-5. The Case Management 

Modernization effort will deliver a modern, 

sustainable digital platform for the judiciary to 

manage cases, provide public access to court 

records, and improve communication, 

collaboration, and engagement among courts 

and the public.

EPA Public User Group. In 2020, AO 

established a Public User Group—composed of 

12 non-judiciary members representing the 

legal sector, media, academia, government 

agencies, and other entities that regularly use 

PACER—to provide advice and feedback on 

ways to improve PACER and other electronic 

public access services provided by the 

Judiciary. The Group has made several 

recommendations for improving public access 

services. The AO has analyzed each 

recommendation to determine appropriate 

actions consistent with Judicial Conference 

policy and technical, legal, and financial 

feasibility and to determine best approaches 

for implementation. Recommendations from 

the group were instrumental in creating 

functionality improvements in the PACER Case 

Locator, raising awareness among courts of 

the importance of implementing CM/ECF RSS 

(Really Simple Syndication) feeds, and 

developing a Pro Se User page on PACER.gov. 

The EPA Public User Group will play a role in 

the Judiciary’s effort, now underway, to 

modernize CM/ECF and PACER. The Group will 

be actively engaged in the development 

process of the new PACER system. They will 

be invited to participate in regular user 

research sessions that will focus on 

requirements for various features of the new 

system as the project moves through the 

development lifecycle.
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Case Filing/Case Management

Case Management/Electronic Case Files 

(CM/ECF): The federal courts’ case filing 

processes are managed by the CM/ECF 

system, through which court staff and 

attorneys open cases and file documents over 

the internet. Case information and related 

documents are electronically available to case 

participants at virtually the same moment a 

filing is completed. Nearly instantaneous 

email notification of any activity in a case 

maximizes the time available for participants 

to respond. These efficiencies have reduced 

the time and cost required for litigants to work 

through the judicial process. The public 

benefits from electronic case information and 

document availability through the PACER 

system as a result of the CM/ECF filing 

process.

The implementation of Next Generation 

(NextGen) CM/ECF modernizes the business 

processes used by the courts and judges’ 

chambers. NextGen CM/ECF enhances the 

way judges manage cases by streamlining 

their processes and the ways they view 

information in the application. NextGen 

CM/ECF also enables judges, court staff, and 

attorneys to access CM/ECF data in multiple 

courts using a single account; provides 

appellate attorney filers with a new, 

streamlined interface; enhances the 

Judiciary’s ability to exchange data within its 

internal and external systems; supports a 

more consistent user experience for external 

users; improves filing capabilities for pro se 

filers in bankruptcy cases; and provides a 

new, streamlined interface for automatic 

judge and trustee assignments in bankruptcy 

cases.

All courts are now live on NextGen CM/ECF. 

Courts continue to upgrade to the latest two 

supported versions of NextGen CM/ECF at a 

fast pace. These upgrades improve the 

Judiciary’s CM/ECF security posture. The 

NextGen releases 1.7.2 and greater will 

include the resolution of security 

vulnerabilities and bug fixes based on 

priorities established by court expert panels. 

Finally, enhancements and new functionality 

have been added when required by new laws 

or direction from the Judicial Conference or 

other AO-sponsored advisory groups.

In 2019, the AO entered into an interagency 

agreement with 18F, a component of the 

General Services Agency that works with 

government entities on efficient and cuttingedge IT development, to conduct an 

independent assessment of NextGen. 18F 

conducted a full evaluation of the system, 

including a technical assessment and 

interviews with user groups. It determined 

that, for multiple reasons, the Judiciary’s best 

path forward is to start fresh with an entirely 

new case management system and 

recommended that the Judiciary involve actual 

users in the development of the new system. 

Other key suggestions provided by 18F 

included: moving to the cloud; simplifying AO 

and court operations; adopting a DevSecOps 

culture, which would treat development, 

security, and operations as interrelated and 

mutually reinforcing practices; implementing 

data standards; and setting up an empowered 

cross departmental and cross functional team 

to develop the new modern CM/ECF product. 

The AO concurred with the recommendations 

made by 18F and put many of these 

recommendations into action in the Case 

Management Modernization initiative which 

focuses on the digital transformation of 

CM/ECF to build the Judiciary’s next modern 

case management system. This digital 

transformation effort will be the main focus for 

the next few years.

As the focus is shifting to the Case 

Management Modernization effort, the 

judiciary is preparing for the eventual 

transition from NextGen to the new system. 

This strategic reallocation eventually will result 

in a “lights on” mode for NextGen where 

resources will be available to continue its 

secure operation, but changes or 

improvements will be extremely limited. In 
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“lights on” mode, upgrades and development 

activities will be limited to zero-day and high 

vulnerability fixes as well as mandatory 

changes required by new laws.

Probation and Pretrial Case Tracking System 

(PACTS): PACTS has evolved into a 

comprehensive case management system for 

probation and pretrial services officers and 

has become an indispensable supervision and 

investigation tool. In recent years, the IT 

applications maintained by the AO in support 

of the probation and pretrial services system 

have had significant problems with reliability 

and performance. To resolve these issues, the 

AO proposed a two-step plan to ensure the 

reliability and performance of PACTS and the 

related applications. The first step was to 

stabilize PACTS and existing applications while 

a replacement system is developed and 

deployed. The second step was to develop a 

replacement system for PACTS, using 

Software as a Service (SaaS) with a highly 

configurable platform solution. The 

replacement system will continue to interface 

with key applications, both internal and 

external to the Judiciary, and provide officers 

the data necessary to fulfill their mission. 

Replacement is a multi-year project, with work 

completed in stages. Solicitation activities 

occurred in FY 2019 and a vendor was 

selected in April 2020. The PACTS 

replacement system (PACTS 360) 

development is currently underway and is 

scheduled to pilot and rollout the full 

operating capabilities the second quarter of 

FY 2024. Additional blanket purchase 

agreement (BPA) call orders will continue to 

be issued in 2023 and 2024. Operations and 

maintenance, including cybersecurity of the 

application, will begin with the initial rollout in 

FY 2024 and incrementally grow in the 

number of licenses required through FY 2025 

and FY 2026. The program office is planning 

to issue additional call orders, if funding is 

available, in 2026 for the development of 

program management and advanced data 

analytics capabilities to support the mission of 

the probation and pretrial services offices.

Jury Management

Jurors perform a vital role in the U.S. judicial 

system. Jury service is an important civic 

function that supports the right of trial by jury. 

The Constitution provides that the "trial of all 

crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall 

be by jury." U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 3. The 

right of the accused in criminal prosecutions 

to trial by jury is protected by the Sixth 

Amendment to the Constitution and the right 

to trial by jury in civil common law actions is 

preserved by the Seventh Amendment to the 

Constitution. The Judiciary has been using the 

same Windows-based jury management 

system for over 20 years, and it will soon 

become obsolete and will need to be replaced. 

