Military deploys IT task force

The military today announced it fielded to Pacific Command and Southern Command a new command and control unit that specializes in information technology.

Joint Forces Command officials by October plan also to deploy the Standing Joint Task Force Headquarters to European Command and Northern Command and in fiscal 2005 to the remaining unified combatant commands, said a March 11 Command statement.

"Using tools such as the collaborative information environment, a Joint Task Force headquarters using the enabling capabilities of the Standing Joint Task Force Headquarters can get all the relevant planning and operating information on the table much faster, thus decreasing its planning and recommendation cycle, so commanders can make decisions faster than we've seen in the past," said Navy Rear Adm. Richard O'Hanlon, who oversees the unit's development and implementation efforts, in the statement.

The Standing Joint Task Force Headquarters consists of 58 people specializing in operations, planning and information management. The group will decrease warfighting-planning efforts from days and weeks to hours and a couple days, the statement said.

Joint Forces Command officials during the past five years studied the streamlined headquarters. The command, located in Norfolk, Va., in 2002 moved it from concept to design, but it fell six months behind schedule.