Conference focuses on globally shared spaces

U.S. Joint Forces Command and NATO's Allied Command Transformation representatives spoke at Cooperation and Conflict in the Global Commons, a three-day conference held in Virginia Beach, Va., that ends Thursday. The conference is sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School, ACT, USJFCOM and the National Defense University Institute for National Security Studies.

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By Jacob Boyer
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - June 30, 2010) -- Key leaders from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) spoke at Cooperation and Conflict in the Global Commons, a three-day conference here this week.

Dr. Kathleen Hicks, deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy, plans and forces, Navy Rear Adm. Lawrence Rice, USJFCOM's director of strategy and policy, and James Soligan, ACT's deputy chief of staff for capability development, talked about efforts to enable civil and military forces in globally shared and ungoverned operating areas: outer space, international waters, airspace and cyberspace. The conference was sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), the National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies, USJFCOM's Joint Futures Group and ACT.

Daniel Oliver, NPS president, delivered the conference's opening remarks. He said the conference was imperative because of a recognized national and international need to ensure access to the global commons.

"Our goal is to better understand the nature and impact of cooperation and conflict dynamics within and among the commons where competing interests and motivations potentially threaten security and prosperity," he said.

Oliver outlined the four questions on which conference attendees should focus:

• How does the global commons paradigm alter the U.S.' strategic calculus?
• How will opponents and adversaries deny and/or disrupt the commons?
• How might the U.S. and its allies ensure the military use of the commons?
• How can a comprehensive approach - integrated government, commercial and military effort - assure access to the global commons?

Hicks was Tuesday's keynote speaker. She highlighted the recent Quadrennial Defense Review's emphasis on securing the global commons, specifically cyberspace. She said that attacks there and in the rest of the commons are complex and it is often difficult to identify the culprit. The speed of cyber attacks necessitates fast, agile responses.

"While early warnings against missile attacks or incoming aircraft may allow a few minutes to respond, a computer keystroke travels twice around the world in 300 milliseconds. Our reaction must be even quicker, as close to instantaneous as possible," she said. "Attribution of attack - knowing who did what to you - is extremely difficult."

Rice spoke after Hicks and addressed the fundamental need to secure these shared spaces, pointing out that their crucial role in global trade and information sharing makes them big targets for adversaries.

"We need to address the enemy's capabilities as they manifest, specifically in the commons," Rice said. "If those commons are vital connective tissue for trade, then from the enemy's perspective, threats to the commons have the potential to disrupt the cooperation needed for life here on Earth. We need to make no mistake that risks to the orderly flow of trade and information comprise fundamental national security threats."

Rice detailed the efforts USJFCOM and DoD are making to improve operations in the commons, pointing to the recent standing up of U.S. Cyber Command as an example. He laid out his expectations for the conference.

"We need two things out of this conference," he said. "We can't fix something if we don't know what's wrong, so we need a clear articulation of the problem statement. Following that, we need practical recommendations for how to solve that problem."

Soligan kicked things off today, focusing on NATO's strengths and how they can help define and solve the complex challenges found in these spaces. He said that the power of NATO is its ability to provide standards accepted by its 28 member nations which are often adopted globally. NATO also can influence national decisions at a time in which countries have different priorities and fiscal restraints. He said he saw the conference as a way to discuss cooperation throughout these domains.

"The global commons are so diverse, but the real purpose of the conference is to talk about those common interface mechanisms that allow us to deal with those ungoverned spaces. How do we deal with places in which no one nation has territorial responsibilities?"

The conference continues through Thursday. Results will be collected and distributed to inform forward-looking documents - including USJFCOM's Joint Operating Environment and NATO's Strategic Concept - as well as operations.