It will be replaced with a web-based solution 

that is expected to be more cost efficient and 

easier to support. The web-based solution will 

be centrally managed to allow for better 

security. It also will contain better methods to 

respond to security vulnerabilities and will 

incorporate more periodic functional 

enhancements. Business requirements have 

been documented and the next step will be to 

procure software that can be designed, 

developed, and deployed through a 

partnership between Judiciary experts and a 

vendor who meets the Judiciary’s needs.

Judges and Chambers Staff

Although case management systems were 

originally designed primarily to manage 

documents and processes in the clerks’ 

offices, NextGen CM/ECF introduced 

efficiencies to judges’ chambers. New 

features such as the Judge Review Packets 

provide district and bankruptcy judges and 

their staff with the ability to automatically 

create and maintain electronic packets of 

information for matters that require 

chamber’s review and action. Judges and their 

staff also can utilize a user interface called 

Workspace, which provides customizable 
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content based on job function. Mobile 

Briefcase allows appellate judges and their 

staff to download and edit documents on a 

tablet or other mobile device. The Citation 

Links functionality adds links to PDF 

documents filed in a case so that judges, law 

clerks, and court staff can easily view the 

referenced content using their preferred 

resources (e.g., LexisNexis, Westlaw).

Administrative Support

Several national administrative systems 

supporting finance, human resources, and 

facilities management are in the midst of 

modernization. The goal of these efforts is to 

deliver high-quality and secure solutions 

aimed at reducing costs, enhancing the user 

experience, and strengthening internal 

controls.

Judiciary Integrated Financial Management 

System (JIFMS): JIFMS is a decision support 

management information system that serves 

as the Judiciary’s official budget, acquisitions, 

fiscal, and case accounting system of record. 

This integrated financial system supports the 

Judiciary’s workflow, internal controls, and 

financial management functions along with 

their associated decision support business 

processes and capabilities. JIFMS interfaces 

with numerous other federal government 

systems and is a mission-critical system. 

JIFMS’ aging technical architecture poses 

significant IT risks and could potentially 

impact the availability of the application, 

compromise JIFMS’ data integrity, and 

jeopardize the Judiciary’s ability to address 

new financial management requirements.

The modernization of JIFMS is a priority for the 

Judiciary and efforts to upgrade JIFMS to the 

current version of the commercial off the shelf 

(COTS) solution is an ongoing, multi-year 

2 IPP is a web-based system that provides one 

integrated, secure system to simplify the 

management of vendor invoices.

initiative. This upgrade will provide enhanced 

functionality, improved system security, 

support for the latest infrastructure, and 

position the AO to deploy several governmentwide solutions such as the Invoice Processing 

Platform (IPP)2 and G-Invoicing3 in the future. 

It will also resolve several known software 

defects. Once the upgrade is complete, a 

routine and predictable upgrade cycle can be 

established, allowing the Judiciary to take 

advantage of an up-to-date and supportable 

financial management solution into the future.

The Judiciary is pursuing a “back to baseline” 

strategy that involves minimizing Judiciaryspecific customization of the underlying COTS 

solution. Minimizing customization should 

result in streamlined operations and 

maintenance activities and reduced 

complexity of future upgrades. It will also help 

achieve the goal of establishing a routine and 

predictable upgrade cycle.

Automated Collections Register (ACR): 

Deployment efforts are well underway for the 

ACR system to replace the various cash 

register systems used by district, bankruptcy, 

appellate and national jurisdiction courts. The 

deployment of ACR is another step towards 

the Judiciary moving to an enterprise platform 

that utilizes modern software and 

infrastructure. The solution is designed to 

integrate with the Judiciary’s financial and 

case management systems. With the court 

community leveraging a single system, the 

Judiciary is well positioned to meet future 

legislative, business, and technological 

requirements. Full implementation of ACR is 

targeted for completion at the end of calendar 

year 2023.

3 G-Invoicing is the long-term solutions for Federal 

Program Agencies to manage their 

intragovernmental Buy/Sell transactions; 

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/g-invoice/
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Debt management: The Judiciary intends to 

pursue a unified debt management solution 

that will replace the Civil/Criminal Accounting 

Module (CCAM), which is currently integrated 

into JIFMS, and other debt management 

solutions used throughout the Judiciary. This 

new solution will decouple debt management 

from the core financial system (JIFMS) as part 

of the “back to baseline” strategy, so that it 

can stand alone and support the Judiciary’s 

unique business requirements related to 

financial accounting, case management, and 

their associated decision support capabilities. 

It will offer debt management functionality for 

the district, bankruptcy, and appellate court 

communities. Efforts to identify and define key 

business processes will begin after the 

completion of the JIFMS upgrade. Once the 

processes are documented, development and 

implementation activities will begin. The court 

community will participate throughout the 

initiative. 

The JIFMS, ACR, and debt management 

efforts are designed to align with and 

complement a Judiciary strategic effort called 

the Judiciary Data Integrity, Reporting and 

Controls (JDIRC) program. JDIRC is a financial 

management initiative with the goal of 

submitting a consolidated, audited financial 

statement to the Treasury Department that is 

consistent with generally accepted accounting 

principles (GAAP). The JDIRC program will 

transform financial reporting requirements 

across the Judiciary, improve the Judiciary’s 

internal controls program, and strengthen the 

integrity of Judiciary financial data.

Human Resources Management Information 

System (HRMIS): The Judiciary uses HRMIS to 

process human resources (HR) transactions, 

including leave accruals, employee 

performance, benefits administration, and 

payroll processing. The Judiciary is focused on 

making system improvements to address 

regulatory and statutory requirements driven 

by the executive and legislative branches. 

The AO is working closely with the court HR 

community to identify system enhancements 

that improve the efficiency and accuracy of 

their business processes. The AO is 

developing plans to increase court use of the 

optional employee performance management 

module. This effort includes developing 

communities of practice and focus groups to 

share information and gather feedback 

related to these products and to identify 

enhancements to make HRMIS an attractive 

alternative to local performance management 

solutions. 

The AO is also using new technologies to 

deliver more valuable solutions to the 

Judiciary. This includes providing court units 

real-time access to leave data and the ability 

to leverage this data in local applications that 

support various business needs. The AO is 

also evaluating new solutions to create 

interactive dashboards utilizing HR data. 

Now that a routine upgrade cycle for HRMIS is 

in place, the focus has shifted to taking 

advantage of the latest technologies available 

while minimizing the impact to the user 

community, optimizing new features, and 

maintaining an up-to-date, supportable human 

resources management solution into the 

future.

Fingerprint Transmission System: In a 

continued effort to improve and standardize 

the background check and investigations 

process, the AO procured a new fingerprint 

solution that will standardize how all court 

units and federal public defender 

organizations (FPDOs) enter and transmit 

biometric information for civil processes. The 

new solution will replace the current methods 

used to submit fingerprints for background 

checks (inked fingerprint cards and LiveScan 

fingerprints), increase data security, and 

improve the efficiency of the overall process. 

