Pentagon's Transformation Czar to Retire Because of Health Concerns
Reprinted with permission from InsideDefense.com
http://defense.iwpnewsstand.com
InsideDefense.com,
Jan. 19, 2005 -- The Pentagon's transformation czar, Arthur
Cebrowski, who has influenced thinking and helped shape policy on how to
prepare for future military challenges, will retire at the end of this
month on doctor's orders, according to his spokesman.
Cebrowski, a retired Navy vice admiral who has been fighting pneumonia
for months, informed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld weeks ago of his
decision to step down on Jan. 31, said Rob Holzer, spokesman for the
Office of Force Transformation. Cebrowski survived a scare with cancer
two years ago; his current health problems are unrelated, Holzer
said.
Terry Pudas, the office's deputy director, will temporarily head the
office until a replacement is found.
Established weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Office of
Force Transformation and its staff of 25 oversee efforts by each of the
military services to adjust their respective organizations, concepts of
operations and procurement plans to deal with long-range
challenges.
His office reports directly to the defense secretary, allowing it a
measure of autonomy in conducting its critiques and making
recommendations.
Among Cebrowski's chief efforts was articulating how the military is
transforming from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. The pairing
of the computer microprocessor with military equipment eventually hatched
network-centric warfare, which Cebrowski said amounted to a "new theory
of war." This theory explains how information, distributed across a
military force and woven together via communications, sensors and
computers, shifts emphasis in combat from individual ships, aircraft and
tanks, and fosters quicker and more accurate decision-making.
"It is not about the network; rather, it is about how wars are fought and
how power is developed," Cebrowski said in 2003.
In the wake of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,
Cebrowski's office shifted its focus from thinking about potential
high-tech military adversaries to thinking about non-traditional
threats.
"He was advocating that we need to get off the focus on the big war and
the big enemy. . . . He'll be one of the guys known for pushing the focus
off China," said author Thomas Barnett, a former Office of Force
Transformation researcher whose work with Cebrowski laid the foundation
for an influential book, "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the
21st Century."
The Office of Force Transformation has championed investments in
non-lethal technologies like Project Sheriff, an effort to package lethal
and non-lethal capabilities for vehicles used in urban combat operations.
Technologies from this endeavor are set to be fielded this summer in
Iraq.
Cebrowski has also been an ardent champion of directed-energy weapons, as
well as high-tech improvements to military logistics operations through a
concept called "sense-and-respond" logistics. And he has advocated the
idea of using air ships on the battlefield for hauling military
cargo.
These activities have attracted interest across a broad audience.
Software giant Microsoft invited him to speak to a group of
executives, U.S. News & World Report last year named him a
defense official to watch, and Scientific American recognized
Cebrowski as a policy leader for his efforts in network-centric warfare.
While he is retiring from the Office of Force Transformation, Cebrowski
does not plan to completely bow out.
Colleagues say he intends to speak in early February at a California
conference, work with service chiefs on their strategic transformation
plans and brief Congress on a study he's prepared on future naval
architecture.
"His voice isn't being silenced," said the colleague. -- Jason
Sherman
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