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David Stephen Alberts (born 1942) is a former American Director of Research for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (NII). [1]
David S. Alberts did his undergraduate work was at City College of New York where he received a bachelor's of arts degree in statistics in 1964. He received a master's degree in 1966 and a doctorate in operations research in 1968 from the University of Pennsylvania. [2]
Alberts' academic career has included serving as first director of the Computer Science Program at New York University and has held professional rank posts at the NYU Graduate School of Business, the City University of New York, and most recently as a research professor at George Mason University. [2]
He was the director of Advanced Concepts, Technologies, and Information Strategies; deputy director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, and the executive agent for Department of Defense Command and Control Research Program. This included responsibility for the Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology and the School of Information Warfare and Strategy at the National Defense University.
Dr. Alberts has chaired numerous international and national conferences and symposia and has authored or co-authored many publications, some of which are included in tutorials given by the IEEE and other professional societies. He has served as an officer in a number of professional societies and has contributed to AIAA, MORS, TIMS, AFCEA, and ORSA.[ clarification needed ] At the local level, Alberts has served as Assistant to the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department.
Honors have included the Secretary of Defense's Outstanding Public Service Award, Aviation Week and Space Technology's Government/Military Laurel, and the inaugural Network Centric Warfare Award for Best Contribution to the Theory of NCW presented by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. [3]
He is currently the president of the International Command and Control Institute (IC2I), a non-profit dedicated to ensuring that the body of literature created and inspired by the Department of Defense Command and Control Research Program remains accessible to researchers. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally funded research and development center. His current research focuses on the relationships and inter-dependencies between and among approaches to C2 and Governance, composite network characteristics and performance, automation and autonomy, and cyber.
In his book entitled The Agility Advantage, [4] he proposes "agility" as the measure of choice for organizations, collections of organizations, processes, systems, and individuals engaged in complex endeavors (e.g. civil-military, cyber-security, economic development). A NATO research group, chaired by Dr. Alberts was formed to explore the ideas put forth in The Agility Advantage. In 2013, this group (SAS-085) completed its final report [5] which received the 2014 NATO Scientific Achievement Award. In C2 Re-Envisioned: The Future of the Enterprise (2015), a collaboration with co-authors Marius Vassiliou and John R. Agre [6] identifies and discusses four interrelated megatrends that are shaping the current practice of C2 and the challenges enterprises are and will continue to face in the 21st century. This book includes an analysis of historical examples and experimental evidence to identify the ways that C2 can go wrong. It presents a set of conclusions regarding the ways to get C2 right. The book was published in Chinese in 2017.
He co-authored an article with Mark E. Nissen, which was published in the International C2 Journal, entitled Toward Harmonizing Command and Control with Organization and Management Theory. [7] Another recent article Agility, Focus and Convergence: The Future of Command and Control challenges not only long-held command and control beliefs but the very language of command and control itself. [8]
In early 2010, he developed a comprehensive educational campaign to remedy the lack of awareness and understanding of the nature of 21st century missions, Networked Enabled Capability (NEC), and the implications for Command and Control (C2) and intelligence.[ citation needed ] The overall objective is to develop the widespread awareness and in-depth understanding necessary to accelerate a “network-centric” transformation of existing C2I organizations, processes, and systems to make them more effective and efficient. This campaign involves the development of curricula, courses, educational materials, and experimental environments that provide students with “hands-on” opportunities to experience a variety of network-enabled capabilities and network-enabled C2 (NEC2) under different mission-related scenarios and circumstances is the first such offering. The C2-related educational materials he created, the Network Enabled Command and Control (NEC2) Short Course, consists of 8 course modules. Each can be accessed and downloaded from the CCRP website (NEC2 Short Modules).
Alberts has chaired a number of NATO research groups, the latest of which is SAS-143 that is developing a conceptual framework for Multi-Domain C2 and using this framework to explore the C2 implication of 1) operating in contested cyber environments and 2) incorporating increasingly sophisticated non-human intelligent collaborators into organizations and teams. A previous NATO Research Group, completed in 2013, focused on validating C2 Agility using case studies and experiments ( NATO-TR-SAS-085) [9] This group received the prestigious 2014 NATO Scientific Achievement Award. The group's findings have important implications for the future of military organizations and the operations they undertake. Their final report is posted on the DoD CCRP website. [10] Previous NATO groups he has chaired have produced a series of seminal C2-related works, including: the NATO NEC C2 Maturity Model [11] the NATO Code of Best Practice for C2 Assessment,] [12] and the NATO Code of Best Practice: Experimentation. [13]
Alberts is credited with helping to provide the intellectual foundation for an Information Age transformation of military institutions. [14] [15] His works include:
In 1999,Command Arrangements for Peace Operations and Complexity, Global Politics, and National Security were suggested for The Airpower Professional’s Book Club Top Ten List. [16]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA provides information technology (IT) and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military services, the combatant commands, and any individual or system contributing to the defense of the United States.
The United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. Ray Odierno and the Command Senior Enlisted was Marine Sergeant Major Bryan B. Battaglia. As directed by the President to identify opportunities to cut costs and rebalance priorities, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended that USJFCOM be disestablished and its essential functions reassigned to other unified combatant commands. Formal disestablishment occurred on 4 August 2011.
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantage through the computer networking of dispersed forces. It was pioneered by the United States Department of Defense in the 1990s.