This new centrally maintained, web-based 

application does not store data locally. All data 

is securely transmitted to a central repository, 

providing better protection of personally 
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identifiable information. The new application 

began rollout in late FY 2022 and will 

continue through FY 2023. 

Financial disclosure reporting: The Ethics in 

Government Act of 1978 requires all judicial 

officers and certain Judiciary employees to file 

financial disclosure reports. A new 

modernized, end-to-end financial disclosure 

system, the Judiciary Electronic Filing System 

(JEFS), is in development to meet the needs of 

Judiciary filers and those administering the 

program. JEFS will streamline the process of 

filing and amending reports and includes 

correspondence automation and tracking, 

redaction, and compliance within a single 

application. Additionally, a public site was 

developed and released on November 7th, 

2022, that allows for the online request and 

release of financial disclosure reports to meet 

the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act.

Real estate and facilities management 

(Integrated Workplace Management System - 

JSPACE): The AO completed implementation of 

the real estate and facilities management 

system, JSPACE, in September 2022. JSPACE 

provides comprehensive data and analytics 

for the Judiciary to manage more than 40 

million usable square feet of space in 800 

locations with an annual rental cost of more 

than $1 billion. Furthermore, it supports the 

Judiciary’s long-range facilities planning 

efforts and overall rent and space 

management function as well as the Capital 

Security Program,4 Service Validation 

4 Endorsed by the Judicial Conference of the 

United States in September 2015, the Capital 

Security Program is designed to ameliorate 

security deficiencies in existing courthouses 

where physical renovations are viable, and the 

construction of a new courthouse is not needed 

or expected within the next 15 years.

5 The Service Validation Initiative is a collaborative 

partnership between the Judiciary and the 

General Services Administration to improve all 

aspects of developing, designing, constructing, 

managing, and maintaining facilities.

Initiative,5 and No Net New Policy.6 The base 

space and lease functionality of the system 

has been deployed to all circuits. Additional 

capabilities including asset management, 

parking management, and strategic planning 

will be included in the enterprise solution.

Judiciary Vulnerability Management 

Information Services: The AO is committed to 

improving the ability of the Judiciary to assess 

and mitigate security and emergency 

management related risks to staff and 

facilities. This initiative was previously called 

the Judiciary Disaster and Recovery Tool 

(JDART). It began in FY 2020, providing the 

Judiciary a capability to visualize and analyze 

information regarding natural hazards 

impacting operations. As more risk-based 

needs were identified, additional information 

concerning public health, transportation, 

power, and threats to the Judiciary have been 

added. Additional data capture, analytical, and 

visualization services are being designed to 

improve local and national Judiciary 

situational awareness. As an example, these 

services were used extensively to provide data 

and insight into the impact of the COVID-19 

pandemic. 

Most recently, with the passage of the Daniel 

Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, these 

services are being used to design and 

implement additional forms, analytical 

services, and visualizations to support 

monitoring the internet for covered 

information7, removal of covered information, 

6 No Net New Policy—Any increase in square 

footage within a circuit needs to be offset by an 

equivalent reduction in square footage identified 

within the same fiscal year, subject to the 

following exclusions: new courthouse 

construction, renovation, or alterations projects 

approved by Congress.

7 “Covered information” is a term used in the 

Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 

2021 to refer to personally identifiable 

information and other data elements that can 

put judges and their families at risk. 
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coordination of threat management activities 

with relevant agencies, and reporting of 

judicial threats to the U.S. Marshals Service 

(USMS). The AO will also continue to explore 

additional solutions to strengthen analysis of 

security and emergency management issues, 

communications, and situational awareness 

during emergency situations.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence: The AO 

is in the process of adopting a standard set of 

development and integration platforms for 

administrative support systems. The platforms 

include low-code, robotic process automation 

(RPA) with artificial intelligence, application 

programming interface-centric integration, 

business intelligence, and workflow solutions. 

The goal is to leverage these tools to reduce 

the complexity of legacy custom solutions and 

replace them with standards-based platforms. 

These standards enhance security, improve 

quality, provide consumer-friendly user 

experiences, and reduce the time to market 

for administrative support products and 

services. The AO will incorporate the services 

and capabilities of these platforms into the 

service delivery model as the tools are 

adopted.

Strategic Priority

Coordinate and integrate national IT 

systems and applications from a Judiciarywide perspective; continue to utilize local 

initiatives to improve services; and 

leverage Judiciary data to facilitate 

decision-making.

Coordinate and Integrate National IT 

Systems and Applications

The Judiciary manages a broad array of 

information in its suite of national systems. As 

in many organizations, these systems were 

developed separately over time to support 

various lines of business, such as case 

management and court administration, 

probation and pretrial services, human 

resources, and financial management. 

Although the systems were developed 

separately, the lines of business often share 

information in common and their work 

processes are interconnected. As a result, the 

suite of systems stores redundant data and 

documents, and it can be difficult to share 

information and coordinate work processes 

across systems. 

These inefficiencies are being addressed, in 

part, through emphasis on technical 

standards, which will establish a framework to 

align investments with business and 

technology priorities and increase 

interoperability among technical solutions. 

The Judiciary’s technical standards 

management process provides a structured 

and transparent approach to develop, review, 

and adopt technical standards, including 

feedback from Judiciary stakeholders. 

The Judiciary will further benefit both 

technically and programmatically by 

integrating its national systems and 

information. Eliminating multiple data 

repositories reduces data entry costs; it also

eliminates the need to synchronize data 

across repositories, making data more 

consistent. The ability to share information 

easily and coordinate work processes across 

lines of business improves quality of service 

and increases productivity. Additionally, the 

availability of comprehensive and complete 

data across lines of business makes it 

possible to more effectively analyze 

organizational patterns and trends which, in 

turn, results in better planning and decisionmaking. 

The Judiciary’s efforts to manage data as an 

enterprise asset are guided by a data strategy 

and governance plan approved in 2021 with 

input from AO and court stakeholders. The 

plan, which is overseen by the AO Data 

Governance Board, identifies strategic 

principles, key activities, and measures of 

success. It covers caseload, defender, finance 

and budget, human resources, probation and 

pretrial services, and space and facilities data.
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With input from the AO Data Governance 

Board, focus on achieving this vision over the 

last year has been on the following priorities:

Data Security Categorization: To strengthen 

the IT security posture of the Judiciary and 

secure its data assets, a Data Security 

Categorization Workbook was developed for 

court units, federal public defender 

organizations, and national program offices. 

The AO led an initiative to identify, inventory, 

and categorize information types that are in 

common use across Judiciary systems. The 

resulting workbook sets minimum 

recommended categorization levels for 

Judiciary data, which can also be leveraged as 

part of zero-trust architecture. To help ensure 

that data is categorized consistently across 

the Judiciary’s many systems, an update to 

the Guide to Judiciary Policy was approved by 

the IT Committee with a new requirement for 

court units and AO system owner offices to 

complete the workbook annually and submit it 

to the Judiciary Data and Analysis Office 

(JDAO).

