NASA is responding to criticism that it has become insular in its technology investments by opening its future plans for public debate. Core to these discussions are 14 space technology road maps that the National Research Council is vetting. NASA also is asking other government entities, industry and academia to weigh in to determine if or how the agency’s ideas will benefit all stakeholders.

The new leader of U.S. Defense Department joint experimentation is setting the priorities for upcoming joint and coalition operational concepts based on requirements that warfighters in Afghanistan and Iraq have identified. Although U.S. Joint Forces Command is slated to be disestablished, today’s J-9 is looking 10 to 15 years out, not only designing gee-whiz technology but also creating doctrine for fighting in future conflicts. One crucial concern is addressing problems the military will face if conflict arises in an area with limited access that is in close proximity to the war zone.

The U.S. Marine Corps is shifting its immersive training to reflect the massive relocation of its troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. Although the Corps continues preparing Marines for an urban battlefield, now it also is coaching them in additional tasks critical to fighting and preserving the peace in a country that is as different from Iraq as Idaho is from southern Arizona. Actors and avatars bring so much realism to the training that troops returning from operations say it is enough to make them believe they are back in Afghanistan.

For the past 15 years, my family has been in an ongoing love-hate relationship with our 110-year-old historic New Orleans home, and we recently decided it finally was time to do “the big one” and renovate it. Do we move out or do we live with the mess? Can we still operate with some sanity and functionality in the house while we’re making the changes? What about our budget, managing the architecture and requirements of historic preservation?

Coalition partners within Afghanistan and Iraq depend on satellite imagery to support their activities; however, much of the military imagery is only available at the secret and above level. Very few partners have access to this classified data, and this limitation hinders collaboration with national security forces, tribal leaders or other local citizens who support the effort. Furthermore, U.S. Army sources say that Internet-based imagery services such as Google Earth do not provide imagery that is current, has consistently high enough resolution or is government-approved for military applications.

The head information technology officer for the Marine Corps, Brig. Gen. Kevin Nally, USMC, is grappling with several projects necessary to keep critical information flowing smoothly and securely. Gen. Nally’s efforts include dramatically streamlining a sprawling information technology infrastructure, overseeing the Defense Department’s information assurance range, protecting information in the era of social networks and WikiLeaks and transitioning from the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet to the Next Generation Enterprise Network.

Israel has extended its defensive reach into space with families of remote sensing and communications satellites. An evolutionary process coupled with technology insertion has generated advances in space-based capabilities that offer direct results to warfighters on the battlefield.

Consider this January 31st posting by Michael M. Dunn, President/CEO of the Air Force Association; spend three minutes considering how your company's value proposition supports the IC in these events. The world is constantly changing. What is your contribution to making the IC agencies better in their specific mission, given this list of potential or outright threats?

The U.S. Coast Guard is helping Mexico’s navy respond to emergencies at sea with a search and rescue system that maximizes data and resources. Computers in new maritime rescue coordination centers will feature the software that uses an animated grid model to project where floating persons or objects might be located.

It’s been talked about and in the planning stages for years. But for the first time, the “dial tone in the sky” has been advanced into use with enhanced capabilities via a software upgrade. Industry predicts that this step will lead to the ubiquitous use of communications via satellite.