PACOM Seeks Bridge Between Communicators and Operators

The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) needs to link communicators and operators more closely to provide effective information support-and the issue is cultural rather than technological. This was the thrust of the opening keynote address at TechNet Asia-Pacific 2009, being held in Honolulu, Hawaii. This point was hammered home by Brig. Gen. Brett T. Williams, USAF, director, command, control, communications and computer systems, PACOM. Gen. Williams is the first non-communicator in that position, and his background reflects his outlook. He sees his mission as "operationalizing the J-6" and "operationalizing cyber" to achieve command and control of the C2 system. "We must have a translation piece between the communications community and the operations community," he said. "I must facilitate that link between [the two]; a lot of that involves translation. "The operators and planners are not going to learn our language; we have to express ourselves in a way they can understand," he declared. "We've grown up a community of communicators who don't know operationalizing. We need a culture change, and it will be difficult." Military forces need a -6 that is aware of operations or an operator who is aware of the communications system. Operators need to understand a level of how the communications system works, he said.