Defense Science Board Outlines Ways To Shift Technologically from Cold War Appro

Gestart door Lex, 13/03/2007 | 21:41 uur

Lex

The Cold War is over, the Defense Science Board notes in a report on "21st Century Strategic Technology Ventures," and it's time DoD's technology programs recognize this, a new report says.
As the 21st century sees the old fight against communist totalitarianism morph into a Global War on Terror, warfighters will have to gather and extract "actionable information hidden in massive [amounts of] data much more rapidly than is done today," the report states.
Warfighters will have to have available technology which allows them to "shape behaviors of others in pre-, intra- and post-conflict situations," through the use of "immersive gaming environments, automated language processing, and human, social cultural and behavior modeling," according to DSB task force co-chairs Theodore S. Gold and William R. Graham, writing in their introduction to the report.
"A key enabler to all of these capabilities is the availability of ubiquitous, secure, reliable, rapid connectivity among all the sources and users of information," Graham and Gold stated. At the same time, "the U.S. government and its defense industry partners no longer are at the leading edge of most of the militarily relevant technologies." Instead, the authors claim, "international commercial industries and markets" have the lead, and DoD "must further modify its processes and practices for technology planning, and [for] transitioning technology into capabilities."
Instead of the "one major, relatively slow-changing, but individually formidable adversary" presented by the former Soviet Union, today's military forces "will be called upon to perform a wide range of missions," the co-chairs said.
Those missions "present different challenges calling for highly adaptive military forces," the report continues, with a common feature "the increased responsibility placed on junior leaders and the small teams they lead."
Read the full report online:

Volume 1: http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/ATT00149.pdf
Volume 2: http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/ATT00152.pdf

By MARK A. KELLNER
Army Times
Posted 03/12/07 22:13