Court Unit Dashboard: The dashboard is an 

interactive, easy to use, graphic display of 

court unit data that combines multiple 

sources of data (including caseload, staffing, 

IT deployments, and other relevant 

information) into a single interface, enabling 

powerful insights and enhanced analysis and 

reporting. In addition to the Court Unit 

Dashboard and caseload-specific dashboards 

available on JNet, there are two publicly 

available dashboards with bankruptcy 

caseload data and Bankruptcy Abuse 

Prevention and Consumer Protection Act 

report data that provide the public greater 

accessibility and visibility to bankruptcy data.

8 Gartner is a leading research and advisory 

company. More information is available at 

https://www.gartner.com/en/about.

Data Literacy: This is defined by Gartner8 as 

“the ability to read, write and communicate 

data in context” or “speaking data.” 

Increasing data literacy throughout the 

Judiciary is essential as technological 

advances allow for both creation and 

consumption of an ever-increasing amount of 

data. With an initial focus on the analytic tools 

available from the AO, the goal is to ensure 

that Judiciary users understand what the data 

represents and the source from which it 

comes, how it is or could be used, and who 

can distribute, access, and share the data.

Enterprise Data Management: To continue its 

evolution towards self-service analytics and 

better governed data, the AO has procured 

and begun implementation of a new data 

management tool. This tool will support 

increased transparency and access to data 

through the ability to trace data lineage and 

create a data catalog that clearly describes 

what the data is, where it is sourced from, and 

what can be done with it. In order to fully 

implement the tool, development is underway 

of custom integrations that are needed for the 

tool to interact with enterprise reporting and 

transformation tools.

Judiciary Data Working Group: The group was 

re-chartered in 2022 as a permanent subject 

matter working group and continues to 

include liaisons from three Judicial 

Conference committees that are significant 

stakeholders of data: the Committees on 

Information Technology, Court Administration 

and Case Management, and Judicial 

Resources.
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Maximize National Systems through 

Court-Led Best Practices

Goals of the national IT program include 

developing and maintaining technology 

standards for all Judiciary IT systems—which 

empower local IT staff to develop solutions 

which integrate securely with national 

applications—as well as identifying common 

technology solutions to provide capabilities 

that reduce the proliferation of competing 

technology solutions. Nationally supported 

systems provide economies of scale, are 

critical to courts without the resources to 

develop their own systems, and provide some 

degree of standardization that allows courts, 

attorneys, and the public to share information 

more effectively. Additionally, the 

implementation of enterprise IT standards 

reduces technical complexities and 

subsequently reduces cybersecurity risks.

Although courts share the same general 

business processes, the details of how they 

carry out those processes can vary widely. 

Many of these variations reflect business 

needs and are shaped by factors such as the 

type of cases that may predominate in a 

particular district, the size of the district, and 

the requirements of judicial discretion. To 

accommodate these variations, respond to a 

particular court’s business needs and 

priorities, and address requirements not met 

by national systems, the Judiciary’s national 

case management systems allow for 

individual court customization.

For the same reasons, courts also create 

adjunct systems, the requirements for which 

may be unique to an individual court or 

common to many courts. A priority of the 

national IT program is to facilitate sharing of 

local applications among courts and, where 

appropriate, make the functionality available 

nationally by incorporating those applications 

9 Chambers Electronic Organizer (CEO) and 

Chambers Automation Program (CHAP).

into national systems or by providing national 

support. For example, two calendaring 

applications9 developed by local courts have 

been supported nationally for several years 

and are used by many judges and chambers 

staff. In addition, a local application called 

Citation Links, which was already being used 

by 17 courts (see Judges and Chambers Staff 

section, page 6), was added to NextGen 

CM/ECF. This model of incorporating valuable 

local developments into national systems will 

continue to be applied in the future.

Efforts to leverage the national systems 

infrastructure that support locally developed 

administrative applications continue. These 

efforts present the opportunity for the 

Judiciary to leverage local court expertise and 

innovation to complement the national 

solutions and services delivered by the AO. 

Two examples are the Judiciary Inventory 

Control System (JICS), developed by the 

Northern District of New York district court, 

and JFinSys, a financial application developed 

by the Eastern District of Virginia bankruptcy 

court.

To promote Judiciary-wide technical and 

operational standards and enhance 

interoperability, a new lifecycle management 

process is being developed for all enterprise IT 

standards. The process for managing the 

lifecycle of enterprise IT standards will be 

facilitated by the AO, but consists of an 

inclusive and transparent development 

approach involving representatives from both 

the AO and the court communities. The 

adoption of enterprise IT standards will be 

mandatory for all national and local systems, 

and compliance with the new standards will 

be regularly measured and reported against. 

In addition, a catalog of national applications 

has been developed and will be extended to 

include locally developed applications to avoid 

duplication of efforts, encourage 
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collaboration, highlight gaps in the 

functionality of national applications, and 

promote communities of practice and 

technology knowledge-sharing. Finally, an 

innovation program will be developed to 

efficiently graduate software from the local to 

the national level and eventually to 

commercial cloud environments.

The Judiciary continues to seek productivity 

enhancements and cost avoidance from new 

or improved IT systems, which provide 

efficiencies and help contain growth in future 

technology and staffing costs. Moreover, 

investments that reduce the complexity of IT

systems also have the potential to produce 

savings and cost avoidances. The Judiciary’s 

reliance on IT means that failure of its 

technical infrastructure can effectively bring 

operations to a halt for its internal 

stakeholders and severely affect the work of 

its external stakeholders. Therefore, reducing 

the complexity of the infrastructure and 

building a reliable national infrastructure that 

minimizes downtime, rework, and 

inefficiencies have been and remain 

objectives of the Judiciary’s IT program. Areas

on which the Judiciary will place especially 

high priority over the next three to five years 

are described below.

Network Enhancements

Increased demand on the Judiciary’s 

communications networks both to support 

internal systems and to enable more 

widespread use of its public-facing 

technologies requires that network 

capabilities be evaluated and upgraded on an 

ongoing basis. The Judiciary has completed 

the convergence of network services, 

delivering voice, data, and video services over 

a single, secure network. The converged 

network offers improved delivery of other 

services, including mobile computing, 

videoconferencing in the courtroom and 

elsewhere, delivery of distance training 

through collaborative technologies, integration 

of telecommunications with the Judiciary’s 

software systems, and improved ability to 

support server centralization. Upgrading the 

data center core switching infrastructure has 

positioned the Judiciary for redundancy, 

failover capability, and stability over the next 

decade. The completion of the Wide Area 

Network (WAN) Diversity project increased the 

overall network availability and reliability 

through carrier diversity and redundant 

connections. 

A new initiative on the horizon is SoftwareDefined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), which 

will enable network administrators to match 

the behavior of the network environment to 

business priorities, routing traffic based on 

destination, application, and network status. 

