Event Coverage

When COVID-19 started ravaging the U.S. travel industry economically, the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA's) contracting and procurement division had to put gear into place to prevent the spread of the virus in environments that are literally the hub for millions of customers every day. Bill Weinberg, the assistant administrator for contracting and procurement, who began at the agency this month, understands the organization must continue to move quickly to ensure both the security and the safety of both its passengers and the agency’s workforce.

While the U.S. Air Force will always have purpose-built and single-provider satellite communications, it wants to move into more flexible constructs that would allow warfighters to jump between multiple providers, frequency bands and systems.

The U.S. Army is ahead of the Navy and Air Force in adopting and integrating the multiple battle domains, but is still analyzing how best to apply it the battlefield.

Gen. Townsend, @TRADOC, predicts a future where the Army uses telemedicine, including #robots controlled by surgeon miles and miles away, and 3D prints repair parts and ammo casings. "The network needs to enable all that."#AFCEA

As so often happens  in the military, it's not unusual for top-level officials to be asked to stand in for their busy bosses.  So it was Col. Michael Jones, USA (Ret.), the chief of emerging technologies, CIO/G-6, who found himself delivering the day two keynote address at the AFCEA Solutions Series conference, "Critical Issues in C⁴I", sponsored by AFCEA International and the George Mason University C⁴I Center. In his talk regarding the G-6's strategic vision for managing information technology resources ""from the Pentagon to the warfighter in theater," Jones noted the most recent challenge to the U.S. Army: the explosive growth of mobile devices, such as iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android tablets.

All too often, the topic of cyber presents a negative view of vulnerabilities and attacks, but cyber has a positive role to play in national defense, said Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, USA, commanding general, U.S. Army Cyber Command.

The U.S. Navy is establishing new teams to run cyber operations and help defend Defense Department networks as a service extension of U.S. Cyber Command. These teams are part of a centralized defensive and offensive cyber capability that is beginning to take shape within the Defense Department, said Kevin Cooley, command information officer for the Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet.

Speaking at AFCEA NOVA’s 12th annual Naval IT Day, Cooley explained that the Navy is standing up 40 cyber national mission teams totaling some 2,000 personnel. All the teams will be up by the end of fiscal year 2016. These teams will function as units based on mission orders from the U.S. Cyber Command, Cooley said.

Along with all the other tools at their disposal, U.S. Marine Corps commanders now have complete cyber resources as part of the traditional Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) operational doctrine, said Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills, USMC, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, U.S. Marine Corps. The general spoke during the Aberdeen Chapter luncheon at the TechNet Land Forces East conference in Baltimore on Wednesday. Gen. Mills, who admitted to being "an old infantry guy," nonetheless put his cybersecurity resources to good use during his 2010 deployment leading Marines in Afghanistan.

Maryland is home to key cybersecurity agencies, such as the United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, and the Baltimore Convention Center provides a fitting venue for the nearly 4,000 attendees of the TechNet Land Forces East conference, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said prior to the event's opening luncheon.

The steps necessary to achieve the Air-Sea Battle strategy may induce long-sought major changes in U.S. military force structure. Yet, some aspects will require game-changing decisions and shifts in priorities. Two retired flag officers-Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (Ret.), former deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, U.S. Air Force, and Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, USN (Ret.), former commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, outlined how Air-Sea Battle will affect the force at Joint Warfighting 2012 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Gen. Deptula said that Air-Sea Battle has the potential of becoming an integral part of U.S. national strategies. And. Adm.

The technology of replacing lost limbs and senses has advanced dramatically because of urgent needs arising from the wars in Southwest Asia. Former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. James E. Cartwright, USMC (Ret.), the inaugural Harold Brown Chair in defense policy studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described some of these advances to the audience at Joint Warfighting 2012. He related how one veteran who lost all four of his limbs volunteered for an experimental program to embed a computer chip in the side of his skull. With that chip in place, he was able to control a mechanical limb remotely-the prosthetic arm was in a corresponding laboratory thousands of miles away.

Bring your own device policies and information technologies efficiencies were big topics during the final day of the 2012 Defense Information Systems Agency Mission Partner Conference. During Thursday's panel session, Cora Carmody, chief information officer (CIO), Jacobs Engineering, discussed them both and the money the company has saved through implementation. Jacobs embraced a bring your own device attitude that allows employees to use personal platforms, including tablets, with the understanding that they are responsible for certain costs and for keeping the devices safe.

Technology leaders in the military services all seem to agree on the need for better governance, increased efficiencies and working together. That is, until they get into specifics. The U.S. Defense Department chief information officer (CIO) panel at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Mission Partner Conference this morning heated up quickly as representatives from the different services argued over what was necessary in the military information technology world and why. The discussion became especially lively as it turned to enterprise email. Teri Takai, the department's CIO, and Michael Krieger, the deputy CIO/G-6 of the U.S.

The demand for bandwidth via satellite communications is unlikely to diminish as the U.S. continues to decrease the number of troops at war in the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins, Jr., USAF, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) told journalists during a media roundtable today at the DISA Mission Partner Conference. However, the way that bandwidth is used operationally is expected to adjust. Possible evolutions are dependent on emerging technologies, the general explained, citing as an example the demand for high-definition and full-motion video even on mobile devices. Various military groups are running pilot programs to decide which mobile platforms and operating systems will best meet their needs.

