In the real world, predicting the military’s requirements is not the work of soothsayers. Instead, it requires traditional and nontraditional defense contractors alike to keep their eyes wide open and their ears to the ground. If they plan to sell a solution to one or all of the armed services in the coming years, they had better be paying close attention today to technical gaps as well as wish lists. And although companies going after military and government business are similar in many ways, their approaches to garner that next big contract are often very different.

Where have all the leaders gone? Gone to better opportunities every one; when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn. Who ever would have thought that the words from the popular protest song of the 1960s could be so relevant to the world of technology and leadership today?

Warfighters in current operations now have better intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment at their fingertips as the result of a push from the highest levels of the U.S. Defense Department for rapid fielding. The equipment is providing more air and ground surveillance, improved intelligence, and greater network and data applications across the services and the coalition. Consequently, warfighters at all levels know and understand the combat situation and are able to make sound decisions more quickly.

The complexities of communications in Afghanistan require the military to adopt new ways of doing business, such as creating the Afghan Mission Network rather than using traditional networks, and turning communicators into warfighters rather than mere supporters. The Afghan Mission Network directly addresses the military’s operational need to mix coalition forces down to the company level, which provides commanders with greater flexibility in task organization and the ability to fight more effectively as a true coalition. That seemingly simple need has sparked a chain of events that may change forever the way coalition forces communicate on the battlefield and the role that communicators play in wartime.

Computer networks are essential to global productivity and collaboration. They also are weapons: More harm is possible from a network attack than from a machine gun, according to experts gathered in London to discuss cyberwar.

The first satellite built by the U.S. Army in more than five decades launched last week, ushering in a new phase of space use for the military branch.

I am impressed that real change is taking place and, "sure, it is painfully slow at times", but being an optimistic realist, I believe we should give credit where it's due. The NSA has gone out of their way to not only reach-out to small businesses (to a greater extent than any other IC agency) but is reshaping how they do their job, organizationally. They are also shifting the direction of their IA mission. They stand out—relative to the other fifteen, as the most responsive to market pressures and the need for change.

Nothing to report on the zero based defense intelligence review or the Afghan Strategy review, but as indicated last month I have just finished reading President Bush's book DECISION POINTS, which ironically I enjoyed while being disappointed. In a sound bite, I found this presidential memoir insightful [about the Bush view of events] but not very revealing about his motivations. The 43rd President tells us much about "what" and "how" he made decisions, but little about why he made the decisions he made beyond a drumbeat that it was "the right thing to do.” Making me ask as I read "so how did you know what was the right thing to do?" such as lowering taxes while embarking on a Global War on Terrorism; accepting the intelligence on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD); or not questioning the clarity of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons program?

Troops now have a secure means to share videos. With the unveiling of milTube, the latest addition to milSuite, the military work force no longer needs to turn to YouTube—a practice the higher echelons frown upon—to share training or professional development clips.