Stratcom has been assigned heavy and varied responsibilities. It began with strategic deterrence, nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. In 2002 came space operations, including global command and control (those communication and early-warning satellites in space) and missile defense. Cyber operations recently were added, followed by combating weapons of mass destruction, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR aircraft), and finally information operations (IO).
Aviation Week's Ares blog recently posted a good article on cyber-warfare.
It begins with an example, from a test exercise, of a 2MW electrical generator being over-loaded and self-destructing under a cyber-attack. This is a very good illustration of the potential two-way relationship between cyber effects and kinetic effects in the physical world. In the same way that a carefully-targeted JDAM could take down a large part of an enemy's C2 network, a carefully-targeted cyber-attack could take down a key part of an enemy's infrastructure.
The part of the article that I found the most interesting is the following, which includes quotes from Lt. Gen. William Lord, the US Air Force's CIO and Chief of Warfighting Integration:
“We need to protect and defend parts of the network so that our forces can continue network centric operations [during a cyber attack]. That’s the price of admission. Protecting the network is a ship that sailed 5-6 years ago. Now we have to learn
to fight through attacks [while operating on a] network that the enemy is already in. We can’t afford to shut down the network every time it is attacked. We live on the network, so that requires a defense in depth.”
As a result, Air Force cyber warriors are redefining their tactics. Instead of defending the network, they are defending the work that network does – the data and the applications.
The one error that the article makes is that it overstates the significance of the recent hack of UAV video feeds. Intercepting an unencrypted video stream being transmitted in the clear over a radio frequency is one thing. Penetrating secure networks is quite another.
By: Guardian
C8ISR — (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat systems,
Collaboration, Coordination, Code, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance)
According to a press release forwarded to me by a friend, General Dynamics has recently acquired Ascend Intelligence, the developers of the very successful Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) system for battlefield information collection and reporting. Between this and their early acquisition of the similarly successful Command Post of the Future (CPOF), General Dynamics seems to have a lock on the evolution of Army battle command.
This is especially true considering that, with the cancellation of the Net-Enabled Command Capability (NECC) program in mid-2009 and the uncertain future of FCS Battle Command, there don't appear to be any revolutionary changes in Army battle command on the immediate horizon.
Unfortunately, I can't find the actual press release anywhere on the Web, so I've quoted it in its entirety below.
P.S.: For those of you who might be wondering, yes, I actually am part of the military-industrial complex. I don't just sit around in my Multi-Cam smoking jacket and fondle my AR-15s all day. I save that for the weekends :).
General Dynamics Acquires Ascend Intelligence, LLCBy: Guardian
General Dynamics has acquired substantially all of the assets of Ascend Intelligence, LLC, an Arlington, Va.-based provider of software for military mission planning, execution, and continuity of knowledge.
Acquired Jan. 8, Ascend Intelligence, which has approximately 40 employees located throughout the United States, and deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, will become part of General Dynamics C4 Systems, reporting into its Battle Management Systems Division.
Ascend Intelligence produces the Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) application which is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Well-embraced by the Army for its ability to facilitate tactical information collection and dissemination, TIGR provides soldiers and commanders an effective platform for sharing information about adversaries. The application enables users to share a computer database of maps, text and multimedia files gathered while on patrol and to pass along knowledge about places, events, people and objects for increased combat effectiveness. For more information see www.gdc4s.com/TIGR
Ascend was recently awarded $14 million for the initial phase of a DARPA contract for the Advanced Tactical Information System (ATIS), a tactical ground reporting
system. The total contract value, with all options exercised, is approximately $114 million.
The acquisition of Ascend Intelligence will allow C4 Systems to increase the relevance of our command and control portfolio by providing valuable information to the front-line soldier. This new addition to our business will expand our customer relationships and allow us to support and sustain the growth of TIGR by building on our success with Command Post of the Future to create two solid cornerstones for Battle Command: one at the patrol level, and the other for company and higher command.
Ascend Intelligence now reports into Manny Mora, Vice-President and General Manager of BMSD through direct reporting into Richard Coupland, Director of Science, Technology and Products.
Should DoD get involved? Yes! Never again will we let people drown in nursing homes.
"Must be prepared to deal with a wide variety of complex challenges in peace, crisis, and war anywhere in the world, on short notice, for indeterminate duration, in response to unexpected events.
"We need to get away from set-piece blocking-and-tackling and start paying more attention to the ebb and flow of the complex 'soccer match' of irregular warfare."
"Don't create a command and then say 'OK, what do we want it to do?' but figure out what capabilities first, then when they evolve and grow big enough, group those capabilities as a command"
Those were two locals identified as insurgents who needed to not be contributing to the insurgency anymore. And thanks to single-digit-minute decisions enabled by the network, those two insurgents are no longer contributing to the insurgency.