The Integration of Civil Relief Agencies Into Network Centric Warfare

Abstract

Abstract : The U.S. military is currently in the process of undergoing a visionary transformation of its forces using technological advances with the goal of maintaining global superiority into and beyond the 21st century. The single most important technological advancement that will transform the military and allow it to attain full spectrum dominance will be the capability to effectively capture and integrate the vast amount of information on individual networks into a Common Operating Picture (COP). The military's vision is to accomplish this with Network Centric Warfare (NCW) through the integration of informational grids. The military, though, continues to maintain its focus narrowly on information obtained by military sources only and is neglecting to include another significant information source: civil relief agencies. In order to achieve true information superiority the information from thousands of civil relief agencies needs to be integrated into the COP. Over the past decade the U.S. military has been heavily involved with Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) which, by its nature, includes interaction with numerous civil relief agencies. Throughout all of these operations, the critical importance of efficiently sharing information between the military and these agencies has been proven over and over again. This is especially true in MOOTW, but as Operation Enduring Freedom has shown, it is also important in war. Therefore, to neglect developing methods to integrate the civil relief agencies' vital information into the COP could prove to be disastrous.