Department Of Defense Activities Research Articles

Operation Warp Speed and the Countermeasures Acceleration Group— A Twenty-first Century Manhattan Project: Preliminary Observations on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Role in the Supply, Production, and Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics

On 15 May 2020, Operation Warp Speed, later renamed the HHSDOD COVID-19 Countermeasures Acceleration Group (CAG), was a collaboration between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the private sector to accelerate development, production, and distribution of effective vaccines and therapeutics to counter COVID-19 for the American people. The CAG was the nucleus of the “whole-of-America” effort to defeat COVID-19, and DOD’s contribution was essential to the success of the CAG. This article highlights the contributions made by DOD, with a focus on innovative solutions and best practices that might apply to other DOD activities.

A new mission: Mainstreaming climate adaptation in the US Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) recognizes growing climate risks across its responsibilities as land manager, operator of hundreds of installations, and in its core mission to protect national security. However, DoD climate risk reduction is complicated by frequent leadership turnover among base commanders, which encourages focus on near-term challenges, and changing US government priorities that downplay climate risk. We used risk-based deliberation, through workshops, with climate scenario-based fire and flood impact modeling to evaluate risk and adaptation opportunities at bases in the southwestern United States. We found that success in working with Defense installations hinges on linking risks of increasing climate-related impacts to DoD’s ability to achieve its mission objectives at installations. Workshop participants offered insights into barriers to adaptation, including access to decision-makers in a hierarchical organization, leadership focus on near-term challenges, insufficient training or capacity to integrate climate information into short and long-term decisions, and rapid turnover in leadership. We also found opportunities for mainstreaming climate risk management into DoD activities, including emphasizing risks to DoD’s mission, opportunities to form symbiotic partnerships with external partners, and the potential for standardized procedures for considering physical climate risks that could be integrated across the DoD to achieve longer-term solutions to climate change challenges.

“Boots on the ground” state-building: Using Action Research to improve local governance in Afghanistan

This paper explains how the authors applied Action Research during Operation Enduring Freedom in the course of U.S. Department of Defense operations intended to improve local governance in Afghanistan. Serving as civilian field researchers in 2011–2012, we were tasked, in part, with observing how informal custom and authority interacted with the functioning of local government. Assisted greatly by Action Research’s participatory nature, we were able to systematically develop a crucial relationship with an influential government official in a rural area. The partnership that resulted ultimately led to the implementation of planning procedures that were well suited to meet the needs of the district and more transparent to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and entities working with the U.S. Department of Defense. We argue that adopting and training for Action Research would increase the probability of success for current and future “non-lethal” U.S. Department of Defense activities.

An Ever-Expanding War: Legal Aspects of Online Strategic Communication

Nearly eight years after 9/11, senior US leadership is redefining the war on terrorism as a global counterinsurgency effort, one that requires both kinetic force and indirect, smart power collaboration by civilian agencies. Department of Defense has taken on many of these burdens that might have been assumed by civilian agencies in the past, said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Forced by circumstances, our brave men and women in uniform have stepped up to the task, with field artillerymen and tankers building schools and mentoring city councils--usually in a language they don't speak.... But it is no replacement for the real thing, civilian involvement and expertise. (1) Although the requirement for interagency cooperation is a neartruism of US national security policy today, finding the appropriate role for the Department of Defense (DOD) remains a key challenge. This article examines one aspect of activities that potentially overlap with other government departments, DOD's growing involvement in the battle of ideas. (2) Much consternation exists in the foreign policy community regarding DOD's expansion into missions traditionally performed by civilian agencies. (3) A small but critical example of this growth involves DOD's efforts to use the Internet to craft a positive perception abroad, while attacking the ideological underpinnings of terrorism. (4) In mid 2007, the Department of Defense issued policies authorizing commanders to engage foreign audiences via online interactive methods, such as texting, blogging, e-mail, and regionally focused Web sites. (5) The guidance was in direct response to long-standing complaints from the ten regional and functional Combatant Commanders that a terrorist could post videos of a beheading or other form of extremist propaganda, unhindered by policy considerations, whereas US commanders had to navigate hurdles to get psychological operations (PSYOP) videos and themes approved. (6) A key issue is whether these online activities, while critical to overall American strategic communication efforts, are properly characterized as that make use of DOD funding. DOD's communication activities are increasingly separated in time and space from a kinetic mission; are directed at broad, cross-regional audiences; and, on their face, appear more like a public diplomacy campaign than a military program. (7) It would be unfair to fault DOD for its involvement in such hybrid activities. The Department is arguably filling a need where resource-strapped civilian agencies might be falling short. PSYOP are a key aspect of counterinsurgency efforts. As former participants in and now observers of DOD's expanding communication portfolio, the authors are particularly aware of the argument that the US government needs to respond in real time to extremist propaganda in order to thwart violent extremism and lessen the need for military intervention. Yet DOD's expansion into the field of interactive communication is troubling on two counts. First, once the Department no longer labels its communication measures as PSYOR it potentially subverts its own statutory authorities to conduct such programs. The Department has limited authorities to engage foreign audiences, and PSYOP are the principal authorized mechanism to do so. In legal terms, in order to justify the use of appropriated funds, DOD activities are required to support a DOD-specific and not conflict with the responsibility of another agency. (8) Once DOD stops calling interactive communication activities PSYOP and undertakes functions similar to those of another department, the mission becomes less defined. Second, DOD may be encroaching upon the Department of State's to engage foreign audiences. The two departments' missions, while overlapping, are distinct. DOD's is one of influence; the State Department's is one of relationship-building and dialogue. …

