Myers stresses transformation in war on terror
by Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
2/19/2004 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The United States is doing "pretty well" in the war on terror, but more needs to be done and more progress is necessary to transform American military capabilities, Gen. Richard B. Myers said Feb. 18.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke at a "Space at the Crossroads" conference co-sponsored by the Space Foundation and Space News. The audience came mostly from industry, and General Myers seemed to relish the chance to speak on military transformation and what it means for civilian partners.
He told the audience that transformation is more than just new technologies. "It's much more about the cultural and intellectual" changes than technological ones, he said.
General Myers spoke directly to the audience's private industry representatives about what that means to them. He said he is aware that their presentations and promotional materials frequently call their systems "transformational."
"That may or may not be true," General Myers said. He added that while technology plays a role in transformation, the more important role is "in thinking how we're going to act and interact with each other."
The war on terror requires government to do many specific things it has not done before, the chairman said. Federal agencies have to share information far beyond typical past recipients. The Commerce, Treasury or Homeland Security departments may need information gleaned by the CIA, General Myers said. Further, the federal government may have to share that information with state and local governments. Ultimately, he said, information to be acted upon may have to go to the "cop on the beat."
General Myers emphasized that sharing has to happen not just within the United States, but also with friends and allies.
"The war on terror will require us to share information in a way that we're not yet able to do," he said.
He said this points out a failure in government and the private sector. "We have been way too stovepiped," General Myers said, not reaching outside respective areas of expertise enough to amalgamate technologies or ideas from other fields.
Using satellites as an example, he said space engineers see a new need and think of it only from the realm of space. But there are airborne platforms that could provide the capability, he said, and the space engineers ought to be speaking with colleagues in those projects to come up with a "holistic" approach to solving the problem.
Another example the chairman used is in government. He asked what the difference today is among the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance components.
"It may have made sense at one point to separate those out," he said. "We still have offices that think that way."
Industry too, segregates functions like that, he added.
General Myers said both industry and government have to break out of these stovepipes and share ideas and information freely across areas. He said one strength of the American military is the way military and civilian officials can talk. He stressed this conversation must be done ethically, but that it has to happen.
He urged military and civilian officials to work together to fashion these new ideas, capabilities and technologies that will enable transformation. |
|
|
|
|
|
Printable story
E-mail story
Advanced Search