Boosting business by improving customer service requires a bit of digging, but the information gold mine already is in place. With the aid of a few algorithms, companies are excavating data to unearth insights about their customers that emerge when small particles of information are fused into a gold nugget.

The U.S. Defense Department is wrestling with a multitude of issues to provide the right people with the means to access different forms of data. Complicating potential solutions is the fact that the types of potential users are as varied as the types of data, which makes access and verification exponentially difficult.

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to release a new version of a system designed to improve the service’s interoperability with joint, allied and coalition command and control systems. For the Air Force to accomplish its mission and support joint and coalition operations, it needs to include the capabilities of the new version in a network-centric, information-sharing environment. The system will provide a consolidated environment for planners at all command levels to access and influence force projection data.

The first phase of the U.S. Army’s ambitious modernization program is preparing to enter service. The multi-billion dollar effort seeks to transform the Army into a network-centric force with advanced vehicles and precision weapons. Initial low-rate production and operational testing of selected equipment and software are underway after years of development and cost issues.

The U.S. Army has networked the battlefield, providing troops with the first digital systems they actually wear. Capabilities formerly reserved exclusively for use on vehicles are now available at the individual level, altering how warfighters manage combat operations. This cutting-edge technology improves situational awareness and interoperability as well as command and control.

We humans are very resourceful creatures. When faced with a threat we are able to create innovative, effective ways of protecting ourselves. Back at the dawn of time when humans were stalked by prowling predators, they leaned to build a roaring fire at the mouth of the cave to keep the threat at bay. Yet that fire needed to be strategically placed and well maintained to be useful. Let it die out and there was a good chance someone became a midnight snack for a creature with very big teeth. That’s why it is always amazing when somebody decides that a proven security device is inconvenient and devises a way, sometime a very resourceful way, of circumventing it.

I was in Chicago the week after Labor Day for the DNI's "Analytic Transformation - Moving Forward Together - Symposium" where 400 Intelligence Community (IC) "dignitary" gathered to affirm their belief that information sharing and collaboration enabled by technology can now truly transform intelligence analysis.

Planning, Budgeting, and Execution

Misguided Policies Restrict Guaranteed Reliable Communications Cmdr. Gregory E. Glaros, USN (Ret.)

The U.S. Defense Department is investing billions of dollars in new military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) systems such as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF), Wideband Global Services (WGS) and Transformational Communications System (TCS) to transform the way U.S. forces communicate and operate in modern combat. Unfortunately, reliance on these expensive and delayed programs has hampered the networked capabilities of operating units. Specific programs