DISA puts service into action

The Defense Information Systems Agency is implementing a 500-day plan of action—known as DISA 2002—that is designed to provide better services to the Defense Department.

DISA's director, Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege, said that after assuming command in June, he surveyed each of the regional commanders in chief, agency directors and other key players inside and outside DOD.

He started by sending questionnaires using the Defense Message System, Raduege explained during a speech Thursday at an Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association luncheon in Washington, D.C.

The questionnaires presented three basic questions:

1. What has DISA done well for you?

2. Where has DISA fallen short in meeting your expectations?

3. What do you want DISA to do for you in the future?

Raduege said he followed up the questionnaires by meeting personally with various DISA customers. The response resulted in a new DISA structure that took effect in July and is focused on meeting customer needs. Raduege said the new team already has made significant progress in improving network performance, increasing the line of services offered and reducing provisioning times.

Raduege also has established the DISA 2002 plan of action, which calls for several of the highest-priority items listed in the customer survey to be delivered by September:

Continue to develop or enhance the Global Command and Control System. Field the Global Combat Support System and the Common Operational Picture. Field a project known as Portal, which integrates logistics information into the Global Command and Control System. Another top priority is an initiative known as Teleport, which will give warfighters deployed worldwide increased access to "satellite communications across all frequency bands and fiber across the entire Global Information Grid," Raduege said.

"I have found that 500 days is about the right amount of time to consider and plan for the long term while focusing on the near term by delivering new capabilities, measuring progress and remaining agile with minor course corrections every 500 days, if necessary," said Raduege, who used 500-day action plans while director of command and control systems for the U.S. Space Command. "I know this concept works."

The draft of the 500-day, 54-page plan includes a total of 111 individual actions.