Event Coverage

The U.S. Defense Department must secure the cyber domain to protect and defend its own information and U.S. citizens, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, USA, commander of U.S. Cyber Command said today during the opening address of LandWarNet 2010. Gen. Alexander also serves as the director of the National Security Agency. "Every link and system has vulnerabilities that we have to defend," he stated.

At AFCEA International's Small Business Intelligence forum yesterday, experts revealed tips about how companies-large and small-can increase their business with member agencies of the intelligence community. But, yesterday's blog coverage was just too short to include all of the advice they shared, so here are a few more ideas.

The overwhelming feeling among small business owners and industry overall is that winning a contract with one of the three-lettered agencies is not worth the effort. But IC insiders say the opportunities are out there, and companies should be taking advantage of them.

Accreditation and certification of software is a vital, but time consuming process. On Tuesday afternoon, panelists at the AFCEA SOLUTIONS symposium discussed the challenge and ongoing attempts to streamline the process.

The ultimate goal is to create an overarching framework that standardized CUI infomation to promote the sharing of data.

"At the end of the day, it's about the warfighter."--Lt. Gen. Dennis Vis, USA, director, C4 systems, Joint Staff

If there is one military leader who can be counted on to tell it like it is, it's Gen. James N. Mattis, USMC, commander, JFCOM. And as the final speaker of the Joint Warfighting Conference, attendees were not let down. With the strength of words, he brought his depth of experience to thoughtfully describe what he sees as the needs for the future. In an international age, every nation brings something to the table, each country brings a tone to an alliance, Gen. Mattis began. This mind-set must be more than just words and become an attitude coalition partners admire. As panelists had discussed just moments earlier, Gen. Mattis called for building command and control-or as he prefers to call it "command and feedback"-from the ground up when it comes to interoperability with coalition partners. "In this age, I don't care how tactically or operationally you are: If you can't create harmony across military, international and civilian lines, you need to go home because your leadership is obsolete," he stated. The mantra of coalition cooperation extends beyond the international realm, the general stated. He reminded military commanders that they must set a command style of collaboration if the military is to remain relevant. Although the conference featured hundreds of technical solutions, the requirement for the future the general stated first has nothing to do with technology at all. "We need commanders who are critical thinkers," he said. Using the old solutions will not resolve new problems, the general added. Gen. Mattis also admonished the practice of over-reacting to relatively minor security incidents. While they should not be taken lightly, he believes overreactions that result in large programs that deplete the nation's treasure are not effective and can actually aid the enemy by robbing the U.S. of the precious funding it needs to fight large battles. "Too often, the enemy does something small and we spend a lot of money because of it.

The final panel of the 2010 Joint Warfighting Conference focused on two topics that have been discussed consistently for more than a decade: lack of interoperability and convoluted acquisition. Though the panelists agreed on the problems, their opinions about solutions differed slightly.

Gen. Craig R. McKinley, USAF, chief of the National Guard Bureau, opened the final day of Joint Warfighting Conference 2010 describing how the Army and Air National Guard has been seamlessly integrated into active duty forces. This melding between full-time and what used to be disparagingly called "weekend warriors" is the result of both dedicated leadership and willing U.S. citizens.

Led by Vice Adm. Herbert A. Browne, USN (Ret.), AFCEA International's former president and CEO, the final panel on Wednesday took on one of the toughest topics yet: fighting through a digital meltdown.