With the advent of application centralization 

and data center consolidation as well as the 

move to commercial cloud providers, the WAN 

needs to become more dynamic and tuned for 

peak performance through maximizing the use 

of low-cost circuits for lower priority 

applications. The SD-WAN will provide the 

Judiciary the ability to dynamically and 

securely route, monitor, and measure realtime traffic to optimize performance. A plan is 

being developed to upgrade the data 

communications network (DCN) WAN router 

infrastructure to support this capability, 

including evaluation of the data center 

network infrastructure and development of 

architectural requirements needed to improve 

performance of the Judiciary’s enterprise 

infrastructure.

Enterprise Operations Center

The Judiciary established the Enterprise 

Operations Center (EOC) in 2018 to provide 

24/7/365 monitoring of the national 

infrastructure, services, and applications to 

proactively identify IT issues before they 

Strategic Priority

Develop system-wide approaches to the 

utilization of technology to achieve 

enhanced performance and cost savings.
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impact end users, provide centralized event 

coordination, and decentralized situational 

awareness. The EOC supports all national 

infrastructure and applications and serves as 

the single IT service desk and court interface 

for incidents related to national infrastructure 

and applications.

Over the next few years, the EOC will 

consolidate several disparate national IT 

support functions and provide improved 

centralized oversight of incidents and problem 

resolutions. The EOC will provide increased 

user support to monitor the national 

infrastructure and applications to reduce the 

frequency and duration of outages. New 

operational analyses and IT service 

management tools will be coupled with 

existing tools to increase and enhance 

operational visibility into all layers of the 

national IT infrastructure. Historical and realtime data will be used to forecast potential 

problems, take corrective actions, and provide 

clear communications to all stakeholders. 

Enhanced Hosting Services

The network also provides a foundation for 

enhancing centralized hosting services. The 

Judiciary continues to implement full 

enterprise, national-level hosting and private 

cloud computing services for courts, including 

infrastructure and other hardware, database 

storage, virtual applications, and server 

support. These services provide centralized 

and enhanced availability of Judiciary data 

and systems as well as an evolving catalog of 

private cloud-based solutions to the courts. 

These solutions spur innovation, improve 

continuity of court operations and disaster 

recovery capabilities, and support a more 

mobile work force. 

The design and implementation of a hybrid 

cloud will integrate the current on-premises 

Judiciary private cloud with readily available 

modern and secure commercial cloud 

offerings. The acquisition of commercial cloud 

services will allow the Judiciary to provision 

modern cloud services to quickly meet 

individual business needs using a 

consumption-based funding model. The 

Judiciary’s coordinated program will consider 

the potential cost, security, architectural and 

business impact, as well as other implications 

of cloud computing to provide guidance on 

these decisions. The overall benefit will be to 

increase operational flexibility, cost efficiency, 

and resilience of the computing environment.

Courtroom Technologies

The Judiciary has made substantial 

investments in courtroom technologies that 

reduce trial time and litigation costs, as well 

as improve fact-finding, understanding by the 

jury, and access to court proceedings. These 

technologies include evidence presentation, 

videoconferencing, assisted listening systems, 

and language interpretation systems. 

Evidence presentation technology supplied by 

the court helps to level the playing field in the 

courtroom, preventing a mismatch of 

resources in which one litigant has the 

resources to make technologically advanced 

presentations and the other does not; such a 

mismatch could unfairly influence jurors’ 

perceptions and the outcome of a trial.

Supplemental systems such as 

videoconferencing, assisted-listening subsystems, and language interpretation subsystems provide additional functionality to a 

courtroom audiovisual (AV) system that offers 

improved access to the justice system and 

has become a necessity to the dispensing of 

justice.

Judiciary-wide standards for courtroom

technologies serve as a baseline for the 

introduction of current and next-generation 

tools and capabilities. Development of 

audiovisual over internet protocol (AVoIP) 

courtroom AV designs, along with proof-ofconcept projects on technologies that will 

facilitate the efficiency of trials and hearings, 

are ongoing and include the following:
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• AVoIP AV design standards. The AO is 

finalizing a statement of work for a new 

contract to develop the AV designs and 

standards. Within this project future 

networking capacity and impact issues 

will also be addressed.

• Speech-to-Text related solutions

o Real-Time Translation (RTT) for 

digitally recorded proceedings

o Automated cloud-based Artificial 

Intelligence (AI) solutions

o Digital recording to transcript 

solution utilizing AI and cloudbased applications for Civil 

Proceedings

• Remote Court Reporter solutions, for 

which a court reporting shared services 

program framework is being established

• Secure and FedRAMP compliant remote 

RTT solutions

• Automated audio storage of court 

proceedings cloud-based, configured 

control systems (potentially replacing 

programmed control systems) 

• Cost reduction solutions

• Training solutions, including a 

Courtroom Technology Training 

SharePoint site

• Virtual Courtrooms based upon an 

Electronic Sound Recording (ESR) 

solution

In addition, the Telephone Interpreter Program 

(TIP) is being updated to reflect newer 

technologies being utilized by the courts and 

to ensure that a hardware/software 

manufacturer solution is in place for the 

future. 

Improvements and efficiencies are being 

realized from digital video as well as the 

centralization of audio, video evidence

presentation, and videoconferencing systems. 

Rapid changes in the audiovisual industry 

have changed the way technologies are 

implemented within the courtroom and 

courthouse, but also present maintenance 

challenges, as suppliers regularly transition 

support to newer technologies. Current supply 

chain issues are also impacting maintenance 

and new courtroom technology installations.

Communications

The adoption of the Microsoft Office 365 

communication and collaboration platform 

deployed in 2019/2020 continues to grow 

across the Judiciary. Microsoft Office 365 

provides Judiciary users the ability to access 

email, collaborate on documents, and 

communicate with co-workers from desktop 

computers, laptop computers, tablets, and 

mobile devices. Windows and iOS devices are 

primarily used to connect to the Office 365 

environment; however a small percentage of 

users access the environment using Mac or 

Android based devices. 

The active user percentage for Exchange (also 

known as Outlook) remains steady, and there 

has been an increase in the active user 

percentages for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint 

Online, and One Drive over the past year.
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As the adoption of Microsoft Office 365 

continues to grow, the several legacy 

communication and collaboration tools have 

been successfully sunset, including AT&T 

WebEx, Quickr, Connections, Skype for 

Business, NVTCS, Documentum, and 

SharePoint on-prem. The AO will continue to 

make Cisco WebEx and AT&T Audio 

conferencing available to the courts through 

late 2023 or early 2024.

As Microsoft continues to add additional 

features to the Office 365 platform, the AO will 

continue to evaluate how to leverage those 

capabilities throughout the Judiciary. The 

focus will be on user adoption of Office 365, 

Microsoft Outlook, and OneDrive, while new 

tools such as Microsoft Teams, 

PowerAutomate, PowerApps, Stream, and 

Delve are introduced.

