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Referring to Washington, D.C. as its own area of responsibility, Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, cited several figures from the recently released proposed U.S. Defense Department budget that illustrate the new administration's changing focus. "From now on, irregular warfare is a regular part of our plan," he said.

BAE Systems will provide thermal weapon sights to the U.S.

The Naval Surface Warfare Command's Carderock Division has awarded QinetiQ North America

The U.S.

The Defence Science and Technology Agency of Singapore has awarded

In an extremely provocative speech, Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map, opened Wednesday's Joint Warfighting Conference by sharing his vision of the effect of globalization on nations and coalitions. He applauded the establishment of the U.S. Africa Command as a solid step toward moving globalization in a positive direction.

War doesn't mean it what it used to, and as we struggle to find the right words to describe "our new normal," terms like "asymmetrical," "hybrid" and "irregular" warfare only paint part of the picture, according to Adm. Eric T. Olson, USN, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command. "The threats we are facing are not new," he said. "But the specific nature of this threat is a new challenge."

Experts representing a wide variety of groups took on the topic of military, agency and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) cooperation in future security efforts, pointing out that national security involves not only warfare but also the creation of good relationships among nations. At the Wednesday morning Joint Warfighting Conference panel, participants agreed that the military services have taken on many responsibilities that are not part of their traditional mission. However, the steps that need to be taken to address this issue are many and complicated, they concurred.

Kicking off Wednesday's Joint Warfighting Conference's early afternoon panel on "The Human Dimension: How Do We Develop Our People?", moderator Vice Admiral Albert H. Konetzni, Jr., USN (Ret.), wondered aloud Lincoln would have done with a computer and a Blackberry before moving on to his view of how to develop people: that to engage fledgling leaders, they must feel empowered and have a sense of ownership, no matter their rank.

Members from each of the four services offered their insights into how to build a balanced joint force at Wednesday's final panel session at the Joint Warfighting Conference. They may be coming at it from different angles, but all agreed that the need for agility requires the definition of the problems and the adoption of new concepts, platforms and technologies.