INTEGRATED INTELLIGENCE FRAMEWORK LEADS TO BETTER RESULTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSEThe Distributed Common Ground System-Army serves as a dedicated avenue for ingesting, fusing, analyzing, and disseminating information throughout the Army and associated defense agencies. U.S. Army photo
Integrated Intelligence Framework Takes Shape
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., July 25, 2012 - An intelligence effort being advanced by each of the military services is promoting more complete intelligence analysis, better collaboration across the services and faster delivery of actionable intelligence to support combat operations.

Each military service is developing its own version of the Distributed Common Ground System, a Defense Department-directed initiative to create a common framework for analyzing and sharing intelligence, reported Army Col. Charles Wells, project manager for the Army's system.

This state-of-the-art battlefield intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance architecture will enable analysts from every service to take data from multiple military and government sensors and databases and compile them into a single, easy-to-access format, he explained.

DCGS-Army, already fielded in Afghanistan as it undergoes operational testing and evaluation, provides a glimpse into that intelligence enterprise.

"It brings together data from all the sensors," Wells said, regardless of whether they're based in space, on aircraft or on the ground -- even biometric data collected by a soldier at a local forward operating base -- and incorporates it into a single platform.

"All of this comes into the same system, in the same display," he said. "This allows Army analysts to see connections that they could never see before. They can do a very powerful analysis, because they see the entire picture."

Fueling that powerful analysis is cloud technology. DCGS-Army represents the military's first tactical deployment of a cloud node, which brings enormous storage and computing power to analysts' fingertips, explained Army Col. Edward Riehle, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's capability manager for sensor processing.

"What the cloud brings is the ability to very easily conduct analysis, and to very easily present the terrain, the weather, the enemy situation simply and easily," Riehle said. And because the system is able to process massive quantities of data at speeds unheard of before introduction of the cloud -- some 60 million text reports in less than a second -- it's able to provide a far broader operational picture.

As developers work to make the system more intuitive and user-friendly, Army analysts in Afghanistan are giving it high marks. They're using it to post data, process ISR reports and distribute information about the threat, weather and terrain to all components and echelons, Wells said.

And with benefit of the cloud, they're able to conduct far more extensive analyses based on intelligence reports filed, not just in recent months or years, but since 2003.

"Analysts are able to make connections they would have never been able to make before," Wells said.

The result is improved situational awareness for commanders in the theater, who can task battle-space sensors and receive intelligence from multiple sources, and for troops on the ground whose lives depend on complete, accurate data.

"What this does is make our forces more agile," Wells said. "It makes the commander on the ground much more agile and effective than his adversary."

By providing a more complete data picture, it also helps commanders make better-informed decisions, he said. "The fog of war is our tactical commanders' greatest challenge, and this is a tool that helps cut through that fog of war," he said. "Commanders can turn to their intelligence analyst and make more effective decisions and ultimately, be much more effective."

"This system is empowering our intelligence analysts to answer those important questions for the commander, which in turn helps mission effectiveness," echoed Riehle. "And there is no doubt a correlation between good intelligence and support to a commander and saving lives."

Based on an operational ground test recently completed at Fort Stewart, Ga., the Army hopes to get the green light to take the system servicewide beginning this fall.

The Marine Corps is interested in Army's use of cloud technology and ultimately could partner with the Army to apply it to the Marines' own distributed common ground system.

Meanwhile, the Air Force is applying its own system to produce intelligence collected by manned and unmanned ISR aircraft and other sensors. Similarly, the Navy its installing its own DCGS systems at multiple ground sites and on large-deck ships, with plans to ultimately also equip all destroyers and cruisers.

As these systems take shape, Wells said, they will go a long way toward improving the military's intelligence processes. "The real power of DCGS is very powerful analysis and very powerful collaboration," he said. "It's a big step toward incorporating analytic products through a common framework."

AFRICOM AND STATE PARTNERSHIPS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Deegan, right, leads Warrant Officer Class 1 Benjamin Afful and Sgt. Maj. Richard Kyere-Yeboah of Ghana's army off of the pop-up target M-16 marksmanship range at Camp Grafton Training Center in Devils Lake, N.D., Sept. 18, 2011. Afful and Kyere-Yeboah visited North Dakota as part of an engineer instructor exchange under the Defense Department-sponsored State Partnership Program. North Dakota and Ghana have been partners under the program since 2004. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Dodds  

State Partnership Program Supports Africom's Theater Engagement
By Donna Miles
STUTTGART, Germany, July 6, 2012 - When a pro-democracy revolution swept Tunisia, launching what became known as the Arab Spring, the Tunisian military looked to its U.S. partner, the Wyoming National Guard, for help in teaching democratic values to the country's youth.

The Wyoming Guard had the perfect tool at its disposal: the National Guard's Youth Challenge program, which has been instilling values, skills, education and discipline in at-risk youth since 1993 with a goal of helping them lead successful, productive lives.

The Wyoming Guard "was immediately able to offer this program of instruction and this experience to assist the Tunisians in establishing a similar program," Army Maj. Gen. Charles Hooper, U.S. Africa Command's director of strategy, plans and programs, told American Forces Press Service at the command headquarters here. "So that is the kind of experiences, relationships, skills and capabilities that our state partners bring to our African partners."

With no permanently assigned forces and increasing budgetary constraints, Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Africom commander, is hoping to expand the popular State Partnership Program to increase the command's engagement across the African continent.
Ham called himself "a big fan" of the program during recent congressional testimony and said he hopes to expand the number of partnerships in Africa from the current eight to 10.
"In our efforts to strengthen defense capabilities of African partners, the National Guard State Partnership Program is an incredibly important component," he said. "We have very strong state partnership programs that contribute very significantly to our training and exercise programs."

