Always On: Achilles Heel of the Networked Force

摘要

Thoroughly enamored with the benefits of exchanging information in near-real-time, the U.S. military has committed itself to networking the battlefield. Brought about by the convergence of military and consumer communications technology, the networked battlefield boasts continuous connectivity with digitized information. However, the network-centric force is reliant on the radio frequency spectrum to pass information, and is always-on, which is to say, it is constantly producing radio frequency emissions in order to share information in near-realtime. Historical experience should not be ignored. Passive radio transmission detection techniques have been used since the dawn of radio to achieve decisive results. The Achilles heel of the networked force is that it is always-on, continuously exposed to detection. Recommendations are advanced to quantify this awkward vulnerability, train and educate for more decentralized command and control, and focus effort on developing a primarily passive, rather than transmission dependent, situational awareness architecture.