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 Liveblogging Industry Symposium 2006 -
Day 1
All
day today and tomorrow, Gregg Your from USJFCOM Public
Affairs will blog live from the floor of this year's
two-day industry symposium, which focuses on situational
awareness and understanding in joint, coalition, and interagency
operational environments. Please watch http://www.jfcom.mil
throughout both days for updates from speakers.
By
Gregg Your
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(HAMPTON,
Va, - April 4, 2006) --
7:02 a.m: The first thing that should grab you about this
year's Industry Symposium are the differences from past years.
The
dateline of Hampton is much different than what U.S. Joint
Forces
Command (USJFCOM) and NDIA have done in past
years on this event. Over the years, this event has taken
place in Virginia Beach and Portsmouth.
This year, we have moved the event across the Hampton Roads
Bridge Tunnel to the brand new Hampton Roads Convention Center
in the shadow of
the
Hampton
Coliseum.
This allows us to have more displays in the exhibition room
and more room for USJFCOM personnel and industry to talk
about ways we can possibly partner down the road.
Over
the next two days, symposium organizers expect
between 500 and 600 people to come and start
the dialog between the command and the industry.
8:15
a.m.: Tim Peppe from the Greater Hampton Roads NDIA chapter
opened the session with several administrative comments
including the fact the symposium has double the amount
of exhibits of what we have had in past years. The new
facility is yielding some great benefits.
USJFCOM
Commander Air Force
Gen. Lance Smith kicked off the symposium
with several comments regarding the link between the command
and industry.
The
general started off by stressing the importance to
the command of our relationship with industry and outreach
events like the symposium.
Events like the symposium are supposed to help increase
the command's idea base and develop capabilities across the
whole spectrum of what USJFCOM does.
The
general gave several examples of what the command is doing
to support
the "Long War", a conflict he characterizes
as a persistent struggle for many years against a global,
adaptive enemy with territorial ambitions.
He talked about improving command and
control across a large battlespace and preparing joint task
force
headquarters
to
meet any need around the world.
He
also talked substantially about the importance of and streamlining
and operationalizing intelligence as well as
delivering what he calls "enabling capabilities" to help
win the "Long War".
The general also outlined ways he thought industry can help,
a part that made pens around the room scribble furiously
as people paid close attention.
He
asked industry to help by developing systems that are born
joint
which can "work right off the bat" on the battlefield
instead of having to re-engineer something at the fight.
The general also stressed the need for data standards with
data architecture. Simple, non-proprietary systems which
can work anywhere and be learned in thirty minutes or less
will be the way to go in the future.
Gen. Smith also stated we must be able to share any technology
or capability with the allies who are putting their troops
on the line.
According to the commander, the command needs to work with
industry earlier in the process and increase the incremental
development process using spiral development.
He
also outlined several focus areas called "what
we need from industry" that included:
• Interoperable command and control systems
• Robust intelligence fusion centers
• Distributive training capability
• Modeling and simulation
One
key part the general really singled out was the importance
of modeling and simulation as a wave of the future to help
train commanders in a three dimensional environment and "enhance
the ability to succeed."
Next
up: Rep. Randy Forbes talking about modeling and simulation
(M&S).
9:10 a.m.: U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes chairs the Congressional
Modeling and Simulation Caucus and discussed in depth the
role modeling and simulation provides to not only national
security,
but
also the nation as a whole.
The
congressman stressed that what he as caucus chairman wants
to see for America is a stronger effort toward sustaining
the excellent work already being done in the M&S industry.
Forbes
believes this can be done encouraging more math and science-focused
education to develop the next generation
of M&S experts.
"What we want to do is maintain the quality of life we enjoy
in this country by maintaining our technical proficiency
through math and science," said Forbes, a statement
that yielded a lot of up-and-down head nods across the room
from
not only folks in uniforms but also in business suits.
These
statements came as Forbes briefed various elements of what
he took away from a M&S caucus event he hosted in
Suffolk
earlier
this
year.