SharePoint Online (SPO) is the main 

collaboration and document management tool 

within Microsoft’s Office 365 platform. SPO 

supports functionality to collaborate, share, 

and store information across the Judiciary in a 

way that was previously not possible. The AO 

began a waved Judiciary-wide implementation 

which was scheduled to be completed in July 

2021, but as of April 2023, there remain 

approximately 65 courts that are in progress 

to complete SPO onboarding. The focus in 

2023 is to complete the implementation of 

SPO across the Judiciary and increase 

adoption of the Office 365 functionality by 

leveraging Teams as well as SPO to improve 

communication and collaboration. The SPO 

Center of Excellence (SPOCOE) will continue to 

provide assistance across the Judiciary by 

featuring information such as the Office Hours 

series of weekly presentations/webinars, 

SharePoint Sherpa Services, Judiciary/courtunit specific use cases, SPO governance/

guidance, and best practices. The team will 

continue to present, as requested, at Judiciary 

conferences to promote SharePoint education 

and functionality. One activity being explored 

is a biennial SharePoint conference where 

Judiciary users share best practices with one 

another, including solutions, applications and 

workflows developed using SPO that may be 

applicable to many other court units.

80.0%

82.0%

84.0%

86.0%

88.0%

90.0%

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

Teams Active User % 

40.0%

42.0%

44.0%

46.0%

48.0%

50.0%

52.0%

54.0%

56.0%

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

SharePoint Active User %

44.0%

46.0%

48.0%

50.0%

52.0%

54.0%

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

One Drive Active User %
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The national IT security program protects 

Judiciary information systems, services, and 

data against disclosure, unauthorized use, 

modification, damage, inaccessibility, and 

loss. In collaboration with the court 

community, this program fosters a securityaware culture and promotes support for 

initiatives that preserve the confidentiality, 

integrity, and availability of information 

associated with all forms of technology used 

by the Judiciary. The program provides the 

Judiciary with the information needed to make 

informed, risk-based decisions essential to 

safeguarding the deliberative process.

Technology introduces security risks that need 

to be managed on an ongoing basis, and the 

Judiciary faces the challenge of balancing the 

benefits of these technologies with those 

risks. The internet, as well as the Judiciary’s 

DCN, its underlying infrastructure, the 

applications that serve its mission, and the 

people who interact with these systems, are 

vulnerable to a wide range of cyber threats 

and hazards. In part, sophisticated attackers 

aim to exploit vulnerabilities to disrupt 

operations, gain access to sensitive court 

work products for financial or political gain, or 

simply to cause embarrassment, and are 

continuously developing new capabilities to 

disrupt, degrade, or deny the delivery of 

essential services. Addressing these threats 

requires the use of multiple measures in the 

following areas: 1) preventing malicious 

activities; 2) detecting, analyzing, and 

mitigating cybersecurity intrusions; and 3) 

shaping the cybersecurity environment. 

Underpinning each of these is a tiered security 

architecture that separates resources based 

on data, business criticality, and function. 

Robust planning provides for continuous 

evaluation and improvements to adapt to the 

ever-changing threat environment and helps 

ensure that resources are focused where they 

provide the most benefit. The resulting data is 

analyzed to determine areas of vulnerability; 

to identify and respond to attack patterns and 

trends; and to update and continuously 

improve policies, procedures, and 

technologies commensurate with risk.

Judiciary IT security responsibilities are shared 

by the national program, court units, and 

individual users. The national program 

promotes secure coding practices and 

architectural design, maintains a 24/7 

security operations capability, provides 

security assessment and testing services, and 

conducts risk-based planning, among other 

activities. It also encourages court units to 

implement analogous concepts within their 

environments using network, system and data 

security techniques, security policies, access 

control and identity management practices, 

and related activities. Finally, it promotes an 

understanding of risk and a desire toward 

end-user behavior that safeguards Judiciary 

assets and data.

Preventing Malicious Activity

The Judiciary implements a defense-in-depth 

strategy designed to protect networks and 

information through preventative measures. 

Network- and host-based systems are 

employed to routinely inspect traffic for signs 

of malicious activity that can be blocked or 

identified for further analysis. Services, tools, 

and devices—such as firewalls (both network 

and web application) at the boundaries 

between a court unit and the DCN as well as 

between the DCN and the internet—further 

prevent breaches (as do network access 

controls, endpoint protection systems, 

encryption solutions, and patch management 

solutions). Identity and access management 

Strategic Priority

Continuously improve security practices to 

ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and 

availability of Judiciary-related records 

and information. In addition, raise 

awareness of the threat of cyberattacks 

and improve defenses to secure the 

integrity of Judiciary IT systems.
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systems restrict access rights to Judiciary 

data, and web-based threat protection 

systems prevent end user access to known 

malicious sites on the internet. Finally, 

continuous security testing and assessments 

proactively identify vulnerabilities for 

corrective action before they can be exploited. 

Over the next three to five years, the AO 

intends to focus its efforts in this category in 

the following areas:

Formal assessments and evaluations: AO 

efforts to better understand and categorize 

the various data and systems at court units 

and AO national program offices based on 

their security sensitivity revealed a need to 

accelerate periodic assessments of local IT 

security programs. Based on government and 

industry best practices for periodic 

independent assessments of high, moderate, 

and low impact systems, at the rate of every 

three, five, and seven years respectively, 

efforts are needed to accelerate mandatory 

court unit security assessments from a fiveyear cycle to a three-year cycle due to the 

validated categorization of high impact 

systems resident at all court units. 

Secure coding practices in Judiciary 

applications: In 2022, the AO initiated efforts 

to leverage DevSecOps practices as a new 

approach towards application and system 

development in the federal Judiciary. By 

integrating security tools, automation, and 

assessments throughout the continuous 

integration and continuous 

delivery/deployment pipeline, the AO ensures 

that secure coding, testing and mitigations are 

integrated into the lifecycle of new software 

and systems. Efforts will continue to adopt 

DevSecOps practices for all new AO 

modernization projects with the intent to 

expand to include court unit software and 

systems development. 

Judiciary Vulnerability Management: Starting 

in 2021, the AO developed a coordinated 

vulnerability management program leveraging 

Department of Homeland Security 

Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency 

Cyber Hygiene services, Commercial Bug 

Bounty services, and a public Vulnerability 

Disclosure Policy. The integrated vulnerability 

management program receives scan results 

and testing discoveries through a single intake 

and validation system that triages and 

prioritizes findings for courts and AO program 

offices to action and remediate. Moving 

forward, the Judiciary plans to mature the 

organization’s continuous diagnostic and 

mitigations (CDM) program to incorporate 

continuous asset discovery and validation, 

near-real time vulnerability detection, and 

court utilization of the enterprise governance, 

risk, and compliance (GRC) tool to track 

vulnerabilities, findings, plans of action and 

milestones and risk acceptance.

