The network is the weapons system

Modern warfare is all about information, and the Defense Dept.'s Global Information Grid is all about moving information to "war fighters," a top official at the Defense Information Systems Agency explained earlier this week.

Washington Technology reports that Anthony Montemarano, director of DISA’s Information Assurance/NetOps programs, explained that network operations are about moving information where it's needed.

The GIG has to be thought of as a weapon system, with the same command and control. Just like a commander needs to be able to aim a gun and know if its operating properly, he needs to have control over the GIG and know its status.

“We’ve got to make our data machine agnostic, so you can harvest that data and create your own user defined operational picture,” Montemarano said.

Rather than sharing screens, commanders need the ability to paint the screen that best helps them with their responsibility. He compared it to instant replay in football, where several camera angles played at various speeds help dissect the play.

“That’s the expectation and we need to get our tools ready,” he said. “That’s what [private industry] has to help us with. NetOps is kind of disorganized right now. We just have to bring that thing together and make it happen.”