|
|
|
|||
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
 |
|
Network-Centric Counter-Terrorism What are the biggest
cultural obstacles to building and maintaining effective intelligence
systems to protect the U.S. from domestic and transnational
threats?
Author: Jonathan B. Smith Michigan
State University 's School of Criminal Justice
Three Guarantees My grandfather used to tell me there are three certainties in life DEATH, TAXES, and CHANGE. I was seven when he originally told me this adage and did not understand the global power associated with the word CHANGE. The USA Today published an article on 4/19 entitled "MBA programs are getting extreme makeovers." An MBA virtually guaranteed graduates a six figure salary in the late 90's and today it a degree under siege. Enrollment is down, graduate salaries are no sure thing, and the faculty is finding a need to retool their programs, lest they become obsolete. The pace of change is extremely rapid today. The emergence of the Internet has leveled the playing field. Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) infrastructure elements that were previously only available to the wealthiest militaries and James Bond are now readily available by monthly subscription on the Internet. The proliferation of these technologies has arguably been more useful to terrorist organizations than the US military. They offer organizations a means of conducting a global command and control operation, in real time, with a significant degree of security. Greatest Obstacles to Homeland Security As I have stated before, I believe that "homeland security is everyone's responsibility." The fact that it is everyone's responsibility creates a cultural challenge because it is best executed by integrating the combined intelligence and manpower of the nation in a cohesive unit without the limitations of preconceived cultural, regional, agency and other biases. The evolution of net-centric, web enabled technologies that allows user to share, fuse, analyze, and make decisions across the battle-space is a challenge to the traditional stove pipe like hierarchies that have made up our security community. Just like the MBA curriculum is being forced to reevaluate its core values and missions; law enforcement and the military are being challenged to interact and cooperate in ways that were inconceivable even 10 years ago. The historical challenge is as follows:
Establishment of the Department of Homeland Security was an effort to respond to the first issue and it has done so in an admirable way. However, there remains a significant amount of interagency rivalry, distrust, and lack of cooperation. The vestiges of the past will serve to undermine the nation's future. Just as the Roman Empire fell under the weight of its own bureaucracy; the US faces the same fate, lest the citizens realize that their way of life is under siege and they need to band together to protect it. Conclusion Ultimately the only means for defeating a network-centric enemy is through a networked offense and defense. The hierarchal structures of the past have become brittle and are showing signs of deferred maintenance. My hope is that our fear of change and commitment to traditions, do not blind us to the fact that change is inevitable. We need to improvise, adapt and overcome or else we are going to lose this GWOT. I feel that the exodus of manufacturing and jobs from the State of Michigan parallels the challenge that is facing the law enforcement community and military today. Jobs are being moved to the South and overseas because the labor climates are more friendly and the factories are newer and more efficient. The South and overseas markets are being rewarded for creating greater value and the "Rust Belt" is being penalized for holding onto dreams of the past. Let's hope that our nation's law enforcement community and military do not do the same and bankrupt our nation's homeland security infrastructure.
|
Download
Brochure
|
Phone 908.233.7503 | Fax 908.233.7507 | E-Mail whisprwave@aol.com
 |
 |