Blue Team service: In 2021, the AO started 

providing Blue Team services as an optional 

addition to AO Red Team services. Blue Teams 

provide subject matter expertise to assist 

court units and program offices with 

developing plans of action to address 

discovered vulnerabilities and risks and 

provide technical assistance with 

implementation as necessary. Moving forward, 

AO Blue Teams will increase availability of 

services to courts and program offices to 

assist local system owners and ISOs with 

hardening systems, documenting security 

controls, and developing local cyber workforce 

talent to holistically improve Judiciary 

cybersecurity programs at the enterprise and 

local levels.

National logging service: This centrally 

managed service enables courts and national 

program offices to collect, retain, search, alert, 

report, and analyze large volumes of computergenerated log messages in real-time to identify 

and troubleshoot both general and securityrelated IT incidents. This service is one of the 

primary tools being utilized by the EOC to 

respond proactively to identified issues before 

they impact the national infrastructure. 

National adoption of this service across all 

courts was mandatory in 2022.
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Judiciary firewall service: The Judiciary has 

installed a dedicated security appliance 

(firewall) to the boundary between each court 

and the DCN, reducing the likelihood that a 

malicious event will spread laterally among 

courts. Its placement ensures a consistent 

configuration across locations and 

complements the security infrastructure at the 

Judiciary data centers. The Judiciary has 

implemented additional capabilities of these 

firewalls, such as vulnerability protection, 

spyware, and antivirus blocks, and URL 

filtering, which controls access to known 

hostile websites. As courts become more 

proficient in identifying threats and risks, 

security policies are continually adjusted to 

improve the security posture of each location 

as well as the overall DCN. 

Zero-trust architecture (ZTA): The Judiciary is 

moving toward a zero-trust architecture, an 

information security model that is focused on 

the elimination of implied trust throughout the 

Judiciary’s infrastructure and requires 

verification for every user, device, and 

application attempting to access an 

organization’s network resources, regardless 

of device type or ownership (e.g., Judiciary 

furnished, personally owned, or other devices 

such as a hotel kiosk). ZTA limits access to 

network resources to only those authorized. 

Micro-segmentation: Network segmentation is 

a core principle of ZTA that will enhance the 

security of network resources by restricting 

access to specific network segments based on 

user access authorization and on the health 

and/or location of the device attempting to 

connect to them, only allowing access to the 

minimum network resources required to 

perform a given function or task. This initiative 

will be conducted in an incremental, phased 

approach with the initial focus being on 

segmentation of internet data center (IDC) 

resources. Results obtained during this initial 

phase will be used in formulating subsequent 

phases and culminate in segmentation of all 

DCN resources.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Another 

element of a zero-trust architecture, MFA is a 

security technology that requires two or more 

pieces of evidence (factors) to verify a user’s 

identity before granting the user access to a 

network, system, or data. The Judiciary is 

pursuing national expansion and 

implementation of MFA and a comprehensive 

plan for implementing MFA through a phased 

approach is under development.

Security infrastructure modernization for 

remote access: After assessing existing 

remote access services, products, and 

infrastructure for opportunities to enhance 

and better secure the Judiciary’s remote 

access program—particularly for providing 

DCN access to a variety of devices as well as 

improving the security, performance, and 

efficiency in remotely connecting to Judiciary 

resources—the Judiciary is pursuing 

implementation of a cloud virtual private 

network (VPN) service. Upon implementation, 

a cloud VPN will provide enhanced security 

and consistent access management for 

employees remotely accessing all Judiciary 

assets, irrespective of their location. 

Implementation of a cloud VPN supports the 

Judiciary’s efforts to modernize its remote

access infrastructure and support a zero-trust 

architecture. 

Detecting, Analyzing, and Mitigating 

Intrusions

Activities in this area allow the Judiciary to 

react quickly and effectively to suspected 

security incidents. These activities include 

analyzing indicators of malicious activity 

detected by the mechanisms previously 

described, including event notifications, 

remediation support, and data forensics. They 

also include event correlation and analysis of 

activities across multiple services, tools, and 

devices. These activities address the impact 

of intrusions on systems and applications, 

including incident response plans, log analysis 

and review, and actions to redress exploited 
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vulnerabilities. Keeping these capabilities 

current requires continually evaluating cyber 

threat trends and their potential impact on 

Judiciary assets as well as incorporating data 

derived from new tools. Priority efforts in this 

area will include the following:

Log management, analysis, and notification: 

Introduction of additional security capabilities 

and logging from the mandatory adoption of 

enterprise security tools and configurations 

has created a significant increase in the 

volume of logs the AO must analyze for threat 

indicators. Proper and timely utilization of 

aggregated logs require improvements to 

logging configuration and management to 

obtain relevant and useful data suitable for 

analysis with machine learning and other 

advanced techniques.

Enhanced Endpoint Security: Combining 

Endpoint Detection and Response capabilities 

in addition to the Judiciary Endpoint Security 

Suite of tools allows the AO to rapidly assess 

and take action on any devices that may be 

compromised or at risk, in order to preserve 

evidence, contain hackers and hacker tools, 

and prevent further intrusion. Efforts are 

underway to mitigate the risks of personally 

owned devices.

Red Team service: Using tactics commonly 

employed by malicious actors and 

adversaries, Red Team services validate 

network defenses by identifying vulnerabilities 

to inform and enable continuous 

improvement. The existing Red Team 

personnel currently alternate between 

discrete iterations of a continuous exercise 

against the AO’s infrastructure and fulfilling 

court requests for stand-alone adversaryemulation exercises. Planned expansion of the 

program will increase both the number of 

courts that can benefit from this service, and 

the frequency of iterations in the exercise 

against the AO. 

Hunt Team service: In order to identify any 

potential cyber-adversaries deeply embedded 

within the Judiciary network, a specialized 

team of security professionals proactively and 

systematically searches for evidence of known 

cyber-criminal tools, tactics, and techniques. 

This team also investigates abnormal user 

and machine behavior. Hunt operations are 

pivotal in adding context to, and expanding, 

the scope of investigations across the 

enterprise.

Shaping the Cybersecurity 

Environment

The Judiciary creates and maintains a 

security-aware culture using recognized best 

practices for information security. 

Development and oversight of the Judiciary 

Information Security Framework (Framework)

provides the foundation to effectively manage 

risks, make informed decisions about 

implementing safeguards, and continually 

assess safeguards for suitability and 

effectiveness. Policies, tools, and other 

resources facilitate implementation of 

Framework concepts across the Judiciary. As 

IT security is a shared responsibility, court 

units and FPDOs need policies, tools, 

information, and education to perform their 

role. Over the next three to five years, the AO 

intends to focus its efforts in this category in

the following areas:

IT security education: The IT security training 

curriculum continues to expand and evolve to 

meet the ever-changing IT security needs of 

the Judiciary. The program, launched in 2017, 

continues to evolve and includes course 

offerings which provide court and FPDO IT 

security professionals with the knowledge 

required to pursue nationally recognized 

cybersecurity certifications while at the same 

time delivering in-depth training on the 

security tools utilized by the Judiciary. Training 

offerings continue to raise the level of 

cybersecurity knowledge and skills in the 

Judiciary. As the cybersecurity landscape 
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Page 20 of 22 Table of Contents

changes, new training curriculums will be 

offered, enabling IT security professionals to 

acquire the skills necessary for the Judiciary to 

stay abreast of IT security needs.

