March 2012

It's not often that objects as small as battery chargers and solar blankets become the center of attention at a U.S. Senate budget hearing where multibillion-dollar programs are discussed, but for a few minutes of the March 8 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, U.S. Army officials touted the need for such items to take a load off of the backs of soldiers.

Significant changes lie ahead for U.S. Army forces as communicators move into the next era of battlespace communications. Smartphone technology is opening the door for individual networking devices for which signaleers already are laying the groundwork. And, the promise of cloud computing would enable large amounts of data to be moved among the battlefield without mobile databases.

Command and control is undergoing an evolution spawned by the information technology revolution. These changes may be both desired and immutable, as no military commander can either neglect new capabilities or turn back the technological clock when it comes to managing forces in the battlespace.

The U.S. Marine Corps is testing a set of systems that would enhance communications between air assets and boots on the ground. Troops in Okinawa used the technology initially during U.S.-only evaluations before moving on to experiments in various multinational events. And though the personnel who have experienced the systems in action say work still remains to perfect the offering, they would like to see it fielded if it reaches its potential.

All computer systems are prone to attacks from various cyberthreats, but disruptions on few of those networks have the potential to cause calamitous damage to national infrastructures.To help prevent catastrophe, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has an effort dedicated to countering these dangers through various partnerships and training opportunities.

U.S. Marines are tasked with battling enemies in any environment or domain and increasingly that location is cyberspace. Information assurance officials around the Corps are striving to ensure the reliability and trustworthiness of the service’s systems, and though they are aware of the potential for attack from the outside, misuse from the inside is a more prevalent concern.

The U.S. Army's plan to revolutionize its approach to integrating advancements into the network is on track, according to senior leaders. These Network Integration Evaluations designed to facilitate this assimilation already have yielded results, offering a glimpse into the technology of the future and how soldiers will use it.

Cyber threats draw much of the focus in today’s information technology realm. The threat profile in cyberspace is growing and becoming more complex, more sophisticated and more diverse.

The U.S.-led global cybersecurity exercise known as Cyber Storm will sport a new look and format when it takes place later this year. The changes reflect the constantly deviating nature of the threats posed daily to the world’s cyber infrastructure.

We now have the U.S. Defense Department information technology enterprise strategy and roadmap. The new direction calls for an overhaul of policies that guide the department’s information systems. Yet, implementation is a challenge, and several issues require the reorientation of how the Defense Department manages information technologies.