The U.S. Air Force Personnel Center is transferring virtually all human resources-related information technology responsibilities to the Defense Information Systems Agency, becoming a customer rather than a human resources systems owner. The service is migrating its Total Force Service Center to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA’s) Defense Enterprise Computing Center, a fee-for-service organization providing processing capability, systems management, communications and data storage in a reliable and secure cloud-computing environment.

There are some important strategic changes occurring in the national security landscape. A new kind of cyber attack has been noted, one that involves use of malicious code to attack infrastructure. There are some important points in this attack that should be understood by national security decision-makers. With the launch of the code the security community calls Stuxnet, an attack was made against a programmable logic controller (PLC) that runs a physical system. This is a new degree of bad in cyber attacks. This code is potentially (probably?) nation -state sponsored. We might never know which country, but a review of the geo-political situation today can lead to some informed speculation.

Well, how did you do this fiscal year? The intell budgets have not really been cut, as much as they've been adjusted away from Cold War programs towards counterinsurgency and modern tools that more directly support the global war on terror (GWOT). Fred Kaplan, in a recent Foreign Policy Online Magazine article, points out that SECDEF Robert Gates "favors spending tens of billions of dollars to maintain, and somewhat upgrade, the nuclear arsenal. He opposes any slacking off in America's global military presence." And the NRO is preparing for "the most aggressive launch campaign we've had in 20 years." Gates has seen that the transformation from a Cold War machine is by no means complete and we don't need to shrink budgets, but adjust priorities within budget. These couple of examples are typical to the current environment as FY10 closes.

At a recent event sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center on domestic intelligence reform, the keynote speaker was Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. At the conclusion of his remarks, the floor was opened to the audience and the first question suggested that – the 9/11 Commission, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, and the passage of nine years notwithstanding - American intelligence remained imperfect. That is my characterization of the question, but you get the point. (As an aside, AFCEANs who are not familiar with the Bipartisan Policy Center and its activities should take a look at its website.)

When a U.S. federal jury convicted Noshir Gowadia of spying for the People's Republic of China in August, it marked a victory for several U.S. investigative agencies. But the verdict might never have arrived without three years of assistance from another organization-the Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). Comprising five different entities, the military center has a special focus on computer forensics to assist its various customers and clients.

DARPA's Transformative Apps program is taking the Android to new places and will help keep warfighters out of harm's way. Much like its commercial counterparts, these apps will provide capabilities that the users didn't even realize they needed until they were in the palms of their hands. And best of all, new apps can be suggested, created and delivered in days rather than months because of an innovative production process.

The C4ISR community's clamor for a reduction of under-the-desk hardware should soon be answered. AFRL officials are working on a secure access to multiple networks, and an application to enable data sharing across those networks is close behind.

Great minds will converge in one laboratory to create platforms with minds of their own. After decades as the birthplace of unmanned systems, the Naval Research Laboratory is building a new facility where researchers from many disciplines can collaborate. Their focus will be on building, testing and evaluating autonomous machines that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with warfighters.