All the chief of naval operations did on the last day of West 2010 was describe the future U.S. Navy and its top requirements. Adm. Gary Roughead, USN, told an overflow audience at the three-day event’s final luncheon that the Navy will be built around information, in both technology and practice.

The second day of West 2010 began with an examination of one of the Navy’s biggest recent changes. During the Wednesday luncheon, Vice Adm. David J. “Jack” Dorsett, USN, the first deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance (N2/N6), outlined the three issues that he sees as key in this newly created position. The U.S. Navy must determine what it means for the United States to have information dominance, how it plans to achieve it and what the opportunities are for industry in this regard.

The information revolution that is sweeping the globe is forcing radical changes in the national security arena. Previous notions of strategic and tactical military planning are being swept away as both time and power have new definitions. And, that information technology realm itself is a major player in the concept of national security.

On 21 January 2010 Secretary of State Clinton delivered a speech on the topic of Internet Freedom. This is a very good presentation of policy worth a complete read by all, but I looked through it for statements indicating what we technologists should focus on. I tried to find the phrases indicating what the Secretary was saying the US should or will do, since that should drive many other government actions and should help technologists think through what we may be asked to do/support.

You don't need to be a satellite manufacturer to have a value proposition for the NGA. They are a large agency that has a diverse mission and a long list of constituents. Their data and telecom networks pass bits generally the same way other corporate nets pass information, so as with all the IC agencies, you can divide their needs into two categories: mission specific (geospatial analysis and production) and IT support infrastructure (i.e., databases, applications, networks and systems (DANS)).