CIO pushes network-centric warfare

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded by: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0827/web-dod-08-28-01.asp

By Christopher J. Dorobek 
Aug. 28, 2001 

The top priority of the Defense Departments new chief information
officer is pushing forward with network-centric warfare using
information systems to bridge the gap between the "sensors" and the
"shooters."

John Stenbit, the new assistant secretary of Defense for command,
control, communications and intelligence and the departments CIO, said
this approach will enable any serviceman with a gun to determine the
10 best targets rather than having to wait for somebody else to tell
him.

It will mean that "anybody can get any information at any time,"
Stenbit said in a meeting with reporters Aug. 24. He took over the CIO
post Aug. 7.

"That doesnt mean hes supposed to shoot," Stenbit said. "There has to
be procedural controls.... But I do believe that its very important
that we decentralize decision-making."

The services must work together, he said, and DOD is increasingly
depending on long-range weapons that put fewer U.S. soldiers at risk.
But that also creates a gap, he said. "Were separating the shooter
from the sensor, and we have to solve that problem. When that happens,
you need information to exchange and be coordinated a lot," he said.

Traditionally, such coordination has taken time. But those efforts
have to be done essentially in real time today, he said. "We need a
different form of information exchange."

Another top priority is changing the information that is available, he
said. "Weve gotten very used to certain classes of information, and I
think there are some that are going to be more useful in the future"
than they have been in the past, he said.

Finally, Stenbit said he is going to focus on the reliability of
information systems. "Once we start depending upon them, wed better
make sure theyre there," he said.

Overall, he said that information technology can help free up money
from the non-fighting arm of the military, thereby making more money
available for force structure and modernization.


 
*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;  Intelligence 
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
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