Recent comments made by Joint Chiefs Vice Chairmen General James Cartwright regarding the DoD IT procurement process highlight problems that the tactical warfighter has been lamenting for some time: it takes too long, and there are too many obstacles, for IT solutions to be implemented within the current DoD procurement structure.
Modern communications technologies develop faster than we can comprehend, and we don’t know where or when the next Twitter or Facebook will pop up. However, with the current state of affairs, the DoD will never know because folks that work within the DoD networks don’t have access to the majority of these applications, or by the time they get access they are obsolete.
Cartwright commented that, “It’s not technology. This is culture. This is the imperative to change and be convinced that the imperative is real and will advantage us.” Given Cartwright’s position, the target of his comments was most likely the strategic procurement thinker.
However, those comments ring true at the tactical level as well. When a warfighter uses Web 2.0 tools to “move, shoot, and communicate,” but has to work around the network to utilize those tools, we have a problem.
Because many popular Web 2.0 tools are blocked from DoD networks, we effectively quash the creative ability of the warfighter to find unique solutions to the difficult problem of waging modern warfare.
Those that would do us harm use Web 2.0 tools against us. Denying the warfighter access to these tools because of “security” risks, or a lumbering Cold War era procurement process, is not the solution.
The solution is to open the network and allow the collective brain power of the force to work through the difficult challenge of utilizing these powerful tools, but tailoring them for the, sometimes, sensitive nature of DoD work.
Also check out:
Cyber Attacks on Government Networks and Web 2.0
Thinking About Gov 2.0
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