The congressman's statements on the future of the industry
also linked heavily into his comments on the need to help
Americans realize not only the economic but also other types
of impact on their daily lives.
As
examples, he talked about the use of M&S to model and
impact urban planning and disaster relief. "M&S definitely
helps us protect the American public," said the congressman.
The
congressman also discussed how M&S impacts various
other industries like construction and health care and
work being
done in the interagency world.
Key
in Rep. Forbes' comments was industry must take M&S
where it needs to go, not government.
We'll be moving into panels hosted by various USJFCOM personnel.
Next up: What's the coalition knowledge problem?
10:20 a.m: The director of the Joint Center for Operational
Analysis led a panel looking at how to work knowledge operations
in a coalition environment.
Army Brig. Gen. Tony Cucolo and representatives from USJFCOM's
Joint Experimentation, Joint Requirements and Integration
Directorates as well as Allied Command Transformation discussed
the unique nature of moving knowledge.
Cucolo
stressed to an audience of industry and military personnel
how sharing information in today's coalition environments
that include combat operations, humanitarian relief and reconstruction
is extraordinarily complex.
Cucolo called this command and control gateway to information
to become even more challenging when working in an international
environment.
To illustrate that point, the general used a series of
maps of Afghanistan and other hot spots with the flags of
many
countries
showing their varying levels of support.
According to the general, the Information Age has made it
not enough to just deliver information in a quick, efficient
fashion. Operators also have to cope with and overcome the
deluge and determine what is important and relevant to support
operations.
The general and his fellow panel members stressed determining
the true requirements, it's important to ask the operators
who use the information.
One
of the unique new things symposium organizers brought to
this year's panels was including multinational participation
as a part of every panel.
For
this coalition knowledge panel, Australian Lt. Col. Roger
Symonds, who works in USJFCOM's Joint Requirements
and Integration Directorate, provided some key inputs including
the need for the revamp of a currently "black and white"
information security policy to feature "shades of gray"
that enable sharing information with trusted allies.
Symonds also invoked a catch phrase from the movie Field
of Dreams, stating as the U.S. goes to build forces
that are more and more interoperable, allies will be more
willing to use the organizational gravity that comes with
interoperable structures.
This
framework provides a skeleton to build on and efficiently
integrate quickly according to the colonel.
Next
up: Walking the floor
2:30 p.m.: Moving through the exhibit floor at any trade
show makes you feel like you're walking through the home
theater department at a major big box retailer.
You see huge plasma screens that show the wares of any of
the record number exhibiters at this year's USJFCOM Industry
Symposium.
If the home theater department idea doesn't work for you,
think of it as a giant art gallery. Great, huge frames
feature colorful displays with a steady stream
of
words like
"integration",
"transformation"
and
"capabilities".
These displays are a vocabulary teacher's delight using
verbs like "innovating" and "transforming" to talk about
what folks want to deliver to you.
The displays aren't limited to the companies. One wrinkle
that makes events like this one even more interesting is
looking
at
the various
projects
USJFCOM
is working with partners across the Department
of Defense and other government agencies as well as some
our foreign partners.
When looking at some of the displays, I started thinking
of Jack Nicholson's Joker in the Batman movies: "Where does
he get those wonderful toys?"
Command and Control on the Move (C2OTM), a vehicle-mounted
computer suite designed to keep commanders in touch with
their command
centers while moving across battlefields, is just one example.
Developed by USJFCOM's Joint Systems Integration Command
(JSIC), C2OTM has had successful field use in mission rehearsal
exercises
in Germany.
JSIC brought the C2OTM to the convention center so people
could see the suite in action.
JSIC also brought a separate project called the Executive
Command and Control (EC2) Suite which allows commanders to
set up their command center in just minutes and have connectivity
to classified and unclassified networks.
EC2 also has recently seen service in real-world action
when it supported earthquake disaster relief in Pakistan.
Key
to all of this is seeing a mixture of military uniforms
and business suits discussing passionately their work and
how they can help each other.
• Read
Day 2's liveblogging
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