Sailors collect and analyze weather observations at the Naval Aviation Forecast Center at Naval Station Norfolk. Information technology provides more valuable information to commanders than ever, but its users face challenges in exploiting it effectively without sacrificing key tenets of command and control.
Some badly needed basics are taking a back seat to electrons.
The U.S. Army deployed four large unmanned ground systems to Afghanistan earlier this month to assess their ability to lighten the load for combat troops.
West 2012 Online Show Daily: Day 1
Quote of the day: “It’s going to be a very grim picture if that occurs—very grim.”—Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, USN, director, the Joint Staff, discussing proposed draconian defense budget cuts.
West 2012 Online Show Daily: Day 2
Quote of the day: “We’ve entered a new budget environment where you can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything. You have to make the choices.” —Lt. Gen. George J. Flynn, USMC, director, J-7, the Joint Staff
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta today offered the first glimpse into changes in store for the U.S. military that will come to pass if the president's 2013 Pentagon budget is approved by Congress. Those changes include reductions for two major branches of the military, adjustments in some major weapons systems, and asking Congress for authorization to begin a new round of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.
AFCEA members who want to take the AFCEA Source Book with them everywhere can now download it for easy access on their laptop or tablet computers. With the look and feel of a print publication, the digital edition of the Source Book enables users to search for companies, capabilities, people and terms or browse from page to page.
To help prepare for upcoming AFCEA conferences, SIGNAL Media now offers a single e-place to find event details, ongoing news coverage, social media feeds and local area attractions.
With the military's current mandates to increase efficiencies, virtualization offers multiple benefits to the armed forces. Projects underway at the National Security Agency are advancing its use, but the government needs to reconcile security requirements with available capabilities before warfighters enjoy the full benefit of the technology.
With the new year only a few days old, one of the information technology industry’s biggest security firms is out with its annual predictions of the top cybersecurity threats for 2012.
David Marcus, director of security research with McAfee Labs and a principal co-author of the study, says threats against industrial and industry networks top the list. “A lot of people don’t realize that SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] and industrial systems are just as vulnerable to cyberattack as any other network,” he says.
Now comprising more than 2,000 organizations, AFCEA’s corporate membership program is growing both in the United States and internationally. Many corporate members find their block of corporate associate memberships to be the most valuable corporate member benefit. These company-owned individual memberships allow member organizations to develop relationships throughout the worldwide AFCEA International network of more than 120 chapters. And, the participation of individual corporate associate members in the events and activities at local chapters strengthen these relationships.
The talents Eric Schneider brings to AFCEA all started with making extra money as a disc jockey in this family’s nightclubs in south Florida, where he also helped bands set up and ran the sound board for them. Now, he’s the go-to person in the Montgomery Chapter whenever audio-visual assistance is needed.
This crazy mixture of digital natives and digital immigrants has everyone flummoxed. Generations X and Y understand that businesses functioned BI, or Before Internet; Generation Z can’t imagine how that could be possible. Simultaneously, the baby boomer generation is busy trying to catch up with the latest in technology on an almost hourly basis lest they be left behind. That wouldn’t be cool.
Georges D’hollander, general manager of the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency, addresses the audience at TechNet International 2011 in Heidelberg, Germany.
Paying less and having more is the goal in NATO’s dynamic digital realm. 
The Defense Department weighs several issues as it plans a stratospheric computing future.
The U.S. Defense Department is aggressively pursuing cloud-computing options in the midst of budget cuts and personnel reductions. Pilot programs are in place around the uniformed services, experimenting with ways to enhance efficiency while ensuring security. But leadership is not moving ahead blindly. Rather, as officials examine opportunities in the right-now buzzword of cloud, they also are striving to ensure flexibility to take advantage of the next big trend.
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, USN (Ret.), the former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), led off TechNet Asia-Pacific 2011 by calling for the United States to "lead from within" instead of "leading from behind."
Allies must remain engaged or fall prey to rapidly changing political and economic trends. 
Both government and the private sector may benefit from a new approach.
A variation of cloud computing one day could lead to the benefits of the cloud being extended to troops on the battlefield, or to humanitarian relief workers, no matter where they operate. These microclouds would be generated by small computer servers running on devices as small as a high-capacity universal serial bus thumb drive attached to a laptop computer.
Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, USAF, commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, addresses the audience at MILCOM 2011.
Armed forces face austere budgets, more mandates to collaborate. 
Defense acquisition reform could have an upside for prime contractors.
It is undeniable that defense acquisition reform has ushered in a new reality for prime contractors. Firm-fixed-price contract awards, shorter time lines, open-system architectures, the demand for greater value—these are just a few of the game-changing challenges now facing primes. In addition, subcontractors contribute often as much as 80 percent of a program’s content, so primes are placing increased pressure on subs to reduce margins and pass on supply-chain savings.
Molycorp Incorporated’s Mountain Pass, California, mine, is one of the largest rare earth mines outside China. It recently reopened after being closed for about a decade.
China’s newly gained monopoly may disappear by mid-decade. 
U.S. Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel discusses cloud computing at a forum where the government road map was released.
A draft plan maps cloud computing priorities. 
A smartphone that engages in conversations is the next perturbation that will dictate how the U.S. Defense Department needs to revise its information management practices. The effects of this new technology will reverberate from individual communications protocols all the way to data architectures. 
The need to do more with less dictates crucial changes in national security procurement.
Top U.S. military officials are warning that the current fiscal crisis is the single biggest threat to the country’s national security. And, the most critical concern facing the United States is ensuring that it has the resources necessary to maintain its security globally—and that it is prepared for the challenges ahead.
In fiscal years to come, the U.S. Defense Department must make major changes to the way it deals with the competing forces of decreased financial resources and continually morphing security challenges.
