Impact of C4ISR/Digitization and Joint Force Ability to Conduct the Global War on Terror

The end of the Cold War marked the end of an era in United States national security. The bipolar global balance of power, which defined our nation’s defensive strategy for more than 30 years, was replaced with the uncertainty of failed nation-states, rogue authoritarian regimes, and international terrorist organizations. A new world was emerging with the rapid increase in computer technology, the internet, satellite communications, and global economic markets. In 1991, the United States conducted its first major conventional war using smart bombs, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), satellite communications, and space-based imagery technology. These systems were further refined during operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, and Somalia. Joint Forces were being deployed to all parts of the globe in ways that had not been anticipated before, and the concept of employing a large conventional force was largely becoming too cumbersome and obsolete. A lighter and more rapidly deployable force that provided the same lethal capabilities was required to meet the new challenges of the twenty first century. The Chief of Staff of the Army, General Eric Shinseki, provided a vision of force transformation in order to meet the new challenges for the future. One of the main concepts that emerged as an essential component of force transformation was the ability to achieve information dominance through network-centric warfare. The new paradigm of being a Joint Expeditionary Force that is more rapidly deployable, adaptive, lethal, and able to bring all Joint Force capabilities to bear in any given operation requires the technology that will provide commanders the ability to see the enemy first, understand the situation, and take decisive action. Whether it was low-intensity combat, humanitarian relief, counter-insurgency/counter-terrorist operations, or major combat operations, adapting to new policy demands set the stage for the deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq following the attack on the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2003. The successful application of digital systems during Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) provided the construct and direction that Joint Forces would continue to pursue, as they marched toward the concepts of Joint Vision 2020 while continuing to fight the Global War on Terror. A theory of technological synergy is used as the method to identify the evidence supporting the need for technology change in the organization. The evidence is provided by analyzing the theory of technological determinism on one extreme and social construction on the other. Even though both of these theories have proven to be valuable in describing technological advances in America in the past, there is a more thorough way of describing how the complexity of multiple forces are brought to bear in the development of these systems. The forces of social organization, culture, advances in technology, and external threats are all inter-related and work together to drive change in the organization. The successful implementation of modern digital systems, provided by the network-centric concept, is a critical component to empowering organizational change. On the other hand, a successful organizational change, provided in the Joint Vision concept, is a critical component to the application of digital C4ISR systems. There is a synergistic effect when technology is integrated and synchronized horizontally into the organization, and when successfully applied, validates the organizational changes being made. Moving the organization from the slower analog model to the new digital model allows the organization to adapt rapidly to change. A global C4ISR structure is the backbone that enables the United States military to conduct the Global War on Terror in a more efficient manner.