Cyber Threat Intelligence: Open-source 

intelligence collection and analysis 

strengthens the national IT security program 

by identifying new vulnerabilities, detecting 

imminent threats, identifying attack trends 

using metrics, and coordinating with external 

partners in law enforcement, other 

government agencies, and non-government 

organizations to act on credible indicators of 

harm. Intelligence analysts enhance 

situational awareness and provide threat 

attribution to bring context to threats targeting 

the Judiciary. Efforts are underway to gain 

access to classified data and systems to 

better coordinate with the Intelligence 

Community and monitor for threats targeting 

the Judiciary.

Investing in the IT Program 

The Judiciary aligns its IT investments with its 

business objectives through an inclusive 

planning process that is synchronized with the 

Judiciary’s budget cycle. The Judicial 

Conference Committee on Information 

Technology reviews resource requirements 

and expenditure plans for the Judiciary’s IT 

program in accordance with guidelines and 

priorities established by the Judicial 

Conference for the use of available resources.

When considering the costs associated with 

the IT program, it is important to take a broad 

Judiciary-wide view. The Judiciary’s publicfacing technologies, internal systems, 

technical infrastructure, and security program 

have resulted in improved services to its 

external stakeholders as well as internal 

10 Section 612 of Title 28, United States Code,

establishes the JITF and makes funds available

to the Judiciary’s information technology

program without fiscal year limitation.

efficiencies that have allowed the courts to 

absorb an increased workload without 

increasing staff as much as would otherwise 

have been required. These cost avoidances 

will become increasingly important in times of 

continuing budgetary constraints.

The Judiciary will continue to rely heavily on its 

IT program to meet its mission and to serve 

the public in the coming years. However, the 

Judiciary has substantial amounts of 

equipment at “end of life” and “end of 

service” all across the Judiciary. This reality 

introduces operational and security risk, 

inhibits investment in modern technologies 

like the cloud, and results in overall service 

reductions to the court community. As 

indicated in this annual update to the LongRange Plan, not only will existing systems and 

infrastructure be maintained and enhanced, 

but it is critical that emphasis be placed on 

investing in new systems, technologies, and 

services that will modernize the Judiciary’s IT 

infrastructure and provide additional benefits, 

including the protection of assets from 

cyberattacks.

The table on the next page shows the

Judiciary’s anticipated IT resource requests for

FYs 2024 through 2028, organized by 

category within the Judiciary Information

Technology Fund (JITF).

10 Successful 

execution of the objectives in this plan is 

dependent on the availability of funding. Each 

category is described in the next section.
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Page 21 of 22 Table of Contents

JITF Program Components

Administrative and Management Systems

This program includes the Judiciary’s financial 

and personnel management systems, as well 

as systems to support and manage space and 

facilities projects and travel expenses and 

Judiciary websites.

Court Administration and Case Management

This category contains a variety of tools, 

including the probation and pretrial services 

case management system; to access critical 

case information and law enforcement 

databases; systems for juror qualification, 

management, and payment; tools for jury 

participants to communicate with the courts; 

as well as the system that captures requests 

for payments to private court-appointed 

counsel and expert service providers. 

Court Allotments 

These funds are allotted to the courts to pay 

directly for operating, maintaining, and 

replacing computers, printers, local-areanetwork equipment, and software as well as 

local telecommunications services, 

equipment, maintenance, and courtroom 

technology. 

Court Support

Court support funds AO staff that provide IT 

development, management, and maintenance 

services to the courts. These services include 

IT policy and planning guidance; architecture 

and infrastructure support; security services; 

development, testing, and implementation of 

national IT applications; IT training; and other 

administrative and IT support services on 

behalf of the courts.

Resource Requirements

Current Estimate (Dollars in Millions)

JITF Program Component FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028

Administrative and Mgt Systems 74.9 84.5 107.5 138.8 141.6

Court Administration and Case Mgt 27.8 26.0 50.4 53.1 43.9

Court Allotments 126.8 125.8 131.0 133.0 134.5

Court Support 114.3 122.9 127.7 130.2 132.9

Cybersecurity & IT Modernization Plan 156.7 122.0 124.7 133.5 138.7

Infrastructure and Collaboration Tools 150.8 146.7 210.8 195.1 205.7

Judicial Statistics and Reporting 10.7 14.3 16.2 16.9 13.8

Telecommunications 108.7 128.6 133.5 115.7 120.6

Subtotal 770.8 770.8 901.8 916.3 931.7

Electronic Public Access Program 210.0 218.5 223.6 225.3 230.2

Total JITF Financial Requirements 980.8 989.3 1,125.4 1,141.6 1,161.9
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Long Range Plan for Information Technology in the Federal Judiciary: Fiscal Year 2024 Update

Page 22 of 22 Table of Contents

Cybersecurity & IT Modernization Plan

This category encompasses requirements 

related to the Judiciary’s multi-year 

cybersecurity and IT modernization plan. 

These funds will be dedicated to high-priority 

cybersecurity efforts and modernizing aging 

legacy systems or applications that are based 

on vulnerable programming technologies or 

technologies that are becoming obsolete.

Infrastructure and Collaboration Tools

This category encompasses building and 

maintaining a robust, reliable, and resilient 

Judiciary-wide IT infrastructure. Included are 

the costs of hardware, software, and IT 

security associated with the Judiciary’s full 

enterprise hosting and cloud computing 

services and email and collaboration systems. 

It also includes the costs of IT infrastructure 

for new courthouse construction projects and 

operating systems support, maintenance, 

testing, security, and research.

Judicial Statistics and Reporting

This category includes systems to support 

gathering and reporting statistics in the 

Judiciary; data analysis and management 

reporting across Judiciary-wide data sources, 

and planning and decision-making with 

staffing, financial, and workload data.

Telecommunications

This category includes support for voice and 

data transmission services and 

telecommunications. The Judiciary’s 

communications program enables the 

Judiciary to operate communications services 

for the appellate, district, and bankruptcy 

courts as well as probation and pretrial 

services offices. It also enables the Judiciary 

to procure communications equipment for 

new courthouses and for courthouses 

undergoing major repairs and alterations.

Electronic Public Access Program 

This category provides electronic public 

access to court information; develops and 

maintains electronic public access systems 

such as CM/ECF in the Judiciary; and provides 

centralized billing, registration, and technical 

support services for the Judiciary and the 

public through the PACER Service Center.
Administrative 

Office of the 

U.S. Courts

One Columbus Circle, N.E.

Washington, D.C. 20544

www.uscourts.gov

Approved by the Judicial Conference 

of the United States

September 2023