 Top
defense official discusses net-centric and integrated operations
at Industry Symposium 2006
Dr. Linton Wells II, the principal deputy assistant secretary
of defense for networks and information integration, discussed
the importance of net-centric and integrated operations
in the keynote address on the symposium's final day.
By JOC(SW/AW) Chris Hoffpauir USJFCOM Public Affairs
(HAMPTON, Va. - April 6, 2006) - One of the Department
of Defense's top officials delivered the keynote address
on the final day of Industry Symposium 2006 here yesterday.
Dr. Linton Wells II, the principal deputy assistant secretary
of defense for networks and information integration, discussed
the importance of net-centric and integrated operations
before a crowd of more than 500 attendees.
The
symposium, the sixth cosponsored by USJFCOM and the Hampton
Roads Chapter of the National Defense Industrial
Association, addressed a theme of "Building Knowledge
for the Warfighter," focusing on situational awareness
and understanding in joint, coalition, and interagency
operational environments.
Wells began with a brief explanation of what net-centric
operations concept is and why it's important in the rapidly
changing environment the warfighter faces today.
"In this environment that's so dynamic today, we've
got to get agility into the equation," Wells said. "We're
dealing with a very heterogeneous network that runs from
stable ten billion bit-per-second fibers out to very unstable
ten kilobit-per second hand-held radios in a tactical environment.
We need to be able to put together information flow and
get access to knowledge to the people who need it."
He emphasized the importance of allowing information to
flow not just vertically from commanders to operators,
but also horizontally between operators in the field.
"The
essence of net-centric operations is the ability of the
network to allow you to share information and share
situational awareness, which, together with understanding
a commander's intent, allows individuals and units to self-synchronize
their actions without having to go through the whole hierarchy
of the force structure.
"This
has been demonstrated through exercises and real-world
experiences and is saving lives and improving
performance every day."
Wells said that while there will always be a need to protect
some information, such as tactics, techniques and procedures
or weapons system performance, there still has to be a
way to deliver information to the warfighter in a fundamentally
different way than has been done in the past. He described
the Global Information Grid (GIG), an integrated and interoperable
network of products and services for processing and moving
that information, as a key for doing that.
"The GIG is not just a network," Wells said. "The
GIG is the people, the processes and technology that allow
you to share, cooperate and exchange information, then
turn that information into knowledge and turn the knowledge
into action."
Wells said the goal not just to transport the information,
but provide it to the warfighter in a way that is discoverable,
accessible and understandable. The idea is to allow the
user to pull what he needs to accomplish his mission from
the network, moving from a common operational picture to
a more user-defined operational picture.
At the same time, the network must be absolutely dependable.
"We have to be able to give the commander confidence
that he'll be able to use his network and have the information
he needs when the chips are down," he said.
Wells compared the network to a ship, with offensive and
defensive components, layered defenses, backup systems
and a crew.
"We have to fight this network like a weapon system," he
said. "We can't just treat it as an active support
mechanism for the other things we do."
Wells went on to discuss how the signing of a recent DoD
directive increases the importance of developing ways to
integrate DoD's efforts with other government agencies,
nongovernmental organizations, foreign governments and
international organizations, and the private sector.
"The subject is of the directive is military support
for stability, security, transition, and reconstruction
operations, or SSTR," Wells said. "This is a
really important document. What it says is that the department
will give priority to these kinds of operations comparable
to combat operations. This is the most important the department
is going to be focusing on for the next several years.
"In
the course of SSTR operations you have to be able to
work with nontraditional partners - aid organizations,
nongovernmental organizations, security forces and commercial
partners, even individuals.
"How do we share information across that boundary?" Wells
asked. "We need to have the capability to communicate,
collaborate and translate in some cases, beyond the boundaries
of the military network with all our nontraditional partners."
Wells said there are five areas that need to be addressed
to do that successfully. He said there has to be network
capacity, social networks (people talking to people), doctrine,
legal support and adequate funding to accomplish the mission.
"These things have to be done in advance, not on
the fly in the middle of a crisis," he said.
Wells said the experience gained during recent humanitarian
operations, such as the Indonesian tsunami in 2004 and
the earthquake in Afghanistan earlier this year gives DoD
a number of things to build on in working with nontraditional
partners in SSTR operations.
"Hopefully
we can make some very rapid progress over the next few
months, and we certainly welcome industry's
support."
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