Intercepts

MONTEREY Calif. * Do it now. That's the bottom line of the message that CINCPACFLT Adm. Archie Clemins delivered at the end of his speech to Milcom '97 here. Observing that "all the technologies to do [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Vision 2010 are here today " Clemins asked "Why are we going to wait 12 years?"

Clemins added that "JV 2010 assumes information superiority but does not tell you how to get there." But he said the Navy's Information Technology for the 21st Century project "will allow you to have information superiority."

* Defense defense. I'm told that the classified sessions here which - due to an egregious error - the Interceptor could not attend focused heavily on information warfare with three-letter civilian agencies planning to work closely with DOD on offensive and defensive information warfare operations. (Drug lords have the best IT money can buy.)

Speaking in an unclassified session DISA director Lt. Gen. David Kelley said "We need to go to defense in depth.... We need to go beyond firewalls." DISA and DARPA Kelley added have kicked off a joint program focused on network intrusion and how to determine the identity of attackers.

* Round up them strays. Pete Paulson DISA's DISN network operations honcho plans to round up all those "stray" networks operated by the military services and Defense agencies and bring them to the one true DISN. Paulson said DISA has identified 100 networks that operate outside the DISN umbrella and figures it will take until the Year 2000 to get them all into the fold.

* DCTN redux. DISA may once again extend AT&T's DISN Transition Contract (DTC) formerly known as DCTN. The agency published a Commerce Business Daily notice last week announcing its intent to modify or extend DTC for a one-year base period with four additional three-month option periods. DTC/DCTN fans will be delighted to know that if all options are exercised the life span of the contract would reach 14 years - truly a new record for a 10-year deal.

Because AT&T already has started performing under the follow-on DISN Transition deal it's hard to figure out the need to extend DTC/DCTN - unless DISA really does not want to give up the famed Dranesville Va. bunker built for DCTN.

* Save the Puller. Today marks the 222nd anniversary of the Marine Corps. As a former radio operator I was appalled to discover language buried in the last pages of the 1997 Defense authorization bill directing the sale of the USS Lewis B. Puller - named after the legendary Chesty - to Egypt.

I know this must be an oversight on the part of Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) not only once a Marine but also a representative of Chesty's home in Saluda Va. who voted for the bill authorizing this sale.

But just in case call Warner's office at (202) 224-2023 and tell him to save the Puller. Semper fidelis Chesty.