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The U.S. joint organization baptized by fire in Persian Gulf operations is extending its innate flexibility to reserve warfighters working at the tip of the spear. The Standing Joint Force Headquarters is recruiting officer reservists willing to deploy to disaster hot spots with only 72 hours notice. In return, these new members augmenting rapid response teams will enjoy more predictability in their duty schedule. According to U.S. Joint Forces Command leaders, the innovative approach is a win-win proposition: The military leverages the expertise found in the civilian sector, and reservists can balance their military, business and personal lives better.

The U.S. military is moving closer to full implementation of a system that will transform how intelligence is collected and disseminated. By making raw and complete material available to analysts and others worldwide, the technology will blur the line dividing operations and intelligence.

The U.S. Air Force is building a robust cyberwar capability as part of a revised mission that adds cyberspace to the service's fighting domains of air and space. As part of this effort, the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force established a Cyberspace Task Force to help frame the service's direction in this third domain. The task force is working to harness capabilities, take stock of gaps and vulnerabilities, and increase awareness about cyberspace.

With a flip of a switch, a new tactical communications terminal enables warfighters to choose between troposcatter and satellite communications. This technology could reduce the demand on heavily saturated satellite bandwidth through its use of over-the-horizon radio transmissions to carry voice, data and real-time video imagery.

A few years ago, the U.S. Defense Department stated that transformation is "a process that shapes the changing nature of military competition … through new combinations of concepts, capabilities, people and organizations." It was a good enough start, but if this description is to hold, then what defines the shape of both current and future transformational success? A process without successful execution or quantitative feedback is of little value. Transformation requires more than change for change's sake.

A Tough Scorecard for Transformation By Cmdr. Gregory E. Glaros, USN (Ret.)

A team of engineers, physicists and biologists is seeking to create insect cyborgs—creatures with a mixture of organic and mechanical parts that could be used for military applications. The realization of cyborgs with embedded machine components would provide stealthy robots that use their own muscle actuators, which have been developed over millions of years of evolution.

Military forces around the world can expect better information sharing beginning next year. The launch of the next generation of satellite communications will bring an order of magnitude jump in communications ability over current capabilities, and the new technology will interact with legacy systems to provide improved services for all users.

A tiny nation on the brink of bankruptcy and a tenacious technological futurist could parent a telecommunications leap as significant as the Internet itself. The Republic of Nauru, a South Pacific island one-quarter the size of Manhattan, is set to be the host country licensor of the Super Wide Area Network, defined by its creator as Wi-Fi or WiMAX on steroids. Once built and launched, the satellite system not only would offer unheard-of ubiquitous communications capabilities but also would bridge the digital divide with a business model that provides citizens of even the poorest countries with access to the latest technologies.

Troops on the move soon will find connecting to other service members much easier and less cumbersome. A satellite terminal in development will put connectivity at the fingertips and on the backs of warfighters. This ruggedized manpack combines a satellite terminal and High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor Type 1 security tool into one device. The terminal will give the military an Internet protocol advantage by providing secure, high-speed Internet access.