Drawing new battle lines

In March, Army officials announced that the name "LandWarNet" will refer to all service networks. The goal is to manage systems from a new, departmentwide level instead of the old, regional agency one. Service officials revealed in September they would combine the Army National Guard's GuardNet and its 3,300 Web sites and the Army Reserves' ARNet and its 940 sites with active Army networks.

A former top Army information technology official now in industry said the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical program, the Army Knowledge Online portal and information assurance procurements reinforce the new LandWarNet framework. "The Army is organizing as an enterprise so it doesn't have to adapt all systems and applications to regional service domains," the official said.

That's the thinking behind the Army's evolving security strategy, said Lt. Gen. Steve Boutelle, the service's chief information officer. The Army's creation of LandWarNet requires a comprehensive security plan as the Army creates one gigantic network, Boutelle said.