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Thursday, May 19, 2005

The third and final day of TechNet International 2005, AFCEA International's annual conference and exposition running May 17-19 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., included topical panels and a small business opportunity workshop. But the day's big event was what has become an annual feature at the show-the J-6 panel. The dominant topic discussed in that panel was information assurance and security, but many other issues emerged during the session.

“We want security baked in, not just bolted on.”
— Brig. Gen. (Sel.) George Allen, USMC, director, C4, and CIO, U.S. Marine Corps.

Members of the J-6 panel at TechNet International 2006 are (l to r) Rear Adm. Elizabeth Hight, USN, assistant division director for command, control, communications and computers (C4), N61C, Naval Operations; Robert C. Thomas II, deputy chief information officer (CIO), U.S. Air Force; Nathaniel Heiner, deputy CIO, U.S. Coast Guard; panel moderator Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea, USMC, J-6, the Joint Staff; Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, USA, CIO/G-6, U.S. Army; and Brig. Gen. (Sel.) George Allen, USMC, director, C4, and CIO, U.S. Marine Corps.

The third and final day of TechNet International 2005, AFCEA International’s annual conference and exposition running May 17-19 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., included topical panels and a small business opportunity workshop. But the day’s big event was what has become an annual feature at the show—the J-6 panel. The dominant topic discussed in that panel was information assurance and security, but many other issues emerged during the session.

Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea, USMC, J-6, the Joint Staff, moderated the panel and led off the discussion by noting that there are more than 4 million users on Defense Department networks. Widespread changes are underway to ensure that information systems interoperate and that users are able to take full advantage of network centricity. Gen. Shea noted that the department is discussing with industry and academia better ways of doing business. This includes how to ensure that the military can deal with the potential insider threat, he related. The general added that his office is working with the Joint Forces Command to incorporate information assurance and computer network defense objectives into all major joint training exercises.

Robert C. Thomas II, deputy chief information officer (CIO), U.S. Air Force, described five key Air Force network activities. The first is protection—to safeguard the networks. The second, innovate and transform, aims to discover emerging technologies and apply them. The third is to train the workforce so that it is equipped to support changing enterprise demands. The fourth is to defend the network by recognizing, reacting and responding to threats. The fifth is to operationalize security by integrating information assurance into the common operating plan. Thomas described two main challenges: one is to secure airborne Internet protocol (IP) networks, which would include ensuring quality of service; and the other is to secure coalition networks. This may require identification management and non-human IP enabling capabilities.

The Navy perspective was offered by Rear Adm. Elizabeth Hight, USN, assistant division director for command, control, communications and computers (C4), N61C, Naval Operations. She described how more and more ship captains are holding individuals accountable if they threaten the security of the network by action or inaction. The Navy also has established Cyber Condition Zebra throughout the service enforcing a network protection policy. By May 20—the day after TechNet’s end—any Navy organizations that do not meet security standards will be pulled from the network. Moving out of the security realm, Adm. Hight called for developing a culture for mobile ad-hoc networks.

Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, USA, CIO/G-6, U.S. Army, shifted the emphasis from security onto emerging technologies. He declared that wireless and voice over IP (VoIP) are the steroids that will change the world. The Defense Department is becoming so IP-based that any product lacking that characteristic probably will not play in the department. VoIP will mark the end of public switched telephony over the next 10 to 15 years, he predicted. And, new 802.XX-series wireless protocols coming out over the next two years will revolutionize communications of all kinds. The military cannot afford not to leverage the commercial world, Gen. Boutelle warranted.

Brig. Gen. (Sel.) George Allen, USMC, director, C4, and CIO, U.S. Marine Corps, gave a succinct presentation of Marine Corps C4 issues. Describing how the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet supports ashore facilities and the Marine Corps Xnet supports the forward deployed warfighter, Gen. Allen outlined the Corps goal as a fully meshed, end-to-end, trusted, protected network. The Marine Corps wants security “baked in, not just bolted on,” he declared.

Presenting the U.S. Coast Guard perspective was Nathaniel Heiner, deputy CIO, U.S. Coast Guard. Heiner described to the audience how the Coast Guard faces many of the same information operations and systems challenges confronting the other services, but the Coast Guard’s different missions and operational partners complicate potential solutions. Because it works with the Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement and state and local governments, the Coast Guard has interoperability issues that go far beyond those of the Defense Department. And, its serious security threats are local and unclassified, not necessarily foreign or classified. “Information warfare is here now, and it is domestic,” Heiner told the audience. “Criminals really want to know where our cutters are.”

—Coming Soon: Transformatoin TechNet, June 21-22, Hampton, Virginia.