Data defines the fight today in Iraq and Afghanistan

CECOM plans to bring network culture with it to its new facilities in Aberdeen, Md.

• By Barry Rosenberg
• Aug 18, 2009

Fort Lauderdale—The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are as much about the effective use of data as they are about placing fire on the enemy.

“When was the last time we fired a main tank gun or massive amounts of artillery at the enemy in anger?” asked Major Gen. Randy Strong, commanding general of CECOM LCMC (Life Cycle Management Command), speaking Tuesday at LandWarNet 2009. “The fight today is largely enabled by information and precision strikes on the enemy.”

It is the network and the information that passes through it that lets the Army accomplish its goal to see, hear, disrupt, deny, communicate, out think and survive. The network is also part of a culture that CECOM needs to make sure it brings with it to its new facilities in Aberdeen, Md., which will replace Fort Monmouth under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) committee.

“It is easy to get Mayflower to do the physical move,” said Strong. “It is more difficult to move the organization ... the people. You want to move the culture of excellence so you have the same sense of who you are ... your pride, heritage and culture.”

Strong added that it is just as important to take advantage of the new facilities at Aberdeen to improve their processes, not just recreate everything that was at Fort Monmouth. Consolidating functions in one place that were previously dispersed across Army C4ISR organizations is one way to improve processes.

For example, three Army C4ISR organizations — PEO C4T, PEO EIS and CECOM — all conduct certain satellite operations. At Fort Monmouth, they do that satellite work at three separate facilities. At Aberdeen, they will be co-located under one roof.

“The lifecycle maintenance of that capability will all be done in one domain,” said Strong.

CECOM has established 13 domains under which it will consolidate operations.

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