DIGIT INSPECTION. C4I folks don't have a lot of troops, tanks or aircraft to inspect, so Air Force Lt. Gen. John Woodward, the new Joint Staff J6, did not at first evince much surprise when, a few weeks into his job as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Henry Shelton told him to '
DIGIT INSPECTION. C4I folks don't have a lot of troops, tanks or aircraft to inspect, so Air Force Lt. Gen. John Woodward, the new Joint Staff J6, did not at first evince much surprise when, a few weeks into his job as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Henry Shelton told him to "go muster the Global Grid." But Woodward quickly realized that he had no idea what Shelton was talking about, so he asked his staff, "What Global Grid?"
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J6 REPORT CARD. Woodward, speaking at the AFCEA Washington, D.C., chapter luncheon last week, said he now realized the importance of the Global Grid. It's the worldwide mesh of networks and systems that support deployed U.S. forces, and he intends to make it a reality within a year. Woodward also plans to focus on making "network-centric warfare real," and he will continue to make information superiority a key part of the U.S. warfighting doctrine. Woodward told his audience of high-ranking military officials and IT contractor executives that these are not hollow promises, adding that he'll return to AFCEA Washington in one year to make a progress report.
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BIG CABLETRON NAVY WIN? My West Coast antenna site has picked up strong signals that in the continuing battle of network giants - Cabletron Systems, Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Fore Systems, among others - Cabletron won a key contract as the primary network supplier for the LPD-17, the next class of Navy amphibious ships.
My Fairfax, Va., mobile unit also picked up a reading that Cabletron Federal vice president John Riddle has resigned to take up a new position with a start-up document management company in the Chantilly, Va., area.