Sly Fox: ASAS master analysts' support to Information Operations—communications

Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, Oct-Dec, 2003 by Matthew J. Nunn

This is the second of three articles discussing what the "SlyFox" brings to the Information Operation fight. The first article addressed Information Engineering, and the third will focus on analysis.

"Intelligence without Communications is Useless ... Communications without Intelligence is Noise."

--General Alfred M. Grey, USMC

The All-Source Analysis System (ASAS) Master Analyst receives extensive training in Communications Architecture. Communications provides the foundation and backbone for Information Engineering. Without efficient communications, intelligence won't be able to flow from the analysis and control element (ACE). When building the Communications Architecture the Master Analyst considers several factors:

[] Communications must be scaleable to support the volume and bandwidth of the information being received and transmitted.

[] Success will be based on medium- and high-capacity communications.

[] Effective use of communications requires proactive planning and technical knowledge.

[] Intelligence presented and how it is presented must be decided early in the planning process.

Communications Architecture

The process of planning the Communications Architecture begins by the Master Analyst's assessing its three building blocks: The systems, capacities, and protocols that will be used by the unit; its consumers and what will be required by the type and volume of information received; and the intelligence produced.

Systems

Systems that the Master Analyst has to consider during planning the Communications Architecture are broken down into three basic groups for simplicity--sensors, processors, consumers.

The first group is the sensors. Traditionally there have been a wide variety of sensors providing information into the ACE. These range from extraordinarily simple, to the latest space-age wonder system. An example is the requirement to receive basic SALUTE type reports (size, activity, location, unit, time, equipment) over a telephone or tactical radio, all the way to the latest high-speed, high-volume live imagery feed that could require its own communications pathway and individual workstation.

Second are the processors. Simply, these are any systems located in or in support of the ACE designed primarily to take the incoming data and process it into useable intelligence. Processors include but are not limited to the ASAS-Single Source, ASAS-All Source, ASAS-Remote Workstation (RWS), and ASAS-Light. The Master Analyst will also have to plan for the presence of other non-ASAS systems that might be located within the ACE.

Finally there are the "Consumers." These are systems inside and outside the ACE that will receive the intelligence produced by the processors. The range of consumer systems can be broad. It can be a personal computer that receives a graphic intelligence summary, a server that continuously has digital products posted to a web page, an ASAS-Light or other laptop system at brigade or battalion S2s, or even a non-MI system elsewhere in the Corps or Division that doesn't interface well with others. The Master Analyst maintains constant awareness of his consumer's systems, and their ability to receive the products the ACE produces.

Capacities

Capacities are as varied as the systems with which the Analyst Master has to deal. In addition to the raw capacity of the communications medium the ACE will use is the consideration of the portion of that capacity that various data, information, and products will require when moving through and around the ACE. Capacities internal to and external to the ACE vary, and can include those as low as 4.6 Kbps for a simple local area network (LAN) connection to pass text messages between systems; up to 56 Kbps to support multiple types of digital data moving among the ACE network; all the way through a T1 (1.544 Mbps) type circuit that can support multiple high-speed, high-capacity requirements such as video teleconference (VTC), and just about anywhere in between. As important as knowing the capacities of the systems passing information inside and outside the ACE, the Master Analyst must also know the relative capacity requirements of the products that will be transmitted to various consumers.

Protocols

Protocols are the type of communications that our various systems use to communicate to each other. The right protocol to use is normally considered hand-in-hand with the capacities required by the information being passed. The Master Analyst has to be intimately familiar with the protocols used to communicate between the systems on the network and with the communications servers. Most important to the Master Analyst are the--

[] Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) used by the ASAS-Tactical Communications Support Processor (TCSP) which allows transfer of most data types.

[] Digital Data Communications Message Protocol (DDCMP) which supplies serial (point-to-point) connections within the ACE through the Communications Network Server (CNS) 6300.