Defense official: Changes necessary to meet 'net-centric' goals

The defense community's prevailing "information is power" attitude must evolve into "a culture that embraces and leverages the power of information," a senior Defense Department official told the Military Communications Conference on Tuesday.

The word shuffle is not insignificant, said John Grimes, assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration. "Information is not something some people want to give up," he said, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The "need to know" regime is changing to one that focuses on "the need to share," Grimes said. "We must be stewards of the information, not the owners." Connecting people with data leads to information, which leads to knowledge, he said.

The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, which is a central component in building a government defense strategy for the next 20 years, urged agencies to move from a threat-based acquisition regime to a capabilities-based one. "In a world of unknown challenges and unanticipated needs, focusing on capabilities is essential," Grimes said.

Attaining Defense's "network-centric goals" involves changing the way it does business and the way it acquires capabilities quicker and cheaper, based on commercial practices, Grimes said. "Some will impact your business models," he warned attendees, many of whom were from the private sector.

The Pentagon "must stop buying individual, highly tailored proprietary systems," and turn instead to vendors that can provide solutions for use within and across the military, he said.

Grimes, who is also Defense's chief information officer, said the military is shifting to a portfolio management concept, emphasizing managed services and service-oriented architectures, he said. A year ago, the catchphrase was "information assurance," but today he said "it's all about data."

Grimes said the Air Force and the Army have "embarked on that big time," honoring the leadership's data strategy guidelines, which sate state that information must be "visible, accessible and understandable."

Authorized users need to be able to find and tag data, as well as post and retrieve information easily on the military's networks, he said. "In other words, Google," he joked. "There are plenty of challenges ahead" in shaping a comprehensive U.S. defense plan, Grimes said, and a solid relationship with industry players is critical. "We can't get there alone. We need your technologies and ideas to cause this to happen."

An afternoon panel of Defense administrators took Grimes' point further by discussing how the shift toward "net-centricity" impacts industry. Speakers included Linton Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary for networks and information integration, and Deputy Assistant Secretaries Ron Jost, John Landon and Cheryl Roby.

Almost 5,000 attendees from 39 countries registered for the 25th annual conference, said Dave Bryan, the event's chairman and a vice president at Northrop Grumman.