Achieving Information Dominance: Seven Imperatives for Success

摘要

The importance of C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) as a key enabler for warfighting success has long been recognized. What has been less clear is a means for U.S.-led joint and coalition forces to achieve C4ISR dominance. Understanding not just the operational needs and the technical requirements - but also the functional capabilities required to achieve this goal - can hasten the day when C4ISR dominance for United States military forces is more than a futuristic goal. We address a critical issue - how does the technical community achieve this goal. The overarching thesis of this paper is that in order to achieve C4ISR dominance, the technical community should neither chase means to overcome extant enemy operational capabilities nor attempt to push systems to the operational forces based solely on available technology. Rather, it should build to a discrete set of functional capabilities to achieve this C4ISR dominance. This paper identifies seven functional imperatives to achieve this C4ISR dominance over an adversary. We conclude that what has remained timeless from the days of Sun Tzu to today's conflicts are the universal needs of warfighters to have the right information, at the right place, at the right time.