Sessions & Jones
Cyberspace, a term for electronic space,(Note 1) invites study, especially as it relates to the four information processes or functions: generating, organizing, transmitting, and archiving. Interoperability evolves from these functions to facilitate military decisionmaking. As we reflect on information and decisionmaking, we are reminded of their complexities. Yet seemingly simple goals such as "total interoperability" mask many of the complexities of deciding how and when to meet such objectives. The complexities are diverse and often territorial, as demonstrated by the Air Force/Navy argument over multiple access alternatives. Consequently, matters of jointness extend well beyond hardware compatibility, for instance. Because the spatial boundaries of information could border on the infinite, information is all the more difficult to manage. Nevertheless, "Cyberspace is a frontier where territorial rights are being established and electronic environments are being differentiated."(Note 2) Military information management has already migrated into that frontier.
Will demands for increased interoperability create unique problems or will existing public and private sector models for controlling information suffice? Who will arbitrate future information overlaps between the two sectors or will existing agencies like the Federal Communications Commission manage? Should some bandwidths be reserved for future needs? On what basis? Who should decide? When? Where?
"The INFOSPHERE, from C4I for the Warrior, contains the total combination of information sources, fusion centers, and distribution systems that represent the C4I resources a warfighter needs to pursue his operational objectives." Does this statement from C4I for the Warrior portend anything different or unusual about the future need for global capabilities along the lines of C2 in general and interoperability in particular? If it does, what should be considered?
Future battles will utilize information more than ever before. Additionally, the rules of engagement will differ radically from the past because of the computer. In this regard, consider the offensive use of computer viruses and worms to destroy an enemy's war-making capabilities without launching a single missile.
The cleanliness of such tactics with little or no loss of human life would be welcomed. The devastation would be primarily economic: retaliation might attempt to destroy the computerized elements of a nation's banks, its airline reservation systems, its telecommunications networks, and its air traffic control processes.
Were these basic utilities to go out, a nation would be stopped and its more conventional war-fighting assets would be valueless, except for war surplus materiel.
These are some of the implications of attempting to achieve a high degree of interoperability in the present and forthcoming Infosphere. No longer science fiction, the future is here, and only interoperability will manage its impact effectively.