Content provided in partnership with
Government Industry
Information operations as a core competency
Joint Force Quarterly, Dec, 2004 by Christopher J. Lamb
* The IO Center of Excellence, located at the Naval Postgraduate School, will focus on executive and professional development, curricular conferences, and assistance with exercises, joint doctrine, distributed learning, and outreach to the IO community.
Consolidated Analytic Support
As noted above, some core capabilities require a foundation of hard analysis in peacetime to be well executed. Rapid analytic support is also needed during conflict as targets emerge and original assumptions are proven false. The need to adjust fire quickly has always been vital to PSYOP. Nimble analysis is also required to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with CNO and EW. As EA-6B pilots discovered in Afghanistan, the target one trains for may prove not to be a problem (in this case, integrated enemy air defenses). Rapid analytic support can help reconfigure EW capabilities to unexpected target sets.
- Most Popular Articles in News
- The Ten Best Laptop bags
- Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market
- GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
- Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...
- THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY
- More »
While conventional capabilities and target sets benefit from a solid, integrated analytic support base, IO does not. Combatant command staffs cannot produce sufficiently rapid solutions for tailored information effects due to lack of organic staff expertise and a single center in the continental United States facilitating integration of IO analysis, planning, and targeting. Multiple studies and operational experience have documented these shortfalls, and the roadmap recommends fixing the problem promptly. Resources have already been obligated.
The roadmap tasks STRATCOM with developing a joint integrative analysis and planning capability (JIAPC) to provide timely analysis, planning, and targeting in support of combatant commander IO requirements. JIAPC consists of an integrated network of analysis centers under STRATCOM leadership with the mandate to provide holistic support to commanders. It draws on the Electromagnetic-Space Analysis Center at the National Security Agency and the Human Factors Analysis Center at the Defense Intelligence Agency to provide intelligence and characterize IO targets. It uses the expertise at the Joint Information Operations Center to assist with planning and draws on the Joint Warfighting Analysis Center and other sources to support targeting. STRATCOM will oversee the integration of the analysis from these centers and ensure that they are responsive to combatant commander requirements. While it will take time to fully implement the JIAPC concept, the command already has funding to improve the virtual collaboration between the analysis centers.
Improving Core Capabilities
Many recommendations in the roadmap address means to enhance each of the five core IO capabilities. Following is an overview of the main ideas:
Develop a defense in depth strategy for network defense. Computer networks are increasingly an operational center of gravity as the military transforms into an information centric force. DOD needs a robust, layered defense based on global and enclave situational awareness with a centralized capability to rapidly characterize, attribute, and respond to attacks. Such a defense in depth strategy should operate on the premise that the Department will "fight the net" as it would a weapon system or other joint force capability with a priority for battlefield performance. The net must be considered a priority asset, used accordingly, and be sufficiently protected to absorb hits without suffering catastrophic failure. Since the network will presumably come under attack, the warfighter must expect some degradation and be prepared to fight on while network defenders reconstitute the network.
