DOD defines information superiority

The Pentagon will soon release an overview of the military's vision for

achieving information superiority on the battlefield.

The Defense Department document titled "Information Superiority: Making

the Joint Vision Happen" will likely be made public next week, according

to a Pentagon official.

"It is the department's vision for information superiority and will

serve to guide how DOD organizes, trains and equips the Information Age

force," the official said. "We hope this document will serve as a baseline

for the department as it develops the Strategic Plan for Information Superiority

scheduled to be distributed in early 2001."

Information superiority is a concept for gathering, processing, managing

and disseminating battlefield information faster and more efficiently than

the enemy, enabling U.S. military commanders to make decisions at the "speed

of thought."

"Advancing information and communications technologies offer DOD the

opportunity to rethink how wars are fought," wrote Art Money, the Pentagon's

chief information officer, in a letter that will accompany the soon-to-be-released

document.

Money calls the creation of a Global Information Grid the "entry fee"

for network-centric warfare and information superiority.

"By working together as one "info team,' we will be able to meet these

challenges and transform the force to a network-centric one capable of leveraging

decision superiority and prevailing across the full spectrum of military

operations," Money wrote in his letter.