The U.S. Navy is steaming full speed toward attaining its dream of a digital force, but the most difficult part of the journey may lie just ahead. The sea service has its technological map, and its course has the endorsement of the top leadership. However, it must deal with a new set of challenges as its info-centric force evolves into a new form.

Sailors assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Nimitz carrier strike groups had an uncommon training opportunity recently when they conducted a joint exercise in the waters near Southern California. Though carrier groups often operate together to respond to real-world events, disparate taskings and locations usually prevent combined rehearsals. But thanks to fortuitous schedules, the Lincoln and Nimitz assets were able to meet up in the vast Pacific, enabling personnel to combine resources in preparation for future mission requirements.

As conflict in Afghanistan intensifies, coalition allies are employing all elements of information-gathering technology to win battles while protecting themselves and civilians. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activity is at an all-time high as experts try to coordinate the largest armada of these capabilities ever deployed.

I spent some time last month in London at the AFCEA TechNet International event run by our AFCEA Europe office. This conference dealt with integrating the cyber domain into our concept of battlespace. It occurred to me during this discussion that our understanding of battlespace has changed fundamentally even before we add the cyber domain. Would we have considered the World Trade Center in New York part of the battlespace before 9/11? Would we have considered the London Underground part of the battlespace before 7/7? Probably not. In this age of asymmetric warfare, the boundaries of the physical battlespace are unclear. In this context, adding the cyber domain, which is broader than the Internet, is perhaps not as much of a stretch as it might have been prior to this redefinition of the physical battlespace.

With the ascension to full operational capability, the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet is moving the U.S. Navy’s role in cyberspace alongside the ranks of space, air, surface and subsurface in defending the United States from attack. No longer viewed merely in a support role, information professionals are in operational mode worldwide. Their mission is to protect U.S. networks while contributing as a force multiplier by assisting in kinetic warfare and wielding nonkinetic effects.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is investing in the exploration of solutions to problems that have not yet reared their ugly heads. On its way to discovering countermeasures for the threats it foresees, the department also is using what it has learned to avert incidents that could have had much more disastrous results and cost U.S. workers hundreds of millions of dollars. And, on its way to creating future technologies to protect the homeland, the department is empowering the next generation of scientists to reach willingly for creative responses to the question “What if…?”

Mathematical research conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology could lead to the development of military radios capable of hopping frequencies up to 1,000 times faster than conventional systems. The research also could result in more energy-efficient, interference-resistant cellular telephones than are available today, as well as improvements in many other modern communications devices.

When scientists at the U.S. Army Research Office set out in 2003 to build a light-controlling synthetic material, they had no idea what the result would be—but they knew it would be big. A few years later, the research led them to ask if an invisibility cloak would be possible, and with each passing year, they get a little closer to making that science fiction fantasy a reality.

The decades-long dream of harnessing the sun’s power in orbit as a source of clean, renewable energy on Earth may lie just over the horizon. Yet, unlike traditional space efforts, this concept may come to fruition as a result of commercial—not government—commitment.

I hope everyone who attended the Fall Intelligence Symposium at the National Reconnaissance Office shares my view that even within the high standards set for these events over the years, this was something special. First of all, the audience heard from an extraordinary set of speakers, from the DNI through the Director and Deputy Director of the NRO, and on and on. Consistent with our tradition, our guests had the opportunity to speak candidly in a non-attribution environment, and it was apparent they enjoyed the freedom to do that. In addition, we had the privilege of honoring two distinguished intelligence professionals, the late Dennis Fitzgerald and Lawrence Gershwin, the longtime National Intelligence Officer for Science and Technology. Finally, we had the opportunity to do this within the context of helping the NRO celebrate its 50th anniversary. It was especially fitting that we could honor Dennis Fitzgerald at an important moment in the history of the organization he helped lead and build over many years.