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'Knowledge warriors' assess network-centric needs at Army symposium

Army News Service

Release Date: 8/28/2003

By Paul Morando

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (Army News Service, Aug. 28, 2003) -- The term "network-centric, knowledge-based force" may not seem a natural fit with a soldier's warfighting tool kit of heat rounds, automatic weapons, grenade launchers and Apache helicopter gun ships.

But, it will be soon, as soldiers learn more about the value of knowledge to achieving victory on the battlefield, said Lt. Gen. Steven W. Boutelle, the Army's Chief Information officer, G-6, and 3rd Annual Army Knowledge Symposium host.

By creating an enterprise infrastructure that provides global and pervasive information for joint warfighters, the Army is making knowledge a logical addition to the warfighter's tool kit.

Boutelle's remarks were part of the symposiums' wrap-up session held Aug. 13-15 in Valley Forge. Boutelle called upon the 300 attendees to do their part in the transition to a knowledge-based Army.

"We can house and store information easily today," he said. "But we must move it across the force and use it as knowledge if we are to win the Global War on Terrorism. We are in a serious fight. The results will be disastrous for the American way of life if we lose."

The Army's Chief Information Office, G-6, sponsored the symposium to provide a forum to share knowledge, ideas and experiences, said Lt. Col. Derek Harris, Strategic Outreach coordinator.

"Everybody is wrestling with same problem of, 'now that I have all this information, what do I do with it?'" Harris said. "By exploring the relationships between programs and initiatives, we discover how they fit into the warfighters' efforts. And, if those programs and initiatives don't support warfighters, then why are we doing them?"

Col. Larry Thomas, chief of CIO, G-6's Strategic Partnering office, said the symposium provided an unparalleled opportunity for functional communities to see what others are doing so they can share and integrate their efforts across the Army.

"People need to know they are not alone in this," Thomas said. "This is especially true for those people in the lower levels, where they feel they are pushing rocks up the hill by their noses. This is an empowering environment because attendees hear the Army saying 'we should do this.' They say, 'Hey, great. We've been trying to do this at our level for 10 years now.' Suddenly, they've now got a charter they can take back to their boss. So this helps support their grass-roots-level work."

Other speakers explored the changing threat environment, the way ahead for Battle Command, and various perspectives and examples of the decision-making processes.

"A common thread throughout these presentations was that war remains a human endeavor and the success of the Army, no matter how technologically advanced we become, rests on the commitment and talent of our soldiers," said Col. Jane Maliszewski, Strategic Outreach chief, CIO, G-6.

For instance, Lt. Gen. William Boykin, deputy under secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Intelligence and Warfighting Support, said a key issue today is developing adaptive leaders early.

"We've got to have a deliberate program for this because of the complexities we are encountering," Boykin said. "We've always had adaptive, creative leaders. But was that a byproduct of our training? We must teach our soldiers how to think rather than what to think."

Col. John Uberti, chief, Battle Command, G-3, added that the Army must "strike a balance between its appetite for information and its consumption of that information to make a decision.

"Technology gives us the ability to have knowledge dominance -- but it still comes down to the commander and leader to make it useful. We need to be able to command any time, any where," Uberti said. "Our battlefield systems must give us the same capability we use routinely at home station, so we don't do discovery learning when we get to an AOR (area of operations).

"This effort must be, joint, combined (allies) and with other federal agencies. Networked battle command is the key to our future combat system capabilities. We won't have time to wait for a connection -- the fight will be on us when we arrive."

(Editor's note: See sidebar: Chief Information officer presents awards based on knowledge.)