Force transformation and ongoing military operations are both complementing and competing for new information technology system development. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are validating many concepts and technologies, but requirements emerging from those fronts threaten to derail intricate long-term plans for modernizing the force across network-centric lines.

The network-centric Free World is placing a greater emphasis on intelligence than ever before-both for battlespace military operations and for winning the war on terrorism. However, while much attention has been focused on intelligence collection, processing and dissemination, it is knowledge management that will win or lose conflicts in the future.

Economic uncertainties, a rapidly changing political picture, and growing regional rivalries complicate U.S. efforts to preserve security in the Pacific region. The world's largest ocean abutting the most populous continent offers numerous challenges to U.S. forces counted on as the major font of stability in that area.

The advent of increasingly sophisticated threat organizations as well as the need to interoperate with technologically mature militaries are impelling many nations to acquire highly capable communications systems that are available from only a few sources. One system, the PRC2100V Spectre V, is the latest in a series of tactical voice and data communications systems and was designed primarily for use by countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Defense Department is striving to link its diverse battlefield communications through a single system based on an airborne platform. This system would be capable of providing connectivity among radio and cellular telephony users while loitering over a theater of operations, and its capabilities could also be applied to intelligence collection and dissemination.

Field operatives can share the capabilities of their headquarters counterparts to access and cross-reference law enforcement data from large archives or active files. Software capable of running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware allows collection and dissemination of vital police information from diverse sources without overwhelming its user.

New data collection technology can provide a virtual image of a crime scene to give a visual representation of the scenario in criminal cases. This technology, which uses a pen-based computer, is being developed with input from law enforcement communities to help investigators and officers in the field.

A Warsaw institute that predates World War II is focusing its efforts on providing Poland with advanced technological know-how to smooth the country's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Known as the Telecommunications Research Institute, the group of scientists and engineers is building on decades of military electronics development to supply Poland's military with radars and related components that will interoperate with their counterparts among the country's new Western allies.

The Republic of Bulgaria is tapping the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for ideas, tactics and technologies as it restructures its military to serve European security needs in the coming century. The goal of this effort is to be a functional European security partner as a full member of the Atlantic alliance, and at the center of the thrust is development of a robust command, control, communications and computers infrastructure.

The need to extend operations beyond conventional alliance borders is driving technology development in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The alliance is embracing digital technologies to pave the way for its new command and control infrastructure, which must be flexible enough for a variety of potential missions.