Army general: Don't just focus on 'the network'

By: Mark Pomerleau, 

November 2, 2016

The Army has been undertaking a significant effort focused on modernizing its information network, which provides a variety of services in the way of communication and online services, among others. The assistant program executive officer for operations, readiness and fielding at PEO C3T cautioned against taking a binary view of “the network.” 

“Let’s not talk just about 'the network,' " Gen. Karl Gingrich said, as the Army doesn’t view it as “the network.” 

Speaking during a panel discussion at the annual MilCom conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday, Gingrich said the vision for PEO C3T is dominance through seamless mission command. By solely focusing on the network, it becomes a binary discussion — it’s either the network or not the network; the network’s on or the network’s up — he said, calling this a simplistic view. 

His shop ensures commanders at all echelons on the operational or tactical level all the way down to the squad leader have the ability to seamlessly execute mission command, he said, whether in involves air-ground, satellite-based terrestrial, voice or data. 

Gingrich said this is a joint effort and joint challenge, explaining that his team works tirelessly with the joint community to partner on numerous programs. 

According to Gingrich, the current network is fairly intricate with complex solutions. That’s not being pejorative, he said, adding that the team fields quickly and tries stay up on technological solutions. Now, he said, his team needs to make sure current soldiers can use the network as is. Working with industry partners, Gingrich said the service must look toward the next upgrade and the next solution, which must also be less complex at the soldier interface. “That ought to drive a lot of us here,” he said. “Never has any soldier asked me for a more complex system.” 

The coalition partnership is important as well. Gingrich said he just came back from the Army Warfighting Assessment at Fort Bliss last week, which he said was a great opportunity to observe and game coalition interoperability. There were Canadian, British, Danish and Italian partners participating in various capacities, he said. Everyone brought their kit as it stands today, and there was actually had an interoperable network, said Gingrich. 

“Was it pretty? Absolutely not. It was absolutely ugly,” he said. However, it offered a great learning opportunity in the way of technology and policy to allow top officials to observe lessons learned. 

“As we look at modernizing the network and mission command, we have to open our aperture to talk about and with the joint and coalition community,” he said. "We can’t leave them behind.” 

http://www.c4isrnet.com/articles/disa-director-military-still-figuring-out-how-to-fight-in-cyberspace