Cloud computing and security were the hot topics during the first full day of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Mission Partner Conference. Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins, Jr., USAF, director of the agency, said efforts are ongoing to synch different cloud efforts within the U.S. Defense Department and the intelligence community. He also stated that DISA is tucked in tightly behind the department's chief information officer in the cloud arena. In a presentation immediately following the general's, AT&T's Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso touted cloud as a way to improve cybersecurity.

Your network is not secure and your firewalls are blocking nothing. That scary statement was a key message of Dr. Edward Amoroso, chief security officer of AT&T, during his address this morning at the 2012 DISA Mission Partner Conference. "When it comes to cybersecurity we are way out of balance," he stated. He shared that in the last few weeks botnet attacks have seen a dramatic increase, but security professionals cannot confirm which attacks come from two kids in a basement and which might originate from hostile militaries trying to steal specific information. Without that knowledge, the private sector often doesn't know if it should pass collected intelligence to the government.

The U.S. military needs to develop a career field that will encompass the entire career of cyber warriors, said LTC Gregory Conti, USA, who directs the Cyber Research Center at the U.S. Military Academy.

"We need to create a career field from private all the way through general officer," Col. Conti suggested at the TechNet Land Forces conference in Tucson, Arizona. He added that cyber is not just a two or three-year assignment and that cyber warriors need to know they have a future in the military. Furthermore, military members with cyber expertise need to have leaders with greater expertise, and the military must grow those leaders.

Mike Krieger, deputy chief information officer for the U.S. Army, told the audience at TechNet Land Forces Southwest 2012 on Wednesday that he had hoped to provide them with the URL for the Army's report to Congress concerning Enterprise Email.

Congress had asked the Army to review the Enterprise Email approach to "see if it is the right thing to do." The report has to be approved by the secretary of the Army, but it has not quite reached his desk as of March 28. Krieger said he hopes to be able to provide the report very soon.

Government may have been in the slow lane to accept social media as a viable conduit for sharing information, but agencies are now coordinating their efforts to ensure messages going out to the public can be trusted. Members of a panel discussing its uses at the AFCEA International Homeland Security Conference said the technologies that facilitate ubiquitous communications among the public are merely another change in generations of changes. The key is that the same principles that govern reliable news reports and privacy and civil liberties protections apply whether the public is depending on newspapers, broadcast, Facebook, Skype or Twitter, they agreed.

Amazing anecdotes kept the audience entertained during the lunch session at the AFCEA International Homeland Security Conference. The experts spoke about a serious subject: cyberwar. But the stories about their hands-on experiences in learning how to fight cyberwars, how they've fought cyberthreats and what they believe is needed to prepare future cyberwarriors kept conference attendees enthralled. Among the panelists was Maj. T.J. O'Connor, USA, 10th Special Forces Group (A), S-6. While attending the U.S. Military Academy, Maj. O'Connor had some time on his hands that led him to learn how best to defeat cyberattacks.

China and the United States are hindered in their efforts to build trust by cultural differences that exacerbate misunderstandings between the two nations. A panel of China experts at West 2012 in San Diego outlined several unintentionally contentious areas between the Pacific powers, but it did not have solutions for all of the challenges. Vice Adm. John M. Bird, USN, director of Navy Staff and former commander of the Seventh Fleet, said that China and many in Asia view the world differently than the United States does, especially when it comes to values. "We fall victim at our peril when we try to apply our mindset to them," he warned. "For example, our idea of deterrence is their idea of containment.

Enemies attacking in cyberspace and budget cutters slashing defense programs are the premier threats to the U.S. military, according to a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Adm. Mike Mullen, USN (Ret.), warned a luncheon audience at West 2012 in San Diego that cyber is an existential threat to the nation. "We don't have many existential threats any more; cyber is one," he said, adding, "I understand that the enemy is as good as we are." The other significant threat to the U.S. military is possible budget sequestration cuts. Adm. Mullen described the current budget crunch as "a long time coming." He and other planners saw the potential problem looming nine years ago.

The future of U.S. Navy shipbuilding may depend on savings realized elsewhere in the sea service, according to a panel at West 2012 in San Diego. With shipbuilding constituting only about 10 percent of the Navy budget, other cost savings may be necessary for the Navy to build the ships it needs to meet new strategic realities. Ronald O'Rourke, a specialist in naval affairs with the Congressional Research Service, urged the Navy to cut costs in other areas while applying smart procurement lessons to shipbuilding. Traditional lessons include having requirements up front, managing risk by not trying to do too much, accepting 70-80 percent solutions and providing stability for industry.

Where the 20th century was the age of airpower, the 21st century will be the age of cyberpower, according to the U.S. Air Force's chief information officer (CIO). Lt. Gen. William T. Lord, USAF, told the closing keynote luncheon audience that the growth in cyberspace's importance is outstripping even its own metrics for progress. What he referred to as "Android's Law" has accelerated Moore's Law when it comes to change. Mobile devices are driving a global cultural change, he offered, and that change is breaching barriers and crossing into new territory. For example, social media was the tipping point in recent revolutions, the general pointed out.

The new technologies that are enabling elements of the critical infrastructure to operate more efficiently also are making them more vulnerable to devastating cyberattacks. Advanced mobile connectivity and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems have created fertile ground for cybermarauders to target key aspects of the infrastructure a number of ways. These were the findings of a panel comprising a number of experts from Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) at TechNet Asia-Pacific 2011 in Honolulu. Rear Adm. Paul Becker, USN, the PACOM J-2, described how the use of SCADA industrial control systems was a primary threat to the infrastructure.