Building a global web

Pentagon officials hope the Smart Sensor Web, like the World Wide Web,

will serve the international community because so many conflicts and peacekeeping

efforts have a distinct international flavor.

The Pentagon plans to collaborate on the project with five countries:

Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. Germany has agreed

to participate in the project while building its own version of the Smart

Sensor Web. In recent weeks, Pentagon officials have met with counterparts

from Britain and Sweden to share information, and leaders in Canada and

Australia are evaluating whether they can afford to join the project.

The collaboration is designed to allow the countries to learn from one

another. "We tend as Americans to be very technology arrogant, and I'll

tell you, we ain't got all the answers," said Army Lt. Col. Bruce Gwilliam,

who manages the project within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. "There

are some very simple solutions out there that we have made very complex,

and I want to get their advice."