Information Sharing In Military Operations

This volume explores the interpersonal, organizational, and technological enablers and barriers to information and intelligence sharing in multinational and multiagency military, humanitarian, and counterterrorism operations. To this end the contributions present case studies and other empirical research. UN and special operations headquarters are studied, along with multinational operations in Mali, Iraq, and Afghanistan by the UN and by U.S. Central Command. Perennial themes are the need for a holistic approach to information sharing—one that incorporates all the above enablers—and the importance of learning from experience, which should be the basis for operational planning. There is still considerable ground to be gained in enhancing the efficacy of information sharing in the context of defense and security, and the present book contributes to this goal.

New information technologies introduced into military operations provide the impetus to explore alternative operating procedures and command structures. New concepts such as network-centric operations and distributed and decentralised command and control have been suggested as technologically enabled replacements for platform-centric operations and for centralised command and control. As attractive as these innovations seem, it is important that military planners responsibly test these concepts before their adoption. To do this, models, simulations, exercises, and experiments are necessary to allow proper scientific analysis based on the development of both theory and experiment. The primary objective of this work is to propose a theoretical method to assess the effects of information gathering and collaboration across an information network on a group of local decision-making elements (parts of, or a complete, headquarters). The effect is measured in terms of the reduction in uncertainty about the information elements deemed critical to the decisions to be taken.

The DoD has numerous intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems ¿ including manned and unmanned airborne, space-borne, maritime, and terrestrial systems ¿ that play critical roles in support of current military operations. The demand for these capabilities has increased dramatically. This testimony addresses: (1) the challenges the military services and defense agencies face processing, exploiting, and disseminating the information collected by ISR systems; and (2) the extent to which the military services and defense agencies have developed the capabilities required to share ISR information. The auditor visited numerous commands, military units, and locations in Iraq and the U.S. Illustrations.

As the world enters a new millennium, the U.S. military simultaneously enters a new era in warfare -- an era in which warfare is affected by a changing strategic environment and rapid technological change. The United States and its multinational partners are experiencing a transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Simultaneously, it is fully engaged in a global war on terrorism set in a new period of globalization. These changes, as well as the experiences gained during recent and ongoing military operations, have resulted in the current drive to transform the force with network-centric warfare (NCW) as the centerpiece of this effort. This document describes how the tenets and principles of NCW are providing the foundation for developing new warfighting concepts, organizations, and processes that will allow U.S. forces to maintain a competitive advantage over potential adversaries, now and in the future. In sum, the report provides an overview of the ongoing implementation of NCW in the Department of Defense (DoD). A brief description of NCW, including its origins, its central role in force transformation, its tenets and principles, and an implementation strategy, are provided in Chapter 1. An examination of NCW as an emerging theory of war, its relationship to the four domains of Information Age warfare, the growing evidence of its benefits, and the warfighting advantages it can provide are examined in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on network-centric operations (NCO), including the relationship of NCO to the overarching Joint Operations Concepts (JOpsC), the NCO experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, the development of the NCO Conceptual Framework, and the conduct of NCO case studies. An overview of Joint and Service plans and initiatives to develop and implement network-centric capabilities and the growing investment in these capabilities by our allies and multinational partners are provided in Chapter 4.

To offer security in the maritime domain, governments around the world need the capabilities to directly confront common threats like piracy, drug-trafficking, and illegal immigration. No single navy or nation can do this alone. Recognizing this new international security landscape, the former Chief of Naval Operations called for a collaborative international approach to maritime security, initially branded the "1,000-ship Navy." This concept envisions U.S. naval forces partnering with multinational, federal, state, local and private sector entities to ensure freedom of navigation, the flow of commerce, and the protection of ocean resources. This new book from the National Research Council examines the technical and operational implications of the "1,000-ship Navy," as they apply to four levels of cooperative efforts: U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and merchant shipping only; U.S. naval and maritime assets with others in treaty alliances or analogous arrangements; U.S. naval and maritime assets with ad hoc coalitions; and U.S. naval and maritime assets with others than above who may now be friendly but could potentially be hostile, for special purposes such as deterrence of piracy or other criminal activity.

Provides answers to some of the fundamental questions regarding network-centric warfare (NCW) as an emerging theory of war in the Information Age. Describes how the tenets and principles of NCW are providing the foundation for developing new warfighting concepts, organizations, and processes that will allow our forces to maintain a competitive advantage over potential adversaries, now and in the future. Provides an overview of the ongoing implementation of NCW in the Department of Defense (DoD).

Advances in information technology have led us to rely on easy communication and readily available information--both in our personal lives and in the life of our nation. For the most part, we have rightly welcomed these changes. But information that is readily available is available to friend and foe alike; a system that relies on communication can become useless if its ability to communicate is interfered with or destroyed. Because this reliance is so general, attacks on the information infrastructure can have widespread effects, both for the military and for society. And such attacks can come from a variety of sources, some difficult or impossible to identify. This, the third volume in the Strategic Appraisal series, draws on the expertise of researchers from across RAND to explore the opportunities and vulnerabilities inherent in the increasing reliance on information technology, looking both at its usefulness to the warrior and the need to protect its usefulness for everyone. The Strategic Appraisal series is intended to review, for a broad audience, issues bearing on national security and defense planning.

The Center for Technology and National Security Policy has investigated how the Department of Defense can enhance its engagement with the commercial market while meeting requirements for operations. A chief complaint from information technology companies is that they do not know what the services need. This report is a primer for commercial providers to gain some understanding of the military's thinking about military information technology and some of the programs it foresees for the future. Chapter 1 focuses on the development of critical technologies required for ground tactical operations. It presents the Army's efforts to enhance data and information exchange among systems of systems on the battlefield. Key among these is the development of mobile ad hoc networks and applications. The discussion in Chapter 2 emphasizes the technical objectives of the Navy's FORCEnet to meet its operational capabilities, characterized broadly as Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing. The chapter focuses on the functionalities that FORCEnet requires and the technologies needed to produce these functions. Chapter 3 discusses activities in the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Battle Labs that support the Joint Battlespace Infosphere. Chapter 4 provides a detailed overview of the issues and requirements necessary to insure that networking and information sharing occurs across the services. This chapter characterizes the nature of the interoperability problem, describes recent initiatives to ameliorate interoperability shortfalls, and identifies interoperability challenges. The unique problem of sharing information with allies and changing coalitions is addressed in Chapter 5 in the context of NATO operations. The chapter describes NATO's efforts to move into an age of information-intensive military operations with particular attention on political decision-making, and the command and control of distant multinational operations.