The development of communications standards in the DoD

IN RECOGNITION of the extreme importance of standardization within the Federal Government, Congress passed the Federal Cataloging and Standardization Act in 1952. Immediately thereafter, the Department of Defense (DoD) established the Defense Standardization Program, with the purpose of meeting the intent of Congress within the Department of Defense. This article briefly describes the aims, policy issues, problems, and philosophy of the Defense Standardization Program, and then elaborates on the workings of the Program with respect to communications standards. The article then goes on to describe the development and methods of coordination for long-haul, tactical, and common communications standards. Following this, brief descriptions of the DoD Operation and Maintenance Standards are provided. The article then continues with a treatment of the DoD Data Protocol Standards Program. In order for data networks to be efficient and reliable, a viable set of protocol standards must be developed for their use. This portion of the article describes the DoD needs in protocol standards, how it has organized to meet these needs, and concludes with a description of future DoD efforts in this area. The article then concludes with a summary of other standardization activities which impact the DoD's standardization programs and activities.

The geodetic activities of the Department of Defense under IGY programs

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) programs have special significance to geodesists. The IGY witnessed the launching of the first manmade earth satellite and the beginning of the era of global geodesy. It is no wonder that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with its global geodesy requirements developed an early interest in satellite geodesy. Specifically, this led to the use of early satellites of opportunity (and subsequently of dedicated satellites) for worldwide navigation, geodetic positioning, and gravimetric investigations. In conjunction with other civilian satellite programs under the IGY, DoD played a major role in the achievement of geodetic goals perhaps far beyond that which was envisioned originally. An early satellite program was the project ANNA with the basic concept originating from the DoD. ANNA, a truly cooperative effort, involved the three defense services, NASA, and other civilian agencies. Other examples under satellite programs included many camera and electronic measuring techniques, especially the U.S. Navy's Doppler system, the Army's SECOR, and the pioneering development of laser illuminating and ranging experiments by the Air Force. On this occasion marking the 25th anniversary of the IGY, this article recalls some of the DoD activities of the initial years that fulfilled the geodetic objectives of the IGY and highlights those activities that grew out of the IGY to become today's technology.

The department of defense data protocol standardization program

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has, for some years now, been pursuing the objective of implementing a new data communications system responsive to its requirements. In consonance with this goal, it has also been heavily involved in developing data communications protocol standards. It has participated in related research, test, and development of a Transmission Control Protocol and an Internet Protocol and has plans for developing other protocols in layers 4–7 of the OSI model. This paper is essentially structured into two parts. The first part will provide background information for the DoD protocol standardization program, which describes policy issues, status, and problems inherent in the development of such a program. This background description is then followed by an outline of current DoD planning for future work in this area. The point being made here is that the DoD by virtue of its needs, investigations, and accomplishments to date, is eminently qualified to contribute significantly to the development of data protocol standards. The second part of the paper describes the actual current DoD activities for developing data protocol standards, as well as its efforts to coordinate with NATO, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), and commercial standards groups.

Military Committee Membership in the House of Representatives and the Allocation of Defense Department Outlays

IT IS A RARE and notable event when a congressman opposes the location of a federal project in his district. Such boons usually mean both increased employment and a stimulus to the local economy. Department of Defense (DOD) contracts and installations, given their frequently mammoth proportions, are among the most coveted of these federal activities. With but a few exceptions congressmen fight to protect existing district interests (e.g., notice the outcry from the local representative whenever a base closing or contract termination is threatened) and, whenever possible, they seek to promote new and expanded constituency involvements in DOD activities.