Incoming

"Significant change" is needed in how organizations approach questions of efficiency and effectiveness, writes Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) in this month's Incoming column, Change Is a Requisite for the Future of Network-Centric Operations. Noting how businesses are embracing Internet-based Web services and social networking media, he makes a case for a culture of risk-taking and risk managment, and an ecosystem-like, nodal information structure to better achieve an interoperable information core and cut down on translation overhead. While he doesn't discount the security, privacy and intellectual property issues that will come up, he says that we're already well past anywhere we might have dreamed of just 10 years ago, and emphasizes that government must keep pace:

Continuous improvement in cybersecurity, situational awareness, decision making and response to events across all organizational venues is a national imperative and is being driven by speed. Technology is evolving at a rate that continues to leave behind those who lack the agility to accommodate its accelerating rate of change. Achieving this agility requires institutionalizing a culture of risk taking and risk management, along with streamlined acquisition processes.

The single enterprise concept or vertically oriented approach is not the answer. Power lies in shaping and advancing information and knowledge sharing as a global capability across all operational entities. This will create a competitive advantage that denies opportunities to adversaries and is capable of responding to their actions with speed, precision and measured effect. The resultant global adaptive network of networks eventually will challenge, if not render obsolete, present views on bandwidth limitations, information assurance, reliability and connectivity.

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Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) posits some interesting questions in this month's incoming columns. Looking at the nature of enterprise risk, he wonders whether any of our readers have ever been notified that their personal data had been exposed:

I have ... and it is not a comforting feeling. It also makes you immediately question the care and practices of the organizations that solicited your trust in safeguarding your private information.

Today, we find a common thread in our net-centric world: Business opportunity and information dependence breed business risk. In particular, risk to security and privacy is present in huge doses every day. But how should we best manage the information risk coming through the door, over our firewall and through our software on a continual basis?

We all realize that the risk to our national security, business and personal data is growing. Our information networks and means of storage are increasingly vulnerable to attack and compromise. Is it any wonder that new terminology such as enterprise risk management (ERM), risk intelligence, risk assessments and business risk have become so common? Today's business environment is full of risk, whether it involves national security, intelligence gathering, transportation, operations, medical, logistics, sales or any other business activity.

You can read his entire article and suggestion for managing enterprise risk here, but in the meantime, you can comment on the issues he brings up right here on SIGNAL Scape. Have you had any experiences with your personal information being compromised? What do you think needs to be done to stop this from happening?

In this month's Incoming column, Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) poses questions about the nature of CIO positions-their lack of a typical specific qualification list or consistent job description, the trend in CIOs working on management degrees, their lack of strategic decision-making authority.

In this month's Incoming column, Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) talks about how management of data is so important. He looks at it from the enterprise level, discussion trends in how organizations can streamline data management operations through consolidation of data centers. While the trend is interesting to discuss, it brings up another interesting point: Individuals are just as likely to need "data management" skills these days, what with the incredible amount of information that flows through their email in-boxes and feed readers. So, for discussion this month: How much is too much information, and how do you manage it all?

In "Network Operations Mandate Critical Considerations," Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) outlines and explains his "pillars of netcentricity," which are communications infrastructure; security, including privacy and cybersecurity; information management, governance, and leadership. These pillars are so important, he continues, because as organizations face the challenges of continued streamlining, as resources continue to dwindle even as security demands continue to grow. With all this in mind, what key elements for effective and efficient network operations pose the greatest challenge for defense agencies?