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Leadership plays key role in C4ISR success
Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward, U.S. Joint Forces Command deputy commander, spoke about leader-centric, network-enabled command, control, communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance during the keynote address at the 9th Annual C4ISR Journal Integration Conference, focusing on leaders who know how to work with and without an array of C4ISR platforms and concepts of operations for those platforms.
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By Jacob Boyer
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(ARLINGTON, Va. - Oct. 19, 2009) - U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) deputy commander spoke to military, government and industry leaders about the importance of leadership in a net-enabled warfighting environment here today.
Navy Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward focused on leader-centric, net enabled command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) during his keynote address at the 9th Annual C4ISR Journal Integration Conference.
Harward said that for many years, the focus has been on net-centric C4ISR, but that term "misses the point of what's happening in the world today and what our emphasis is. [USJFCOM is] focused first and foremost on the leader."
"The leader has to be the center of everything, so we've shifted to a leader-centric, network-enabled environment," he continued. "That's critical. You see some of our disconnects in what's happening in the field today because we don't have that leadership and sometimes what's happening with the development of C4ISR hand-in-hand together … If you look at the world we're in right now, we're in constant, persistent conflict and as [USJFCOM sees] the future, that leader is going to be critical."
Two documents are driving how USJFCOM handles C4ISR challenges: the Joint Operating Environment, a USJFCOM document that envisions the future battlefield; and the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations, a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff joint document that outlines how the future force will operate on those battlefields.
Harward said that while leaders need to know how to manage the numerous C4ISR systems available to them on the battlefield, they also need to be prepared to fight without them. Leaders need to be proactive in pushing their intent to the tactical and operational levels so warfighters can move and do what they need to in the absence of those systems.
"We've become so accustomed to having all this capability, what happens when you don't have it?" he asked the crowd. "Because that's what's going to happen. We've seen our enemy - not only state actors, but non-state actors - persistently attacking our systems or using our systems to their advantage. We're pretty certain they have the capability to take these systems offline when they want to or need to. So what are you going to do when you lose all of this? How is that leader going to function when he doesn't have that picture?"
Harward used the triad of space, aerial and ground systems to explain how redundant, reliable systems can help enable commanders when one layer is denied them.
"When we lose those space systems, what's next?" he asked. "We're looking at a triad. How do we build a space system that is redundant and reliable? When you lose that space system, what air platforms can we launch to support you? How can we recreate that same system in the air? When the enemy does figure out that we no longer have domain of the air environment, what next? Then it's going to be the ground. So there's a triad of systems and capabilities that are redundant and reliable at any level should you lose one of the levels."
During his remarks, Harward talked about the importance of concepts of operations driving technological advancement, rather than the reverse. He said while it was important to keep pushing technology forward, it was just as important to work out how that technology would be employed.
"That's one of the paradigms that we've shifted at Joint Forces Command," he said. "If you look before [Sept. 11, 2001], transformation was happening from the top down. In the post-9/11 environment, I'd say more of it's coming from the bottom up, from what's happening in the battlespace."
Harward said cooperation with both multinational partners and other agencies is crucial as future C4ISR platforms are developed.
"When we first went into Afghanistan and we took down the target, we [said] 'Okay, bring in the FBI. We're out of here. It's their problem now.' Now, when a target's taken down, [collected] material immediately … is pushed back to the National Media Exploitation Center and translated at the speed of war."
Harward pointed to the strong links between USJFCOM and NATO's Allied Command Transformation as an example of what can be accomplished by working on these challenges together.
"I can't reiterate enough how important this collaboration with our coalition [and interagency] partners is," he said. "Our partnership at Joint Forces Command is stronger than ever with ACT. We incorporate them, we partner with them, and as we move through this technology … it's going to be how we win this fight globally that's critical.
"I encourage all of you - I see some of our interagency partners and I see some of our coalition partners - to stay part of the team and drive the effort," he continued. "Become a leader who understands all these elements and can articulate the right problem so we get the right solution for the future."
Harward's speech kicked off the three-day event hosted by C4ISR Journal.
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