Ham reported that he has asked the National Guard Bureau chief, Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley, to add two additional partners this year, including possibly one for Libya.
"That might be a place where we could apply a State Partnership Program to great effect," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March. "So we will continue to look for opportunities such as that."

McKinley has called the State Partnership Program, initially formed in 1993 to support former Soviet bloc countries after the Soviet Union collapsed, the crown jewel of the Guard's international engagement. Citing the program's high impact at a relatively low cost -- the exact type of engagement the Defense Department's new strategic guidance promotes -- McKinley said he, too, would like to expand it to promote mutual security cooperation with partners and allies around the world.

Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shares Ham's and McKinley's enthusiasm about the program. "It's proven to be a very, very valuable high-leverage tool for us," he said earlier this year, after the release of the new strategy. "So we plan to build on things like that to help us on these innovative approaches to other parts of the world."

The State Partnership Program includes partnerships with 63 countries within Africom, U.S. European Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Northern Command areas of responsibility.

Africom currently has eight partnerships. The California National Guard is partnered with Nigeria; the New York National Guard with South Africa; the North Carolina Guard with Botswana; the North Dakota National Guard with Ghana; the Michigan National Guard with Liberia; the Vermont National Guard with Senegal; the Utah National Guard with Morocco; and the Wyoming National Guard with Tunisia.

Since Africom's inception in 2008, the State Partnership Program has been vital to its theater engagement strategy.

"What it brings to our toolbox is continuity," Hooper said. "It creates long-term relationships between the state partners and their African partners."
Hooper has seen firsthand the close bonds that form between National Guard participants, who don't typically rotate between assignments as frequently as their active-duty counterparts, and the African militaries they work with.

"In all of these relationships, the states bring the very best of their practices," he said. Along with military skills training that helps build capacity on the continent, he said the Guard also provides role models for African militaries.

In Liberia, for example, the Michigan National Guard is providing 24 members in support of Operation Onward Liberty, a joint venture between the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Army to help Liberia's armed forces build capacity to defend their borders and their neighbors.

Last spring, North Dakota National Guard members demonstrated to the forces and civilian disaster-management experts in Ghana how the Guard supports civilian-led disaster response efforts -- in this case, during an actual snowstorm and major flooding in Fargo, N.D.

Although their climates are worlds apart, North Dakota and Ghana deal with similar disasters, including floods, drought and windstorms, a participating Guardsman noted.
In December, a team of North Carolina National Guardsmen traveled to Gaborone, Botswana, to share the U.S. experience in integrating military intelligence into operations with Botswana.

"Relationships count, and that's what makes the State Partnership Program so valuable," Hooper said. "It's the long-term relationships between the state partners and their African partners."

FIREFIGHT IN AFGHANISTAN'S GHANZNI PROVINCE, JUNE 15,2012

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
U.S. paratroopers fire at insurgent forces during a firefight on the outskirts of Spedar village in southern Afghanistan's Ghazni province, June 15, 2012. This was the first of several firefights U.S. and Afghan soldiers encountered during their daylong partnered patrol. The soldiers are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AT WEST POINT GRADUATION 2012

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with cadet First Captain Charles Phelps during graduation at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., May 26, 2012. U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade

Biden Details Challenges for New West Point Grads
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, May 26, 2012 - West Point is even more important to the country today than when Gen. George Washington called it "the key to the continent," Vice President Joe Biden said during graduation exercises at the U.S. Military Academy today.

In 1777, West Point was a fortified area along the Hudson River that stopped the British from splitting the colonies. Today, the home of the military academy produces leaders who shape America and answer every call to duty the country makes, the vice president said.

Biden spoke to the 1,032 cadets who received their diplomas and were commissioned into service. He also spoke to their families and friends gathered under a hot sun at Michie Stadium.

The class represents the best of the 9/11 generation, the vice president said, adding that the cadets "are more than worthy of the proud legacy you inherit today."

The cadets, like all men and women who joined the military after 9/11, knew they would be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Biden said. "Hundreds of thousands of you have laced up those combat boots and walked across those barren deserts or snow-capped mountains, where 24 members of this graduating class have already served," he said.

The graduates will be commissioned officers, but they will also be much more, the vice president said. They will learn the intricacies of tribal politics, they will learn how to run a school system, put in irrigation, train indigenous forces and much more.

These young officers must learn counterinsurgency doctrine and apply it, but they must be ready for changes in the world, too, Biden said. The United States is working to strengthen NATO so it can continue being the most successful alliance in history, he said. And as the war in Iraq has ended and the war in Afghanistan ends, the military can spend time on other priorities including the Asia-Pacific region.

"The United States has long been and will remain a Pacific power, and a critical provider of peace, prosperity and security in this vital region," Biden told the cadets. "The most critical relationship to get right is that between the United States and China. Every day the affairs of our nations and the livelihoods of our citizens grow more connected. How we manage this relationship between the world's two largest economies ... will help shape the 21st century."

The United States also is working with other emerging powers like India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa. "All these efforts are helping advance America's interests at home and around the world," he said.

The new strategic defense strategy will affect these new officers. The strategy provides "a more agile, flexible force prepared for future challenges, better able to confront the aggressors and project power with strong partners to share the burden and smart investments in cutting edge capabilities," he said.
America's unique position in the world requires the finest fighting force, Biden said. "And that's exactly what this strategy does," he said.

The U.S. Military Academy has prepared the new officers to face new challenges and lead. They have "the minds to adapt to tomorrow's horizons, from cyberspace to outer space," he said.

"West Point is in the business of producing great leaders," Biden said. "Class of 2012, this is your destiny – to lead your country."