Intercepts

Washington GIG Wigs

The Joint Forces Command is frantically preparing the capstone requirements

document for the Defense Department's Global Information Grid design, according

to Army Brig. Gen. Jerry McElwee, JFCOM's J-6. During the process of writing

the document, Pentagon planners discovered that the radio frequency spectrum

had become "a very valuable commodity," said McElwee, speaking last week

at the TechNet International 2000 expo, sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications

and Electronics Association. In fact, in the next five years, the requirement

for RF spectrum will double throughout DOD, he said.

Speaking of Bandwidth...

My mole inside the Senior Executive Service reports that at a recent

Navy N6 conference the 7th Fleet's N6 distributed coins to conference attendees

as a way to highlight the Navy's most pressing concern. According to Rear

Adm. John Gauss, commander of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command,

the coin was engraved with the following message: "Give me bandwidth or

give me death." Low-level reports indicate that Navy CIO Dan Porter may

be considering a similar strategy to get his message across to the throng

of Navy/Marine Corps Intranet detractors on Capitol Hill. However, I don't

think that message will fit on a coin.

The Retirement Factor

If there is one revolving door in Washington, D.C., that doesn't need

any oil, it's the one between the Pentagon and Virginia's Dulles corridor,

otherwise known as the Silicon Valley of the East. However, low-level reports

indicate that it's not money that attracts the Pentagon's stars, but a chance

to see things clearly, according to Army Brig. Gen. Peter Cuviello, commander

of the Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon, Ga. "I can't wait to retire,"

Cuviello told a crowd of industry reps. "Because when you retire from the

service, the crystal ball becomes so much clearer on what you need to do"

about interoperability problems.

Speaking of Retirement...

Air Force Lt. Col. Glenn Taylor last week told the Interceptor that

he has submitted his retirement papers and plans to give up the post at

the Commercial Information Technology Product Area Directorate at the Standard

Systems Group in Montgomery, Ala. My Hanscom Air Force Base receiver station

has picked up signals that Col. Neal Fox from the Electronic Systems Center,

SSG's parent command up north, has packed his bags and plans to assume command

June 26.

Consolidation

Some in the information technology community are wondering why the Joint

Staff doesn't consolidate all of the IT acquisition commands throughout

DOD so that everybody buys the same equipment, and maybe, with a little

bit of luck, it will all work together. No can do, said Air Force Lt. Gen.

John Woodward, Joint Staff J-6. "Consolidation is not going to fly," said

Woodward, a comment that had Electronic Systems Center, SSG and ACC-WAY

written all over it. It might make sense from a contracting standpoint to

create one or two large ESC-like organizations, but the individual services

need the expertise they offer in their own mission areas, Woodward said.

Standards. Yeah, Right.

Industry is having a hard time finding a DOD representative among the

multitudes of commercial standards bodies that are charting the future course

of the Internet and global communications. DOD can do more to be proactive

in pushing for the standards it needs. But Dawn Hartley, the chief technology

officer at the Defense Information Systems Agency, said, "We cannot possibly

participate in every consortium out there."

Intercept something? Send it to the Interceptor at antenna@fcw.com.