Mission-type tactics is a method of command and delegation where the military commander gives subordinate leaders a clearly-defined objective, high-level details such as a timeframe, and the forces needed to accomplish that objective. The subordinate leaders are given the planning initiative and freedom of execution: they decide on the methods to achieve the objective independently. This allows a high degree of flexibility at the operational and tactical levels of command, which allows for faster decision-making on the ground and frees the higher leadership from managing the tactical details to concentrate on the strategic picture. This may be contrasted with "Befehlstaktik" or command-type tactics.
NetOps is defined as the operational framework consisting of three essential tasks, Situational Awareness (SA), and Command & Control (C2) that the Commander (CDR) of US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), in coordination with DoD and Global NetOps Community, employs to operate, manage and defend the Global Information Grid (GIG) to ensure information superiority for the United States.
Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is a military command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 2003 after restructuring.
John Joseph Garstka is the acting CISO for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense
Mission command, also referred to as mission-type tactics, is a style of military command, which is derived from the Prussian-pioneered mission-type tactics doctrine, combines centralized intent with decentralized execution subsidiarity, and promotes freedom and speed of action, and initiative within defined constraints. Subordinates, understanding the commander's intentions, their own missions, and the context of those missions, are told what effect they are to achieve and the reason that it needs to be achieved. Subordinates then decide within their delegated freedom of action how best to achieve their missions. Orders focus on providing intent, control measures, and objectives and allow for greater freedom of action by subordinate commanders. Mission command is closely related to civilian management concept of workplace empowerment, and its use in business has been explored by writers such as Bungay (2011) and Tozer. It is advocated but not always used by the militaries of the United States, Canada, Netherlands, Australia and the United Kingdom. Mission command is compatible with modern military net-centric concepts, and less centralized approaches to command and control (C2) in general.
Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a military strategy which integrates multiple armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, cyber and outer space to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, timeframe and other factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly armed forces, infrastructure, weather, terrain, and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest.
Command and control is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... [that] employs human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or enterprise, according to a 2015 definition by military scientists Marius Vassiliou, David S. Alberts, and Jonathan R. Agre. The term often refers to a military system.
Concept development and experimentation (CD&E) is the application of the structure and methods of experimental science to the challenge of developing future military capability.
The Command and Control Research Program (CCRP) was an active DoD Research Program from 1994 to 2015. It was housed within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (NII) and it focused upon (1) improving both the state of the art and the state of the practice of command and control (C2) and (2) enhancing DoD's understanding of the national security implications of the Information Age. It provides "Out of the Box" thinking and explores ways to help DoD take full advantage of Information Age opportunities. The CCRP served as a bridge between the operational and technical communities and enhanced the body of knowledge and research infrastructure needed for future progress.
Power to the edge refers to the ability of an organization to dynamically synchronize its actions; achieve command and control (C2) agility; and increase the speed of command over a robust, networked grid. The term is most commonly used in relation to military organizations, but it can equally be used in a civilian context.
Swarming is a battlefield tactic designed to maximize target saturation, and thereby overwhelm or saturate the defences of the principal target or objective. Defenders can overcome attempts at swarming by launching counter-swarming measures that are designed to neutralize or otherwise repel such attacks.
For military strategy, intent is the desired outcome of a military operation. It is a key concept in 21st century military operations and is a vital element to facilitate subordinates' initiative and collaboration and cooperation amongst team members in joint operations.
Information Assurance Technology Analysis Center (IATAC) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Government Organization. IATAC is an Information Assurance and Cyber Security (CS) Information Analysis Center (IAC), which is administered by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
Marius Vassiliou is an American computational scientist, geophysicist, and aerospace executive. He is also an authority on the history of petroleum. Vassiliou is of Greek Cypriot descent and was educated at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (PhD).
Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Information Analysis Center (IAC) sponsored by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). The CSIAC is a consolidation of three predecessor IACs: the Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS), the Information Assurance Technology IAC (IATAC) and the Modeling & Simulation IAC (MSIAC), with the addition of the Knowledge Management and Information Sharing technical area.
David A. Deptula is the Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power Studies, and a senior scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy's Center for Character and Leadership Development. He transitioned from the U.S. Air Force in 2010 at the rank of Lieutenant General after more than 34 years of service. Deptula was commissioned in 1974 as a distinguished graduate from The University of Virginia Air Force ROTC program, and remained to complete a master's degree in 1976. During his military career he took part in operations, planning, and joint warfighting at unit, major command, service headquarters and combatant command levels, and also served on two congressional commissions outlining America's future defense posture. He was a principal author of the original Air Force White Paper "Global Reach—Global Power". In the early 1990s he was instrumental in the formation and development of the concept later known as "effects-based operations", having successfully applied it in building the attack plans for the Operation Desert Storm air campaign. He has been cited as having "... fostered the most significant change in the conduct of aerial warfare since Billy Mitchell...Deptula’s framework influenced the successful air campaigns in Operations Allied Force, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. Today, joint targeting cells and Air Force doctrine reflect Deptula's theory of airpower and the changing nature of warfare." Deptula is one of 12 airmen singled out in Airpower Pioneers: From Billy Mitchell to Dave Deptula. He is also the subject of a more detailed review of his contributions to the development of airpower in America's Airman: David Deptula and the Airpower Moment.
The International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (ICCRTS) is one of the world's premier scientific conferences on topics related to Command and Control (C2), from both a theoretical and practical point of view. It is the only major conference with C2 as its exclusive focus. The symposium has had papers not only on C2 in military contexts, but also in civilian ones such as disaster relief.