Intercepts
- By George I. Seffers
- May 07, 2001
Can We Talk?
Some warriors are just so impatient. Instead of counting on the information
technology fairy waving a digitization wand to make the Army Battle Command
System a reality, some Army commanders are racing to buy commercial products.
That could mean trouble on the future battlefield because units with individual — and likely incompatible — commercial systems will be unable to share information,
according to one high-ranking service official.
"Some of those who are low on the priority list for ABCS are going out
and buying their own homegrown solutions," the official said. "There's a
whole series of these surrogate solutions, potentially without commonality.
The question is, What will happen when III Corps shows up to the fight and
these guys can't talk to them?"
It's just the latest breakdown on the information superhighway, which
is always under construction.
Turtles and Bombs
As if the rivalry between American and Chinese Web site vandals was
not enough, the U.S. Navy may come under what could be described as a denial-of-service
attack now that it has resumed bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
Ben Ramos, who claims to be affiliated with an organization called ProLibertad,
recently posted the e-mail addresses of several Navy officials from Naval
Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico on an anti-NATO e-mail list. "The
above are e-mails that belong to several Navy officials and officers," Ramos
wrote. "Send them an e-mail demanding that the U.S. Navy leave Vieques
immediately. Spread these e-mails far and wide as well!!" Seems like harsh
treatment for a service that's saving sea turtles and providing sanctuary
for blackbirds. See www.navstarr.navy.mil for details.
Multibillion $ Crypto
The Interceptor's supersecret 21st century signals intelligence device
has heard that the National Security Agency is expected to move forward
with a classified program for cryptologic mission management. The effort,
likely valued at several billion dollars, would involve the entire intelligence
community.
Although he could not discuss details, Harry Gatanas, the senior acquisition
official for the Defense Department's spy agency, said on May 2 that he
would make a decision on the plan later that day during a meeting of a multiagency
intelligence acquisition review board. More details will be available once
the Interceptor gets the upgrade for his Batman decoder ring.
Later, My.AirForce
The Air Force is in danger of missing its June deadline for having all
combat support functions available on the Air Force portal, My.AirForce,
according to Lt. Gen. John Woodward, Air Force deputy chief information
officer. "I'm not sure we're going to make that, but we're gonna make a
bunch" available, Woodward told the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Armed
Forces Communications and Electronics Association during an April 25 lunch.
Currently, about 95 applications are available, and Woodward said another
205 should be available within two months.
And the Winner Is...
The Army's $680 million Wholesale Logistics Modernization Program won
awards in all three categories in the first annual Army Materiel Command
Partnering Awards Program. WLMP won top honors in the overall partnering
program category. Jeff Plotnick, Computer Sciences Corp.'s WLMP program
manager, was recognized in the individual contractor category, and the Communications-Electronics
Command's Larry Asch, also with WLMP, won in the government employee category.
CSC is modernizing the Army's wholesale logistics systems with state-of-the-art
enterprise resource planning applications.
Intercept something? Send it to antenna@fcw.com.