When our warfighters make the call and ask that simple question, "Can you hear me now?" we need to be sure the answer is yes! It certainly sounds effortless in concept, and the technology solutions fielded by the Navy-Marine Corps team routinely respond to this global test. However, our Naval forces operate in vast and dynamic areas. The Navy-Marine Corps team is deployed in all parts of the world on a daily basis, and their environment may change hourly to adapt to commercial or military communication services and varied political climates. These factors often act as invisible barriers and challenges to completing a basic connection. Unheralded groups of people — spectrum managers and engineers — are in the background planning and coordinating to ensure our Sailors and Marines are able to operate efficiently and effectively in all corners of the globe.
In early 2003, many organizations under the Secretary of the Navy staff reorganized. At that time, the Secretary of the Navy established a new leadership team for Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) efforts across the Navy and Marine Corps. Describing it as "fundamental" to achieving a network-centric environment and knowledge superiority, the Secretary of the Navy provided enhanced operational insight to the DON CIO, Mr. Dave Wennergren, by designating Rear Adm. Thomas E. Zelibor, USN, and Brig. Gen. John R. Thomas, USMC, to serve as DON Deputy Chief Information Officer (Navy) and (Marine Corps) respectively. Together with the DON CIO, they have the responsibility to link vision and strategy to programmatic and budget guidance. In the Naval Enterprise spread across sea-air-land, spectrum issues have high visibility within this team and in their recommendations to the Secretary of the Navy.
This realignment includes a newly restructured Navy-Marine Corps Spectrum Center, formerly Naval Electromagnetic Spectrum Center, which provides enhanced and dedicated spectrum support to Navy-Marine Corps units. The success of projecting power and influence, as well as developing future Naval capabilities, relies on incorporating advanced spectrum technology. Spectrum needs are especially critical in executing the Naval Power 21 vision. The Secretary's involvement in domestic and international spectrum validates these efforts.
The DON Strategic Vision for Spectrum (http://www.doncio.navy.mil/PolicyView.aspx?ID=3063) is clearly committed to incremental improvements. The dynamic adjustment of the DON's spectrum vision responds to ongoing doctrinal changes. Overall, spectrum dependent systems should benefit by policy continuity. As Operation Iraqi Freedom shifts focus and scale, the spectrum scorecard is being prepared. Measuring voice and video communication, data transfer and weapon systems support will provide another input into the assessment process.
Civilian news correspondents reporting on Operation Iraqi Freedom identified wireless devices as key to U.S. warfighters' ability to execute their mission. Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and even Wired Magazine confirm the "force multiplier" effect that wireless extensions of the network-centric warfare concept provided. This is consistent with DoD analyses that showed a spectacular increase in spectrum usage from the Gulf War to the recent Iraqi conflict.
A challenge now rests in the realm of strategic planners to gaze into the next decade. The tasks are estimating spectrum growth and identifying possible network-centric warfare platforms to meet the capabilities needed by U.S. warfighters. Battlefield superiority is leveraged by spectrum availability. The DON CIO Spectrum team is addressing these elements with a view toward human factors, occupational training, spectrum planning and management tools, technology modeling, international regulation, and commercially compatible systems.
In a collaborative effort, partnerships with industry, academia, federal laboratories, the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Research Laboratory, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are underway. The mission is to jointly identify technology and protocols that might enhance spectrum reuse and increase spectrum efficiency. This effort to identify spectrum advantages for the Department also includes exploring emerging technology in materials, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence.
DON spectrum policy planners are also engaged with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Federal Communications Commission, working toward a constructive response to the Presidential initiative on spectrum policy in the United States.
This is the first in a series of articles that will explore the integrated processes of strategic spectrum planning and spectrum dependent system life cycle. Equipment certification, spectrum assignment, host nation approval, frequency planning and the roles and activities of the Department's spectrum policy and management organizations will be highlighted. We intend to spotlight the teams that support the warfighters and confirm that we can hear them now!
You can contact the DONCIO Spectrum Team at DONSPECTRUMTEAM@navy.mil.