200904SIGNALConnections

The U.S. Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs and AFCEA International will host a three-day educational outreach conference for small businesses May 12 to 14, 2009, at the Virginia BeachConvention Center. The Navy Blue Coast Small Business Training and Opportunities Conference, “Aligning Your Business with Tomorrow’s Navy,” aims at providing insights to small businesses and offering the Department of the Navy, AFCEA and its corporate members the opportunity to learn from one another.

Although the focus of the Navy Blue Coast Conference is outreach and education, the event also offers adequate time for developing business relationships through networking. In addition to Navy command briefings, subject matter experts will share their views in plenary and panel sessions. Offerings are included for all experience levels—from novice to seasoned business professionals. The conference culminates in a matchmaking event where small businesses can discuss their capabilities with representatives from both government agencies and large prime contractors.

Visit AFCEA's blog, SIGNAL Scape, to view the latest contract announcements.

New Satellite Support for Unmanned Vehicles
Commercial satellite support for U.S. military forces in the Middle East and Asia is being boosted by an Intelsat orbiter that is being moved halfway around the world to cover the region. The international satellite consortium, responding to a U.S. Defense Department request in February, is repositioning its Galaxy 26 U.S. domestic satellite from its 93°W slot over the Western Hemisphere to a new location over the Indian Ocean. The Galaxy 26 orbiter will provide vital bandwidth for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting surveillance operations throughout its area of coverage, which ranges from Germany to Southeast Asia. The Defense Department awarded a contract to Intelsat via Artel Incorporated as part of its Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services–Global (DSTS-G) contract.

To ensure homeland defense and support to civil authorities, personnel at the North American Aerospace Defense Command/U.S. Northern Command (NORAD/NORTHCOM) focus on interacting with their counterparts in the federal, state and local governments on a daily basis. And today, these same experts also are interacting with their international counterparts to facilitate the security of the global community. This need to share and integrate information presents challenges that NORAD/NORTHCOM communications specialists address by using technology as an enabler to build strong relationships before being called into action.

Col. Brian Jones, USA, deputy J-3, NORAD/NORTHCOM Command Center (N2C2), relates that on a daily basis his group works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its individual facets, from the NationalInteragencyFireCenter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In addition, representatives from the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Secure Transportation (OST), which provides safe and secure transportation of nuclear weapons and components as well as special nuclear materials, and the U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Aviation Administration operate out of the N2C2’s command center at NORTHCOM. “So it’s a wide range [of expertise] that we can pull in as the situation requires,” Col. Jones says.

In a few years, a dedicated simulation zone will allow security application testing to occur under real-world conditions. Researchers will be able to create and evaluate network architectures rapidly using a variety of pressures and then to develop responses based on the collected data. The testing zone will simulate a range of user and network behaviors, allowing researchers to understand better how cybersecurity and situational awareness tools function in complex environments.

In response to the increasing number and sophistication of cyberattacks affecting U.S. government and defense cyber infrastructures, the Bush administration signed the Comprehensive National Cyber Initiative (CNCI) in 2008. The CNCI requires the creation of a dedicated testbed to verify security systems and to share research data with the information technology and security communities to improve national security.

These requirements resulted in the National Cyber Range (NCR) program. Managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the range will serve several purposes: assess information assurance and survivability tools in a network environment; replicate complex, heterogeneous networks; enable multiple, independent, simultaneous experiments on the same infrastructure; and apply the scientific method for rigorous cybertesting.

The nature of intelligence community activities has been changed as increasing numbers of people adopt virtual collaboration tools and methodologies. A host of systems unleashed a handful of years ago has burgeoned into a new way of engaging in intelligence operations that is moving through the community.

Users set free to explore these new cyberspace systems have uncovered new capabilities and have driven the introduction of still more collaborative systems. The result is that finished intelligence reports now are richer than before virtual collaboration was adopted. An issue is viewed through more than one perspective; and the overall effect is timelier, more agile and more accurate intelligence reporting to decision makers, says an intelligence official.

When cyberspace emerged from William Gibson’s writings to become a part of everyday life, it still was defined by real-world criteria. When online businesses succeeded, it was because entrepreneurs built them according to rational business models. Large corporations and governments tailored their Web sites to provide known public services. Information flocked to the virtual realm, but again it was structured and defined by textual means dating back to Herr Gutenberg.

Now, however, the virtual world is playing a leading role in redefining the real world. Unlike the traditional model of exploration leading to exploitation, cyberspace operates in reverse. Nearly two decades of cyberspace exploitation now is leading to exploration into new types of activities that are changing real-world processes.

The very nature of information itself is changing with new capabilities. People no longer want information packaged and presented to them in a structured format. Instead, they want to be given menus from which they will select the information they want regardless of format. In many cases, users can program those menus to package the type of information they want for delivery.

This is more a sociological change than one of mere logistics. However, even that change pales in comparison with the overall sociological effect of cyberspace. Explorers are discovering that the way they best exploit information depends on how they interact with each other.

High-Speed Modem
Modern warfighters need high-bandwidth communications to manage their battlefield connectivity requirements. The RC-50 is a high-frequency modem for the Codan 2110M military manpack radio. With a speed of 9,600 bits per second, the device allows the high-speed transmission of e-mail, imagery and other applications over busy and operationally challenged high-frequency networks. For more information, contact www.codan.com.au.

Homefront Help is SIGNAL Connections’ effort to support U.S. service members, veterans and their families. The column highlights programs that offer resources and assistance to the military community ranging from care packages to benefits and everything in between. In that same spirit, Homefront Help presents opportunities for readers to donate time, offer resources and send words of thanks to those who sacrifice for freedom. Programs that provide services are listed in red. Opportunities for the public to reach out to service members are listed in blue. Each program description includes a link to the organization's Web site, when available.

New England Center for Homeless Veterans
The New England Center for Homeless Veterans (NECHV) extends a helping hand to any homeless veteran facing the challenges of addiction, trauma, severe and persistent mental illness, and unemployment; however, the veterans must be committed to sobriety, nonviolence and working for personal change. The organization is located in Boston, and though most clients are from the Boston area, the NECHV has aided veterans from all 50 states.

The U.S. Air Force has expanded its area of responsibility to include the cyberspace domain, but the realm may need additional personnel with specialized training before it can become fully operational. Before the Air Force is ready to operate in a contested cyberspace environment, the service branch needs to regulate the development of its cyberwarriors in order to defeat cyberterrorists.

According to a 2008 report compiled by the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the service branch is considering developing a specific career field devoted to cyberspace, including a new kind of officer—a cyberspace warfare officer. Current career fields, including combat systems and communication and information, would be restructured to fulfill the needs within the new concentration.

Many combat systems and communication and information officers lack the specialized training needed to perform cyber tasks because these officers are not required to have computer-related degrees. To ensure that the cyberspace warfare officers have the necessary training, the field should offer at least two specialties: a cyberspace warfare operator and an electronic warfare officer.