Intercepts

CIO to USD?

How does the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and Chief Information Officer sound?

The Interceptor hears Defense Department officials may elevate the DOD CIO job from the meager assistant secretary status to an undersecretary because of the increasing importance of data and information technology in the GWOT — military speak for global war on terrorism.

"It could happen in a couple months. I wouldn't be surprised," said one of our trusted sources in the DOD CIO's office.

It's about time.

P2P problems

What do troops in Iraq and Afghanistan do for R&R? Download JPEGs and MPEGs of Paris Hilton and MP3s of Metallica and Kenny Chesney, depending on whether you talk to Marines or soldiers.

An industry official, who happily gave us the "Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Within DOD" presentation, said 30 percent of the military's bandwidth in Southwest Asia goes to unauthorized file sharing. The official said the activity goes on despite a memo last year by acting DOD CIO Linton Wells II banning it because of the risk of hacking.

The document titled "unclassified, but for official use only" — our favorite kind — said DOD officials monitored 34,564 hours of unauthorized file sharing in the department since January 2004. They estimate the illegal activity consumed $110,412.78 in bandwidth and $686,786.68 in wages using a GS-9's $19.87 earnings per hour as a guide.

So file this with other DOD CIO policies not followed.

Army Contracting Agency moving?

Army officials finally made it official last week when they announced the formation of the new Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command.

The Army line is that the new command combines the Army's Communications-Electronics Command, the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, and the PEO for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors. The consolidation should help Army officials better manage programs and shrink the management structure.

The name-change announcement was not a huge surprise. The command's leader, Maj. Gen. Mike Mazzucchi, let the cat out of the bag in September in a letter to attendees of the Network Centric Operations 2004 conference in Atlantic City, N.J.

Army officials' next move will take the Army Contracting Agency out of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology — Claude Bolton's fiefdom — and move it to Army Materiel Command.

"This initiative is currently under consideration, and options are being reviewed by Army leadership," said Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the command, in a statement.

The official announcement could come in early March.

New blue blood

The Pentagon's former top architecture and interoperability guru John Osterholz appeared out of the blue last month at the Network Centric Warfare 2005 conference with the title of vice president for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at BAE Systems.

Osterholz, who left the post last March, discussed the nuances between U.S. and U.K. officials' views of network-centric warfare. Americans expect it to provide a revolutionary capability now while the British view it as an evolutionary one over time.

Intercept something? Send it to bbrewin@fcw.com or ftiboni@fcw.com.