1 Power to the Edge Agility Focus and Convergence Adapting C2 to the 21 st Century presented to the Focus, Agility and Convergence Team Inaugural Meeting 5 March 2008 Dr. David S Alberts Director, Research OASD(NII)

2 C2 for the 21 st Century What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? C2 in the 21 st Century is not necessarily a linear extension of what we are doing now. To understand what C2 approaches and capabilities are needed and whether we are on the right track or need to change course we need to answer the following question:

3 21 st Century Mission Challenges 1.Missions cannot be adequately predicted. 2.Ignoring the complexity of situations ensures failure. 3.Adversaries exploit seams and weaknesses avoiding strengths. 4.A plan is nothing; planning is everything. 5.Civil-Military Coalitions and broader effects spaces are essential for success.

4 21 st Century Mission Challenges 1.Missions cannot be adequately predicted. 2.Ignoring the complexity of situations ensures failure. 3.Adversaries exploit seams and weaknesses avoiding strengths. 4.A plan is nothing; planning is everything. 5.Civil-Military Coalitions and broader effects spaces are essential for success. Uncertain-Unpredictable-Complex-Dynamic

5 21 st Century Mission Challenges 1.Missions cannot be adequately predicted. 2.Ignoring the complexity of situations ensures failure. 3.Adversaries exploit seams and weaknesses avoiding strengths. 4.A plan is nothing; planning is everything. 5.Civil-Military Coalitions and broader effects spaces are essential for success. is Agility The Response Uncertain-Unpredictable-Complex-Dynamic

6 Agility: Key Requirement of the 21 st Century 21 st Century Security Challenges characterized by huge amounts of uncertainty and risk. Situations are dynamic and unpredictable. Robust - effective across a range of conditions; Resilient – able to function / degrade gracefully / reconstitute when damaged Responsive - speed of recognition and action; Flexible - multiple ways to succeed, seamless shifting; Innovative – learning and solving Adaptive – alteration in C2 organization and process. Flexible Adaptive Responsive Robust Innovative Resilient

7 Agenda Q. What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? Q. What makes an enterprise more agile? A. Agility

8 Agenda Q. What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? Q. What makes an enterprise more agile? A. Agility

9 The Tenets Information Sharing and Collaboration Quality of information and Shared Situational Awareness enhances A robustly networked force Information Sharing improves Shared situational awareness enables Collaboration and Self-synchronization These, in turn, dramatically increase mission effectiveness

10 The Agility Value Chain A robustly networked force Information Sharing Quality of Information Collaboration Shared Awareness Self-synchronization Robust Resilient Flexible Responsive Innovative Adaptive NCO contributes to agility in many ways

11 Agenda What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? How does Network Centric Operations contribute to agility? How can we approach the implementation of NCO in a way that exploits its potential to contribute to agility?

12 Agenda What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? How does Network Centric Operations contribute to agility? How can we approach the implementation of NCO in a way that exploits its potential to contribute to agility? –Set the Stage for Progress –Establish a Baseline –Develop and Harmonize Roadmaps

13 Approach to NCO Implementation (1 of 3) Set the Stage for Progress –Recognize that there are different levels of NCO Maturity –Understand the relationships between C2 Maturity levels and Mission Capability levels –Understand the migration path and what it takes to move from one level to another –Understand the consequences of a coalition of participants with different C2 maturity levels –Be prepared to explore non-traditional approaches to C2

14 C2 Approach Space peer-to-peerunitary fully hierarchical fully distributed allocation of decision rights patterns of interaction distribution of information broad dissemination tight control classic C2 edge organization For a given situation, How do we allocate decision rights? disseminate information? interact with others? Choosing a C2 Approach to achieve requisite agility ?

15 The Case for Moving Beyond Traditional C2 Traditional Approaches –Limit our ability to “connect the dots” and understand the situation Constrain the way information is disseminated –Limit our ability to respond quickly and effectively utilize a sequential decision process constrain the allocation of responsibility create seams –Are optimized for selected concepts and circumstances stove-piped –As a result they lack agility Language of C2 is “hardwired” –It is couched in terms of how we do it not what we are trying to accomplish

16 C2 Maturity Mission Capability Conflicted C2 De-conflicted C2 Coordinated C2 Collaborative C2 Agile C2 Stand Alone Operations De-conflicted Operations Coordinated Operations Integrated Operations Transformed Operations

17 Approach to NCO Implementation (2 of 3) Establish a Baseline of Network Centric Operations Capability –Identify the C2 maturity level of each member or potential member of a coalition –For various sets of coalition partners determine the appropriate overall approach to coalition C2 –Exercise the capability

18 Approach to NCO Implementation (3 of 3) Develop NCO Roadmaps –Determine the next NCO milestone and transition requirements For individual organizations (e.g. Services, Agencies, DoD) For Coalitions of Interest (e.g. Interagency, NATO, HA/DR) –Develop items on the critical path and those that require CD&E activities, investments and programs –Harmonize various roadmaps

19 Agenda What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? How does Network Centric Operations contribute to agility? How can we approach the implementation of NCO in a way that exploits its potential to contribute to agility? Way Forward: Critical Path Challenges

20 Critical Path Challenges: Challenges Within an Organization ‘Command’ – Leadership in edge organizations Understanding and establishing trust in a net-centric environment Living in a “pull” environment Shared Awareness Control (self-synchronization) as an emergent property Collaborative processes Metrics Interagency

21 Critical Path Challenges: Civil-Military/Coalition Challenges Widespread Information Sharing –Semantic interoperability –Security –Cooperability Encouraging Disruptive Innovation –Both collectively and individually Vigorous Coalition Experimentation –Moving beyond technology demonstrations –Moving beyond military only –Sharing data and results Establish prerequisites for Transformation across various Coalitions

22 Agenda What is the critical capability for the 21 st Century? How does Network Centric Operations contribute to agility? Are we approaching the implementation of NCO in a way that exploits its potential to contribute to agility? Way Forward: Critical Path Challenges Are we on the right track?

23 The “Right” Track –Focus on Agility –Need for Experimentation –Civil-Military / Coalition C2 C2 as we know it –Need to fully explore the C2 Approach space –Harness the next source of power: Interactions Collaboration Interdependencies

24 Are we on the right track?