Riding the Information-Revolution Tiger - development and implementation of military information technologies by Armed Forces

Aerospace Power Journal, Fall, 2001 by LOUIS E. McNAMARA JR.

The second issue to be considered is asymmetric strategies. Even though many world economies are growing, the ability or desire of some nations to spend the money for research and development or acquisition of key RMA technologies has declined. Therefore, countries that are unable or unwilling to invest in key technologies, such as Iraq, North Korea, or various countries in the Balkans, will likely consider asymmetric strategies such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, information warfare, and others. During the recent Kosovo operation then-president Slobodan Milosevic adopted an asymmetric approach. President Milosevic was hoping to create a humanitarian crisis, ending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation by cleansing Kosovo of ethnic Albanians and fracturing alliance cohesion. The effectiveness of asymmetric strategies in countering new technologies is still uncertain, but anticipating asymmetric challenges in future conflicts is a must.

Therefore, the JV 2010 view that improved [C.sup.2] can be "assured" by information superiority should be expanded. More consideration should be given to the possibility that technology diffusion and asymmetric strategies of the future could prevent the United States from achieving an unimpaired stream of high-quality information necessary for decision making. Expansion could include training exercises that incorporate an "enemy" capable of conducting information warfare against us. The scenario could incorporate a "denial of service" attack on a base server, saturating it with requests for information similar to what happened to Yahoo in February 2000. These types of scenarios would allow decision makers to train in a hostile and realistic environment.

The current information-technology revolution provides the opportunity to build a [C.sup.2] system for the twenty-first century that will provide high-quality, relevant information to commanders significantly faster than their opponents will be able to acquire it. A net advantage in decision cycle time would allow the United States to achieve economy of force, mass, and maneuver that are superior to that of its enemies. For example, during Desert Storm, a joint surveillance, target attack radar system (JSTARS) aircraft was able to track Iraq's vehicle and troop movements over the entire battlefield. JSTARS provided the timely, accurate information on Iraqi force positions essential to our quick defeat of Iraq's forces at Al-Khafji.

Strategy

To determine future [C.sup.2] needs, we need to consider challenges in our strategic environment and deduce the corresponding military implications influencing future [C.sup.2] systems. According to the 1997 US National Military Strategy, the principal threats to American security are "regional dangers, asymmetric challenges, transnational dangers, and wild cards." [6] These challenges paint a picture of future warfare characterized by terrorism and indeterminable warning times. Conflicts will be fought in uncertain environments against countless and diverse adversaries, using weapons of mass destruction as leverage against the United States. [7]