Center for Technology and National Security Policy

Information Technology Program

The basic concept behind this program is that information technology is the keystone for military transformation and network centric warfare. That has provided the US military capabilities demonstrated in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it raises four sets of related issues for the future which our project seeks to address.

The first issue is how do we stay ahead of potential military competitors when it is the commercial sector that is driving most of the innovation in this area. Competitors have access to that same commercial technology. Our IT program is pursuing several projects designed to allow our military to acquire more efficiently and more quickly new innovative technologies coming our of the commercial IT sector. This effort has been funded by Congress under a special pilot program.

The second issue is new uses for information technology for new missions such as stabilization and reconstruction operations and homeland security. It will suggest ways in which commercially available technologies could help.

The third issue is sharing information technology with our allies. If we are to fight together with allies and coalition partners in the future, we will need to be able to share information technologies with them, and to gain from their own experiences with network based operations.

The final issue is information assurance. These technologies that form the basis for our transforming military are vulnerable to disruption in various ways which could adversely affect US military capabilities. We have several projects designed to analyze this problem and to suggest possible solutions.

In phase one of this program we conducted more than a dozen workshops and studies on elements of these four issues, with a primary focus on the first. A list of completed projects can be found below. In the second phase, we hired a very senior study director with considerable experience in the Defense Department who in turn has commissioned several additional studies and is developing a briefing designed to pull together all aspects on this program. In a third phase, for fiscal year 2005, we would very systematically begin to share the results of these studies with industry and key elements of the Department of Defense in an effort to refine and implement our recommendations.

For the last three years, CTNSP has been pursuing a broad range of activities on ways to link advanced commercial information technologies (IT) to improved military capabilities. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) included language that requests that a report be provided that documents "...the results of the program and plans for future efforts with the submission of the fiscal year 2007 budget request to Congress." The January 2006 report is now available.

The list below is divided into three parts. The first part lists projects completed or nearly completed by NDU's Center for Technology and National Security Policy. The second part lists projects that either have just been initiated or planned for fiscal year 2005. The third part lists several related commissioned studies.

	Completed or nearly completed Projects:
	Creation of a matchmaking web site prototype (called EMISARS) designed to link the US IT industry more efficiently to the Department and the Services. The Office of Force Transformation and Joint Forces Command are both interested in implementing this project.
	A book on service, joint, and allied information technology plans and requirements.
	A study sampling emerging innovative technologies in the commercial sector that should enhance military capability.
	A survey of commercial IT industry attitudes designed to specify impediments to better industry-military cooperation.
	A series of workshops designed to share information between industry and the Services. CDs available.
	A conference on the nature of the commercial/military relationship in the IT area, designed to identify critical issues.
	A workshop and book on information assurance and military consequences.
	A series of three workshops (in cooperation with the NSC) on cyber security.
	A workshop on venture capital approaches to stimulating commercial innovation with military uses.
	A study and report on the defense labs and their ties with the commercial IT industry, with recommendations for improvement.
	A study on Chinese telecommunication challenges, and their possible military consequences.
	A study on transforming the US industrial base and the consequences for transatlantic industrial cooperation.
	Two studies on NATO's command and control arrangements and the role of information technology.
	A short essay on current export control policies.
	A publication on commercial computer games and their lessons for military war games.
	A study on the NATO Response Force, its information technology needs, and the impact of export controls.
	A study on the limits of information technology and the "end of Moore's Law."
	A study on computer simulations and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
	Workshop on Actions to Enhance the Use of Commerical Information Technology in DoD Systems
	A comprehensive briefing designed to pull together the various elements of this program.
	Newly initiated projects and projects planned for fiscal year 2005:
	Improvement in the EMISARS matchmaker website and transition to Joint Forces Command for implementation.
	Pursue the feasibility of expanding EMISARS to create a broader information network designed to encourage use of commercial IT innovations.
	Creation of an Industry/Defense Department advisory group to vet NDU conclusions and begin implementation of recommendations.
	A more detailed study on venture capital approaches to stimulating innovations useful to the military.
	A study on acquisition reform designed to speed IT acquisition, including a review of ACTDs as a possible model.
	A study on strategies to allow more rapid adaptation of IT into military platforms, including a review of standards, open architecture, and adaptive interfaces.
	A study on prime systems integrators and their use of information technologies.
	A study on European approaches to IT/military relationships, beginning with the Swedish model.
	Continuation of the cyber security association workshops in cooperation with the NSC.
	Additional studies on potential competitors and their ability to leapfrog with commercial IT capabilities.
	A further review of the need to change regulations, legislation and export controls to stimulate acquisition of commercial information technologies.
	Efforts to assist JFC and other regional commands to establish systems/procedures to enhance acquisition of commercial information technologies to meet their mission needs.
	A study on the application of information technologies to new DOD missions including post-high intensity combat operations, counter-terrorism, and homeland security (including the National Guard).
	In addition, NDU has commissioned related studies under a separate grant program, including the following:
	Transformational Information Capabilities (Pennsylvania State University).
	The Ability of the Defense Industry to Support Military Transformation (Yale University).
	The Role of Integrated Micro-laser Array Technology in Future Autonomous and Networked Battlefield Sensors (University of Delaware).
	US/European Military Capabilities: Can the Gap be Closed? (George Washington University).
	Planning and Analysis Tools for Large Scale Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Theoretical Bounds (Johns Hopkins University).
	Transforming NATO Forces to close the Military Capabilities Gap: the Role of Standards (University of Central Florida).

Opinions, conclusions and recommendations expressed or implied in these reports are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense.