Army Cyber Resilience 21 • Giant Leaps in Space 31 • Globalizing Cybersecurity 37

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AFCEA’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL • AUGUST 2020 • $5.00 s

ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN
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AFCEA’s STEM PUBLICATION
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THE SIGNAL Kids is a magazine written
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 AUGUST 2020 / Volume 74, No. 12

Multidomain
Maneuvering
The U.S. Army has a
big stake in reshaping
the force to conduct
multidomain
operations.
PAGE 14

ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN DISRUPTIVE SATCOM

OPERATIONS
28 Technology
14 The Army Shapes Joint Drives New Satellite
All-Domain Operations Communications
The service’s Futures and SPONSORED
Concepts Center is taking
Capabilities CONTENT

its multidomain concept The democratization

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in orbit above the Earth.
By Kimberly Underwood EDITORIAL

17 Aligning the Tactical 31 Military Aims to 40 Getting the

Network with Joint
All-Domain Warfighting
Army leaders are making
sure the integrated tactical
network fits into joint plans
for multidomain operations.
21 Army Gears Up To
Battle for Cyber Resilience
ARL research taps existing
areas while breaking new
ground. By Robert K. Ackerman
25 Army Adds Element
of Surprise to
Technology Search
Officials never know
what they will get
with xTechSearch.
By George I. Seffers
Urgently Provide Disruptive Whole Picture
Satellite Capabilities with Next
The year-old Space Generation 911
Development Agency Mobile device
emphasizes speed in pursuing capabilities make
innovative space capabilities. first responders
more efficient,
34 NRL Extends situationally
Autonomous Satellite aware.
Tracking Ability 42 Multi-Domain
The Navy’s Blossom Point
site adds remote antennas. Secure Systems
Aid Remote
CYBER Government
37 Leaders Seek a Grand Workers
Strategy for Cybersecurity Devices let
Geopolitics in an online at-home workers
world are defined by what’s securely access
changed and what hasn’t. classified data.
By Shaun Waterman

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 3

Signal0820.indd 3 7/22/20 9:32 AM

 Army Cyber Resilience 21 • Giant Leaps in Space 31 • Globalizing Cybersecurity 37
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On the Cover
se
AFCEA’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL • AUGUST 2020 • $5.00 s

Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 56th Stryker

Departments
Brigade Combat Team take part in a nighttime
combined arms live-fire exercise in North 6 Behind the Lines
ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN
OPERATIONS
Macedonia. Combined training is part of the
effort to bring forces to bear into multidomain 8 SIGNAL Today
operations. Cover design by SIGNAL Art Director
10 Disruptive
Collaborative Combat From the Ground Up

Chris D’Elia based on U.S. Army photography by

Staff Sgt. Frances Ariele L. Tejada, USA. By Design
A Signal Protection Plan to
Raise the Noise Floor

11
By Maj. Ryan Kenny, USA

11 NewsNet
12 Career
Progressions
13 President’s
Commentary
Cyber Resilience
Looms Large Everywhere
By Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea,
USMC (Ret.)

45 ProductQuest
47 Association News
47 AFCEAN of
the Month
53 International
Chapter News
55 Advertiser Index
56 Incoming
53



How to Prime the
Innovation Pump
By Maj. Gen. Jennifer Napper,
USA (Ret.)

SIGNAL (ISSN-0037-4938) (USPS 496-300) is published monthly by AFCEA International at 4114 Legato Road, Suite 1000, Fairfax, Virginia 22033-4002, (703) 631-6100. Toll-free
(800) 336-4583. For direct-dial numbers to specific departments, see Association News. Subscription rate to nonmembers of AFCEA, 1 year (12 issues) $59. To foreign post
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Send address changes to SIGNAL, AFCEA Service Center, 4114 Legato Road, Suite 1000, Fairfax, Virginia 22033-4002. Authors are entirely responsible for opinions expressed in articles appearing
in AFCEA publications, and these opinions are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of AFCEA International. The name SIGNAL ® and The Cyber Edge® are registered in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved. Copyright 2020 by AFCEA International. Copyright is not claimed in the portions of this work written by government employees within the scope of
their employment. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited except by permission of the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts or art. Change of
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instructions on screen under “Public Message.” Allow 3 weeks for delivery of first copy. Microfilm copies of SIGNAL may be obtained from National Archive Publishing Company, www.napubco.com,
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Article reprints can be purchased through the editorial department, signal@afcea.org.

4 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 4 7/21/20 3:21 PM

Signal0820.indd 5 7/20/20 5:22 PM

In this issue
“Our network moderniza-
tion efforts will enable joint
all-domain command and
control (JADC2) capability.”
—Brig. Gen. Robert Collins
(USA), program executive
officer for Command, Control,
Communications-Tactical page 17
Here a Sat,
There a Sat
PAGE 28
“You used to have to wait
a year or longer and spend
an exorbitant amount of
money to go out and buy a
radiation-tolerant processor
that would have all the capa-
bilities of your calculator.
Now you can go online over-
night and buy something
that has all the capabilities
of your smartphone.”
—Grant Bonin, senior
vice president of business
development, Spaceflight page 28
“Having an automated
system can help recover
the spacecraft easier
and faster than a person
sitting in a seat.”
— Andrew Cox, head, Satellite and
Communications section, Naval
Research Laboratory page 34
6 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020
Signal0820.indd 6
Behind the Lines
AFCEA’s INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Chairwoman of the Board
DeEtte Gray
Publisher
Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea,
USMC (Ret.)
Associate Publisher
Vice President, SIGNAL Media
Beverly Mowery Cooper
A New Battlefield Paradigm EDITORIAL
A
Senior Director, SIGNAL Media
rmies always have been at the center of mili- Editor in Chief
tary operational planning, as nations have Robert K. Ackerman
defined victory in battle by the occupation
Director, Content Development
of land using their own forces. But today’s
Executive Editor
U.S. Army is more than just a land force. As with the George I. Seffers
other services, it operates in more than one domain.
And now, multidomain operations are redefining Senior Editor
modern militaries. Kimberly Underwood
This new paradigm goes beyond simply dipping Contributing Editors
a toe into a new body of water. Instead of using Maj. Gen. Jennifer Napper,
other domains to support its operations, the Army USA (Ret.)
is melding all other domains into a single entity.
This multidomain approach is designed to exploit all
Henry S. Kenyon
playing fields to the fullest.
And, of course, the other services are involved.
Shaun Waterman
Editor at Large
The concept of multidomain operations brings the Clarence A. Robinson Jr.
Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Navy and the
Space Force into play. The quest for joint operations Technical Adviser
seems quaint in comparison with the need to incor- Dr. R. Norris Keeler
porate these diverse forces into a multidomain activ-
ity. Yet, peer competitors such as China and Russia PRODUCTION
already are using emerging technologies to combine Director, Editorial Production
their forces into a broadly interoperable entity. Cyndy Hogan
One domain that does not have its own dedicated
force yet is cyber, and it may play the biggest role Art Director
of all in multidomain operations. The U.S. Army Chris D’Elia
is striving to develop the networked connectivity Associate Editor
necessary to allow effective multidomain operations. Megan Lee
With all the organization required to put together
Assistant Editor
a new battlespace force, it still comes down to data. Julianne Simpson
The linchpin to success remains information, and
the Army is working to harness that with its own Marketing, Advertising and
Communications Coordinator
technological innovations. Information is the key to
Bodil Lund
all domains in the battlespace.
Social Media Manager
Rachel Lilly
E-NEWSLETTERS
Robert K. Ackerman
Senior Director, SIGNAL Media
Editor in Chief
Director, Communications
Maryann Lawlor
ADVERTISING
SIGNAL encourages letters
to the editor. Submit them
to signalnews@afcea.org Director, Advertising
Jennifer Deuterman
7/21/20 3:28 PM
 2021

SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER, SAN DIEGO, CA

February 16–18, 2021 • www.westconference.org

Learn and network while exploring and experiencing the latest platforms,
leading-edge technologies and state-of-the-art networking capabilities
that support the Sea Services' operations. The Western Conference and
Exposition (WEST), co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S.
Naval Institute, presents government, military, industry and academia
senior leaders who gather to discuss emerging systems, platforms and
technologies that will impact all areas of operations. Registration is free for
military and government personnel.

#WEST2021

Signal0820.indd 7 7/20/20 5:30 PM

 SIGNAL Today
For links to content on this page, visit news.afcea.org/STAugust20.
White House photo

Photo FIREWORK
of the DISPLAYS
Month A firework display goes off at
the Washington Monument
in Washington, D.C., in July.
The display was part of the
Salute to America event.

Reader Comments SIGNAL Online

“Exciting use case description! Quantum technologies Exclusive online content is posted throughout
are indeed critical to enabling warfighting edge capabilities the month. Here are selected recent items.
using C4ISR. It is interesting to see DoD’s partnerships
thru SBIR-STTR [Small Business Innovation Research and Access to Data Operations Is
Small Business Technology Transfer] to further this agenda.” Key for Indo-Pacific Operations
—Jatin Singh in response to “Quantum Technologies Suit Up for the Pacific Air Forces leaders call for improved communi-
Battlefield,” June SIGNAL. cations and information in a challenging region.
“My interest is investing in, and promoting, buy and China’s Long March to Telecommuni-
hold stratagies for publicly traded companies that support
national defense, national security and the DHS critical cations Primacy Picks up the Pace
infrastructure sectors, so it was thought provoking (and Chinese telecommunications technology
helpful) to consider the realignment of the NCTC [National is not being welcomed with open arms
Counterterrorism Center] from a mission perspective.” around the world, but alternatives are few.
—BW Schulz in response to “Counterterrorism Methods Space Force Sends Additional
Refocused to Acheive Greater Clarity,” June 2, SIGNAL Online.
GPS Capability into Space
“The languages you code in are the tools you use. The skill The third launch of the GPS III system
is knowing how to solve problems, then you choose the adds performance and protection.
appropriate tools to implement your solution. COBOL is
appropriate for a lot of business problems.”—Julian in response to Join us at SIGNAL online, Twitter and Facebook
“Aging Workforce Brings on COBOL Crisis,” The Cyber Edge, July SIGNAL. to participate in SIGNAL Today conversations.

8 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 8 7/20/20 5:31 PM

 ACCESS THIS FREE WEBINAR
www.afcea.org/signal/webinar

Legacy PBX Migrations

and Connecting Dial Tone
(aka Direct Routing)
to Microsoft Teams
The public sector needs modern and scalable alternatives to legacy PBXs. In many
cases, Microsoft Teams is becoming the preferred alternative since so many are al-
ready leveraging it for video calls, screen share, chat and file sharing. The recent health
crisis has dramatically accelerated this adoption and IT teams suddenly have a trained
user community, ready and willing to expand their use of Teams to include making
and receiving phone calls. Ribbon can help departments and agencies securely mi-
grate communications to Teams, either immediately or over time, enabling you to
use Teams as a primary solution, as part of a long-term migration, or in concert with
Ribbon’s own Microsoft- and JITC-certified call servers that support Direct Routing
for Teams. Regardless of the deployment model, the same Ribbon assets can be de-
ployed and easily redirected as the communications environment evolves. This webi-
nar will help staff learn about securing communications with Microsoft Teams Direct
Routing and legacy PBX migrations:
• What phone system features SPEAKER:
can Microsoft Teams deliver? WILLIAM
GRABNER
• Is Microsoft Direct Routing secure? VP of Ribbon
• Can you keep your PBX and Federal Sales
use Teams for phone calls?
• Is there a way to enhance SPEAKER:
Teams calling services? BRAD
• Where is a Session Border CHALKER
Controller required? Sr. Principle
Product Manager
• How do organizations move
forward without starting over?
MODERATOR:
GEORGE I.
SEFFERS
Executive Editor
SIGNAL Magazine

HOSTED BY

Signal0820.indd 9 7/20/20 5:31 PM

 Disruptive By Design
A Signal Protection Plan to Raise the Noise Floor
A
recent posting of a satellite image
from the U.S. National Training
Center by Col. Scott Woodward,
USA, raised a lot of eyebrows. The
image shows a cluster of electromagnetic
signals emitted from a battalion-sized
unit participating in a large-scale training
event. These signals were captured as part
of the exercise from more than 10 kilome-
ters away. This picture showed what many
of us already know: we have an electro-
contact: Maj. Ryan Kenny, ryankenny@militarycommunicators.org
magnetic emission discipline problem.
Because we did not fear large-scale
attacks on known command posts in Afghanistan and
Iraq, we did not worry about blaring electromagnetic
signals from satellite terminals, tactical radios or the doz-
ens of locally purchased cellphones our forces used. Nor
did we worry about an adversary using unmanned aer-
ial vehicles to deploy sensors from afar. However, times
have changed. As we prepare for the next fight, we must
demand a strategy to protect our forces from signal
detection.
Sophisticated long-range sensors paired with powerful
new data analytics tools increase the likelihood of long-
range detection. Any device that emits electromagnetic
energy presents detectable patterns of fluctuations and
pulses within a given radio frequency range. Engineers
design antennas to propagate radio waves omnidirec-
tionally, or focused into a directional beam. What affords
long-range communication also enables long-range
detection.
Machine learning systems that detect signals from
electromagnetic noise have proven their worth. From
radiologists searching for anomalies to credit card com-
panies looking for fraud, these tools have taken signal
detection to a level previously unimagined. These same
methods can find and target radio-frequency emissions.
Because of these new signal detection capabilities, the
military must develop a whole-of-force strategy to pro-
tect combat forces from electromagnetic detection and
targeting. I believe this effort will require four essential
goals: dominate the spectrum, minimize signals, mask in
depth and continuous passive obfuscation.
To dominate the electromagnetic domain, the best
defense may be a great offense. We cannot allow an adver-
sary to detect signals from our high-value targets. Tacti-
cal planners should know the ranges of adversary signal
detection capabilities and the offset required to prevent
10 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 10
BY MAJ. RYAN KENNY, USA
Maj. Ryan Kenny, USA, created an online
forum to foster discussions on emerging tech-
nologies at www.militarycommunicators.org.
The views expressed here are his alone and do
not represent the views and opinions of the
Defense Department, U.S. Army or other orga-
nizations with which he has had an affiliation.
detection. Military communicators and electromagnetic
experts should be integral members of any planning effort
to revise doctrine or develop new tactical approaches.
To minimize signals, the military will need industry’s
help. To ensure we always plan for the next contest, we
should assume the worst when it comes to signal detection,
and system requirements should have safeguards baked in.
By masking the electromagnetic signature of our units,
in-depth, we can challenge an adversary to find the high-
est-value assets during the first volley. Presenting layers of
noise may help hide the signals that matter most and pre-
serve combat power for response efforts. Every long-range
shot matters, and counter-battery tactics will be critical in
the early phases of most fights.
To fight and win in a contested electromagnetic domain
will require new tactics to confuse an adversary’s sensors
and analytical tools continuously. The future of the elec-
tromagnetic fight will also demand the ability to adapt new
means of detecting ever-evolving signal patterns rapidly.
Likewise, avoiding detection requires new techniques and
tactics for deploying, operating and maneuvering emitters.
We may still own the night, but we may be losing the
electromagnetic domain. The risk of detection is real, and
countermeasures are increasing due to advances in sen-
sor proliferation and machine learning. To adapt to and
overcome these challenges, the Defense Department needs
a plan to dominate the electromagnetic domain, minimize
emissions, mask signals and continuously present patterns
of emission that confuse our adversaries’ detectors. The
time has come to raise the noise floor.
Disruptive by Design explores innovation and
ideas with the potential to expand capabilities
and revolutionize products, services and behaviors.
For more information, visit url.afcea.org/YoungAFCEAN.
7/20/20 5:32 PM
 NewsNet
LLNL

Moving Forward
with Agile Combat
The U.S. Air Force is moving forward
with its concept of Agile Combat
Employment as a way to increase its
force generation capabilities in a con-
tested environment. The Pacific Air
Forces (PACAF) under Gen. Charles
Q. Brown, USAF, who is moving into
his role as the chief of the Air Force
on August 6, replacing a retiring Gen.
David Goldfein, USAF, began looking
at how to engage small groups of multi-
functional airmen to increase capabili-
LLNL Breaks Ground ties in the Indo-Pacific region last year.
PACAF has already conducted train-
on Exascale Computing ing of airmen in this so-called Agile
Combat Employment concept, which
Facility Modernization Project is designed to shift operational-level

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Heidi Goodsell

forces into smaller, tactical-level forces.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has broken
ground on its Exascale Computing Facility Modernization
project. It will substantially upgrade the mechanical and
electrical capabilities of the Livermore Computing Center. The
upgrades will enable the facility to provide exascale-class service
(supercomputers capable of at least one quintillion calculations per
second) to the NNSA laboratories: LLNL, Los Alamos and Sandia.

DHS Funds U.S. Small Business Research

More than two dozen research contracts have been awarded
to 23 small businesses to participate in phase one of the
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Hawkins/Released

Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology

Directorate’s Small Business Innovation Research program.
Each project will receive up to $150,000 to conduct proof-
of-concept research over a six-month period to address spe-
cific homeland security technology needs. The research and
development topics the contracts cover include development
of the Next Generation 911 multimedia content analysis
engine capability for the Emergency Communications Cyber
Security Center; a remote sensor data protection and anti-
spoofing technology; an in-building coverage analysis system
using the existing first responder’s radio and smartphone;
and a machine-learning module for detection technologies.

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 11

Signal0820.indd 11 7/20/20 5:32 PM

 Career Progressions
Military
Brig. Gen. Larry Q. Burris Jr.,
USA, has been assigned as director,
CJ3, Combined Joint Task Force-
Operation Inherent Resolve,
Operation Inherent Resolve, Iraq.
Col. Adam L. Chalkley, USMC, has
been nominated for appointment to
the rank of brigadier general.  senior enlisted leader for the Special
Brig. Gen. Robert S. Cooley Jr.,
USAR, has been assigned as chief
of staff (Individual Mobilization
Augmentee), U.S. Army Reserve
Command, Fort Bragg, North
Carolina.
Maj. Gen. Dennis A. Crall, USMC,
has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of lieutenant general
and assigned as director, command,
control, communications, and
computers (C4)/cyber, and chief
information officer, J-6, Joint Staff.
Lt. Gen. Lewis A. Craparotta,
USMC, has been assigned as
commanding general, Training and
Education Command.
Brig. Gen. Robert B. Davis, USA,
has been assigned as chief of staff, U.S.
Army Central, Shaw Air Force Base,
South Carolina.
Maj. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue,
USA, has been assigned as
commanding general, 82nd Airborne
Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Brig. Gen. David S. Doyle, USA,
has been assigned as commanding
general, Joint Readiness Training
Center and Fort Polk, Fort Polk,
Louisiana.
Maj. Gen. Scott L. Efflandt, USA,
has been assigned as commanding
general, 1st Armored Division and
Fort Bliss, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Col. Kyle B. Ellison, USMC,
has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of brigadier general.  Brig. Gen. Frederick M. O’Donnell,
12 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 12
Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank, USA,
has been assigned as chief of staff,
U.S. Central Command, MacDill
Air Force Base, Florida.
Col. Phillip N. Frietze, USMC, has
been nominated for appointment to
the rank of brigadier general.   has been nominated for appointment
Sgt. Maj. Jody J. Hall, USA, has
been assigned as the command
Operations Command, South,
Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida.
Maj. Gen. Karsten S. Heckl, USMC,
has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of lieutenant general and
assigned as commanding general,
I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Maj. Gen. Diana M. Holland, USA,
has been assigned as commanding
general, Mississippi Valley Division,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Col. (P) Mark J. Hovatter, USA,
has been assigned as deputy director,
plans and strategic integration, J-5,
U.S. Africa Command, Germany.
Col. Peter D. Huntley, USMC, has
been nominated for appointment to
the rank of brigadier general.  
Maj. Gen. David T. Isaacson, USA,
has been assigned as chief of staff,
U.S. Cyber Command, Fort Meade,
Maryland.
Brig. Gen. Mark H. Landes, USA, has
been assigned as commanding general,
First Army Division East, Fort Knox,
Kentucky.
Maj. Gen. David W. Ling, USAR,
has been assigned as commanding
general (Troop Program Unit),
79th Theater Sustainment Command,
Los Alamitos, California.
Col. Julie L. Nethercot, USMC,
has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of brigadier general.  tor of operations and Derek Kernus
USA, has been assigned as deputy
director for operations, National
Joint Operations Intelligence Center,
Operations Team One, J-3, Joint Staff,
Washington, D.C.
Col. Forrest C. Poole III, USMC,
to the rank of brigadier general. 
Brig. Gen. Andrew D. Preston, USA,
has been assigned as chief of staff, U.S.
Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii.
Col. Ryan S. Rideout, USMC,
has been nominated for appointment
to the rank of brigadier general.
Maj. Gen. Andrew M. Rohling, USA,
has been assigned as commanding
general, U.S. Army Africa/Southern
European Task Force, Italy.
Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, USMC,
has been assigned as commander,
U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific,
and commanding general,
Fleet Marine Corps Forces Pacific.
Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Tickner,
commanding general, USA, has been
assigned as commanding general, North
Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Brooklyn, New York.
Maj. Gen. Richard M. Toy, USA, has
been assigned as chief of staff, United
Nations Command, Republic of Korea.
Industry
Redhorse Corporation,
Washington, D.C., has
named John Zangardi
as president.
SES, Luxembourg, has named Thai
Rubin as chief legal officer.
DTS, Arlington, Virginia, announces
Col. Brian Sims, USAF (Ret.), as direc-
to support business development and
information technology operations.
7/20/20 5:32 PM

Cyber Resilience Looms Large Everywhere
BY LT. GEN. ROBERT M. SHEA, USMC (RET.)
F
or many, the issue of cyber resilience conjures up
thoughts of conducting military operations in a denied
environment. But the COVID-19 pandemic has added
another dimension. The importance of cyber resil-
ience to everyday activities
has been illustrated through the
changes wrought by the corona-
virus. As the need for online tele-
work and related efforts continues
to expand, so do the attack vectors
leveraged by cyber marauders.
Any organization must have
the ability to perform its mission
despite adversity, especially in a
work environment threatened by
cyber attacks or lack of informa-
tion technology network resiliency.
These challenges need not be brought about exclusively by
nefarious actors. As an example, adverse network effects can
be the result of shortcomings in network design, engineer-
ing and implementation. In parts of the United States, the
productivity of teleworkers is diminished and schools can-
not effectively conduct remote classes because of the lack
of sufficient bandwidth. Emergency responders and law
enforcement also are affected by the efficacy of cyber opera-
tions. In short, many people cannot access the bandwidth
they need for daily life.
In the aggregate, these shortcomings affect national secu-
rity through their economic, societal and educational rami-
fications. The impact of COVID-19 has given us reason to
reconsider the critical nature of the telecommunications
and computing infrastructure.
Overall, COVID-19 has awakened the public to the fact that
we are not where we need to be in terms of cyber resilience.
We remain highly vulnerable, and we need a strategic plan
going forward to address the shortcomings. Our information
networks often have evolved without broad national security
and economic considerations. We must develop a coordinated
strategy with integrated actions to fix the problem.
Additionally, the threat from rogue actors and nation-
states continues to expand. They persist in exploiting lucra-
tive targets that fail to exercise proper cyber hygiene. Even
government cyber efforts are disjointed. You cannot sepa-
rate the Defense Department from the rest of government
and industry, if for no other reason than the interrelation-
ship of the commercial supply chain and the global trans-
portation network demand a more assimilated approach to
developing the needed resiliency.
The hard truth about cyber resilience is that it remains
elusive without vision and strong leadership. We need
Signal0820.indd 13
President’s Commentary
to come to grips as a nation and consider our interna-
tional partners if we are to grasp the full meaning of cyber
resilience.
Industry and government must rise to the task with fresh
thinking on partnerships, perhaps going as far as govern-
ment investing in key private sector technologies to ensure
we remain competitive in the information domain.  Ulti-
mately, for their part, industry and academia will continue
to develop the necessary new technologies. To reiterate, a
strategic planning approach across government, industry
and academia is vital.
The cyber-resilient network must be ubiquitous with
the ability to rapidly identify, isolate and withstand attacks
using multiple tools and techniques. It must avail itself of
machine learning that enables the network to identify and
respond quickly to anomalies with limited human involve-
ment and allows new technologies to be rapidly inserted. 
A pair of studies conducted by the National Security Tele-
communications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) over the
past two years could provide the framework for a valuable
path forward. The 2018 NSTAC Report to the President on
a CyberSecurity Moonshot and the 2019 NSTAC Report on
Advancing Resiliency and Fostering Innovation in the iCT
Ecosystem lay out sound ideas for moving forward with a
carefully designed cyber infrastructure that is both resilient
and secure. It is time to revisit these studies and implement
many of their recommendations.  
If information is to be the dominant strategic asset
we expect, we need to rally to this ideal at all levels of
national power. This effort needs to include identifying
the key technologies in which we must invest. We have
done this before. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ral-
lied the necessary expertise and organization to build the
interstate highway system and the St. Lawrence Seaway,
and President John F. Kennedy mobilized the engineering
and scientific communities nationally to land a man on
the moon in less than a decade. All were bold efforts with
strong leadership.
Just as those endeavors generated invaluable spinoffs,
so too can the design and development of a new network
focused on security and resilience. Our technology expertise
gives us what we need to accomplish this, and it will produce
rapid and worthwhile benefits. We cannot tolerate the alter-
native. Now is the time to stop talking and start doing.
To share or comment on this article
go to http://url.afcea.org/August20
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 13
7/20/20 5:32 PM
 A U.S. Army soldier stands outside a Humvee before
the start of the Dasman Shield live fire exercise in
Kuwait in February. During the exercise, the military
looked at the beginnings of all domain operations,
including air-to-ground command control, as well
as partner interoperability with Kuwaiti forces.
The Army Shapes Joint
All-Domain Operations
The service’s Futures and Concepts Center is
taking its multidomain concept to the joint level.
T
he message from the intelligence community and top
leaders of the U.S. military is clear. The nation is in near-
peer competition, just underneath the level of outright
war. As such, the U.S. military is investing in aligning its
capabilities and functionality to fight as a Joint force seamlessly
across the sea, air, land, space and cyberspace. Along with the
other services, the U.S. Army is work-
ing to shape the approach of how the BY KIMBERLY
military will fight in the future under UNDERWOOD
Joint all-domain operations.
For the Army, it may mean a shift from solely a brigade
combat team, or BCT, focus that worked well in a counterin-
surgency environment, to a more flexible force structure above
the brigade level that enables multidomain operations, says Lt.
Gen. Eric Wesley, USA, director, Futures and Concepts Center
(FCC), and deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Futures
Command. The FCC is responsible for divining the Army’s
future operating environment and then deriving the related
14 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 14
operating concepts and informing doctrine. In supervising
those activities, Gen. Wesley reports directly to Gen. John
“Mike” Murray, commander, Army Futures Command.
“For the last 30 years, we have been the dominant pre-
eminent force in the world, and we’ve had luxuries during that
time that are now waning,” Gen. Wesley explains. “In the early
2000s, when we went to modularity, we became much more
BCT-centric in our design methodology and BCTs in the
COIN [counterinsurgency] environment were fully sufficient
because they had sufficient power relative to the threats we
were facing. But in doing that, we got rid of our capability to
add echelon, and we lost to some degree the ability to conduct
campaign-level operations across the theater.”
To address the gaps, the Army has set a goal of achieving
multidomain operations by the year 2028. While it is a tall
order, the service is making key strides to achieve this oper-
ational vision, the director contends. Led by the FCC, the
process starts with designing the conceptual components
7/20/20 5:32 PM
 ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS

of multidomain operations, which the Army released in Nonetheless, to achieve that level of convergence, “there
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kevin Tanenbaum

December 2018, and then defining the practices that will is still a lot of work ahead to get that aligned,” the general
guide warfighters across an all-domain battlefield. This suggests. The Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management
would be the doctrine for multidomain operations, which System (ABMS), which the Air Force, Army and Navy
the Army is in the process of creating, he states. first tested last December in a three-day exercise with the
As part of that effort, the general’s team at the FCC is build- U.S. Northern Command, is a start, the general says, “but
ing the operations and organizations, known as ONOs, and the next step is what’s under the hood. And what we aren’t
is coordinating that development with the Combined Arms clear on is how the Air Force systems connect with ours
Center (CAC), which is led by Lt. Gen. James
Rainey, USA, who also is the commander of
Fort Leavenworth.
“We’re starting with those things that we
have the capability to do and moving it into
the doctrine so that we can start training at the
right level for these capabilities of the future,”
he explains. “We want to make sure what we
are writing as doctrine is consistent with what
is in multidomain operations, and that they are
writing a doctrine that is within the realm of
the possible. It’s a give and take, and it’s a pro-
cess which takes a while, but by the end of this
year you’re going to see some decisions on the
rate at which we move concept into doctrine.”
However, an overarching component of that
process is the Army’s contribution to how the
entire U.S. military will engage across the air,
sea, land, cyber and space warfighting domains, The Army is working at the Joint level to form a multidomain operations concept
or Joint all-domain operations, also known as for the military, says Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley (l), USA, director, Futures and Concepts
JADO. Center, and deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Futures Command,
“You just can’t have different services have speaking with Retired Col. Kenyon Gill (USMC) at MILCOM 2019.
their own MDO concepts and federate them
together,” Gen. Wesley clarifies. “It’s the unique nature of and how our systems connect with the Air Force, and that’s
MDO, integrating all the domains of warfare: space, cyber, the hard work that has to be done. What we are advocating
electromagnetic warfare, land, maritime, and air. And it’s for is that it is incumbent on the Air Force’s ABMS system
the integration of those things such that the total is greater to connect to our capabilities, that it has got to be designed
than the sum of the parts that creates overmatch against your to enable our capabilities, because it is at the edge where
opponent. But because those domains all come from different these capabilities must bring their effects.”
services and in some cases are parts of the interagency, you In addition to the challenge of bringing the services
quickly realize that this has to be a top-down effort.” together on a collective technical understanding of what
The military also is organizing the joint approach to must be built for JADC2, the services also need the tech-
command and control for that future operating environ- nology required to conduct multidomain operations, Gen.
ment, or the functional concept of joint all-domain com- Wesley ventures. Here, the Army’s communication, com-
mand and control, known as JADC2. “And we have a key puting and tactical network capabilities will be crucial to
role in shaping and influencing the requirements and achieving all-domain operations, the general continues.
description of what that is,” he notes. “To create overmatch, you have to be able to continually
The Army is engaging with the Air Force, Space Force, and rapidly integrate domains in the theater of war, not
Navy and the Marine Corps to develop the JADO concept just at one point but across the theater,” he states. “That
by November and has been conducting exercises to test means you’re trying to integrate the air, cyber, space, land
initial JADC2 functionality with the Air Force at its JADC2 and maritime for effect rapidly and continuously, within
center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. So far, the general minutes or seconds. The network becomes the backbone
is optimistic regarding the progress towards JADO from a of your ability to conduct convergence, and your ability
conceptual perspective. to integrate these domains will be dependent on the vital-
“In the last year, we’ve gone from the services not com- ity of our network. That is where you will truly converge
municating at all on a joint MDO concept, for all intents effects at the tempo we will have to have in the future.”
and purposes, to being months out from exercising a In the meantime, the Army’s Project Convergence—
concept,” he states. “We are negotiating that with the other which features a technology demonstration still planned
services to make it fit at the joint level. It is a joint effort despite the pandemic for late August at the Globally Inte-
and a joint design.” grated Wargame—will test the design of the integrated

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 15

Signal0820.indd 15 7/20/20 5:32 PM

 sensors at the edge, and how information and data on tar-
gets moves to shooters. The project is led by Gen. Murray
and Lt. Gen. James Richardson, USA, deputy commanding
general for combat development. It is where the multido-
main operations concept will prove itself out or not, Gen.
Wesley says. “We’re going to demonstrate the first capabili-
ties that the cross-functional teams are then going to mani-
fest,” the director states.
Gen. Wesley also is working with the Combat Capa-
bilities Development Command (CCDC), led by Maj. Gen.
John George, USA, to coordinate technology develop-
ments in relation to Joint all-domain operational concepts.
“There’s this symbiotic relationship between the FCC and
CCDC, where the labs support the requirements that we
say we will need, and inform us of the technologies that
will come,” Gen. Wesley notes. Additionally, the director is
interacting with Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acqui-
sition Logistics and Technology Bruce Jette to consider
how and when to purchase multidomain solutions for Joint
warfighting “that are supported by what the labs say is avail-
able in terms of technology.”
Also, the FCC is taking the first steps in developing a
related multidomain operations force structure for the
Army through its AimPoint Force Structure Initiative. The
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Signal0820.indd 16
center is examining what a flexible force structure template
could look at the higher echelons above the brigade level—
division, corps, field armies and theater armies—to evolve
them from mere headquarters to interdependent, echeloned
multidomain warfighting formations.
“We had to say, ‘What does the Army look like in order
to develop what we call multidomain formations,’” the gen-
eral says. “That’s AimPoint. AimPoint is a template that the
chief of staff of the Army has approved for planning, and to
be clear, all it is, is an azimuth or an orientation. It kind of
describes in a template format what the Army ought to look
like in order to be able to fight multidomain operations. It’s
not a force structure design or what the size of the Army is
or what the specific formations look like. It’s a template to
experiment with and to plan against.”
As part of the AimPoint effort, the FCC is considering
total Army analysis decisions, known as TAAs, to start
building the structures that are defined by the template.
“Those will be incremental, and when the chief can afford
it, we’ll make decisions on those,” Gen. Wesley clarifies.
At each echelon, the Army would have to provide the
ability to plug into the domain capabilities. “We don’t have
the theater fires capability that we used to have, and we
have lost the core fires capability and the division fires capa-
bility,” the director emphasizes. “In terms of campaigning,
that skill set was mortgaged in order to enable us to con-
duct COIN operations at the BCT level. So, what AimPoint
does is it describes our ability to fight at echelon. Also, if
you are going to integrate all domains that cross all services
and reach into the interagency, and you have to be able to
integrate those very rapidly and continuously, you can see
that you’ll need to have echelon responsibilities to integrate
some of those capabilities for the right effect. So, it’s restor-
ing a campaign-level quality Army to be able to fight in the
future.”
The service chief has already signed off on developing
a Theater Fires Command to integrate the fires across
the theater, and he is building multidomain task forces
intended to enable theater operational commanders
to penetrate any adversarial anti-access/area denial, or
A2AD, capabilities.
Over the next few months, the general’s main focus
remains helping to finalize the JADO concept. “The joint
concept, from an FCC perspective, is my number one
priority,” Gen. Wesley states. “We’ve got to get that under-
stood because that is going to define how the Joint Force
fights. The Army thinks we know how we’re going to fight
in the future, but we’ve got to get consensus across the
Joint Force.”
contact: Kimberly Underwood,
kunderwood@afcea.org
7/20/20 5:33 PM
 U.S. Army
The Army is integrating Joint All Domain
Command and Control capability as part
of its tactical network modernization efforts.
Aligning the Tactical Network with
Joint All-Domain Warfighting
Army leaders are making sure the integrated tactical
network fits into joint plans for multidomain operations.
T
he U.S. Army has spent the last two years pursuing a
modernized integrated tactical network, or ITN, that
supports increased mobility, resiliency and capabili-
ties. Now, the service has a focus toward making sure
that the modernization of that network can enable joint all-
domain command and control, or the concept of JADC2.
The service is preparing to fight
seamlessly across the sea, land, BY KIMBERLY
air, space and cyberspace, or mul- UNDERWOOD
tidomain operations, by 2028.
“Our network modernization efforts will enable JADC2
capability,” states Brig. Gen. Robert Collins (USA), program
executive officer for Command, Control, Communica-
tions-Tactical (PEO C3T). “Working with the Network
Signal0820.indd 17
ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS
Cross-Functional Team (CFT), we are aligning Capability
Set (CS) development to JADC2 objectives and are seeking
to optimize experimentation and existing program efforts
to enhance JADC2 capabilities.”
As part of the Army’s contribution to JADC2, in par-
ticular, the PEO C3T and the Network CFT—the mod-
ernization team—are supporting ground domain data
and network transport capability, Gen. Collins says. “For
example, mobile and expeditionary network transport
systems, such as small aperture terminals, gateways,
cross-domain guards and secure waveforms, are needed
to support MDO [multidomain operations] and pro-
vide transport of sensor to shooter data in the JADC2
construct,” he states. “We must also be able to carefully
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 17
7/20/20 5:33 PM
 manage data flow over network transport to ensure that the actively involved in the mission engineering threads as they
volume of data that will be produced does not ‘clog’ tactical design the network architecture of the future to ensure that
network transportation pipes.” we have joint fires, joint situational awareness and a joint
Capabilities in medium earth orbit and low earth orbit tactical grid for the joint force, so that our Army modern-
offer another communication pathway for multidomain ization efforts are aligned with those. And we will work that
operations. The modernization team has started development very closely going forward.”
and experimentation efforts And although the military has had to cancel many JADC2
with commercial satellite and other exercises and events since mid-March—includ-
constellations and ground ing JWA Defender 2020 and combat center rotations—due
terminals to leverage those to the pandemic, the Army has had the opportunity since
capabilities as they mature, then to obtain feedback from the 1st Brigade Combat Team,
the general notes. 82nd Airborne Division, which was deployed to the Middle
The PEO C3T and the East as part of the global response force mission, Gen. Gal-
Network CFT also will lagher says.
explore data management Going forward, the Army will test its JADC2 efforts dur-
techniques, harnessing arti- ing the next JWA, planned for the last week of June and
ficial intelligence, machine early July in 2021. That JWA JADC 2 effort will be tied
learning, tactical cloud, and to the Pacific Sentry event held by the U.S. Indo-Pacific
edge computing to help Command and will build on the success of the 2019 JWA
mitigate network transport exercise, during which the United States worked with the
issues, Gen. Collins offers. Five Eyes nations and other partners, such as Singapore and
Moreover, to enhance the Because of the complexities of
France.
common operational picture the multidomain operations “One of the most important aspects of the Army is that
for MDO, the team will con- environment, the Army has we are always going to fight as part of a joint force,” Gen.
duct experimentation efforts to make sure that the force Gallagher continues. “And we usually fight with coalition
in the near future to look structure and equipping are teammates. So, [we are] making sure that we are aligned
at how the Army can inte- closely aligned, says Brig. with the JADC2 CFT out of The Joint Staff and partnering
grate MDO overlays into its Gen. Robert Collins (USA), with the Air Force, the Marine Corps, Navy and others to
Command Post Computing program executive officer make sure that our alignment, as we reach our objectives in
Environment. for Command, Control, the future to deliver the network that allows us to be MDO
As such, the service is Communications-Tactical. dominant by 2028, is aligned with our teammates across the
coordinating closely with the military departments and across the Defense Department.”
other military departments, Gen. Collins says. “Working with The Network CFT director clarifies that the team is pos-
joint service partners, we are understanding the necessary tac- tured to deliver the first tranche of technologies as part
tical network requirements to support JADC2.” of its Capability Set 2021 (CS 21), following a successful
“We have to make sure that everything we do as an Army critical design review this spring—which fits right in with
allows us to remain interoperable with our joint partners and the plan to help enable JADC2. “We are moving faster to
our coalition teammates,” adds  Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, keep pace with emerging technology and threats in cyber,
USA, director of the Network Cross-Functional Team (Net- spectrum and electronic warfare,” Gen. Gallagher notes. In
work CFT). addition to providing a modernized ITN, the team also is
Over the last year, the Army began experimenting with providing advancement capabilities to the Expeditionary
JADC2 during Project Convergence, the 2019 Joint Warf- Signal Battalions. As part of Phase 1 of the CS 21 rollout,
ighting Assessment (JWA), other tabletop exercises and the equipment they are purchasing includes: single-channel
events with the combatant commands. Because the develop- data radios; dual-channel headsets for leaders to monitor
ment of Army-related JADC2 capabilities involves the initial two radio networks; variable height antennas, which are
partial linkage of sensors and the Army’s tactical network essentially tethered drones for range extension of tactical
with the other services, the Network CFT and PEO C3T radios; line-of-sight backhaul, a critical capability add to
attended several experiments connecting to the Air Force’s gateways to bridge multiple networks together seamlessly
Advanced Battle Management System, Gen. Gallagher says. for operators; and mobile broadband kits that allow soldiers
The Army has worked to connect with the Air Force’s JADC2 to tie into either available Army or non-Army networks,
experimentation nucleus, their Shadow Operations Center explains Joe Welch, deputy, Program Executive Office Com-
at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and at trials at Eglin Air mand Control Communications-Tactical.
Force Base, Florida. “We are focused on best value, as we will be fielding this
“That is very critical,” the Network CFT director states. equipment for quite a while,” Welch says. “We are buying
“We’ve been working closely over the last several months to capabilities for the first four brigades for Phase 1 in fiscal
stay in sync with The Joint Staff, and they have had several year 20 and then into FY 2021. And we are putting RFIs
ABMS demonstrations at Eglin and Nellis, and we’ve par- [request for information] out to allow market research and
ticipated in JADC2 experimentation exercises. And we are further experimentation.”

18 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 18 7/20/20 5:33 PM


In addition, Welch says that fielding base bands and
very small aperture terminals, or VSATs, will allow for
additional mobility and expeditionary use.
Moreover, the PEO C3T and the Network CFT will
be conducting additional prototyping efforts over the
next fiscal year, given the alignment of Army resources
focused just on the development of tactical communica-
tions and networking solutions.
“We have put on contract 17 prototyping efforts to
get after CS 23 and CS 25,” Gen. Gallagher clarifies. This
includes three rapid prototyping initiatives from the
Office of the Secretary of Defense; eight efforts from the
Combat Capabilities Development Command’s C5ISR
Center; and six efforts resulting from the team’s technical
exchange with industry in Austin, Texas, last year. The
emerging technologies that they select from the various
prototyping efforts will transition to a program, if feasi-
ble, or, if not ready, will continue to prototyping in CS 25.
Welch and Gen. Gallagher spoke to the industry as part
“Our network modernization efforts will enable JADC2 [joint all-domain command
and control] capability. Working with the Network Cross-Functional Team, we are
aligning Capability Set development to JADC2 objectives and are seeking to optimize
experimentation and existing program efforts to enhance JADC2 capabilities.”
—Brig. Gen. Robert Collins (USA), program executive officer for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical
of Aberdeen Proving Ground’s virtual Advance Planning
Briefing to Industry in June and reminded companies of
the next technical exchange meeting scheduled for Sep-
tember in Nashville, and also virtually.
In addition, the team plans on spending the next year
fielding the new equipment and conducting related
training for CS 21, and delivering technologies to bri-
gades and multiple expeditionary signal battalions.
Then, following the prototyping for CS 23, the parties
will start the planning stage for CS 25, identifying tech-
nological need areas.
Part of PEO C3T’s efforts include a functional realign-
ment of the office to ensure program officers are aligned
with the modernization lines of effort, Welch says. “We
are standing down the Network Enablers Program Office
and standing up a new program office, the I2S Program
Office, or Integration, Interoperability and Services, which
will enable much more focused activities closely related to
the Network CFT,” he notes. PEO C3T also is standing up
a CS development office. “So, you will see some change to
our org chart,” he adds.
That realignment is necessary, given the threat “of very
lethal peer adversaries,” Gen. Gallagher emphasizes. “We
have to be able to move, and move with speed, so we are
looking at formation-appropriate platforms, reduced sig-
natures, increased speed and an increased ability to sepa-
rate the forces, and really making sure we can reduce our
electronic signature,” he says. “There is a lot of work being
done in that space.”
Signal0820.indd 19
ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS
Gen. Collins also recommends that more attention be
paid to the nonkinetic capabilities for MDO, both cyber and
electronic warfare, which are needed to confront the enemy
anti-access/area denial, or A2AD, environment. “And across
all those capabilities, we’ve got to make sure that they are not
only survivable but expeditionary and can rapidly transition
from competition to conflict,” he advises. “Moreover, open
systems and modular architecture approaches will continue
to enable adaptive and innovative technology that are key to
supporting all domain operations.”
In addition to the material side, the service also needs to
address how its training and equipping is synchronized with
its organizational force structures for MDO formations, the
PEO C3T offers.
“We’ve got to make sure that the force structure and
equipping are closely aligned, because of the complexities
of the multidomain operations environment,” Gen. Collins
states. “Partnering with the CFTs has really strengthened our
ability to refine concept of operations and requirements.”
As the prior lead of PEO Intelligence Electronic Warfare
and Sensors (IEW&S)—which is now being led by acting
PEO IEW&S Mark Kitz—Gen. Collins worked closely with
CFTs and counterparts, including the Assured Position,
Navigation, and Timing CFT, the Network CFT and the
intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) task force,
in pursuing MDO. He suggests that sensing capabilities will
continue to be crucial in achieving comprehensive warfare.
“Deep sensing needs to be a big focus for MDO, leverag-
ing both national and commercial capabilities, specifically
in space, and manned and unmanned aerial ISR, and col-
lectively taking that synthesizing [of information] to inform
mission command,” he notes.
And although he is just two months into the role as PEO
C3T, Gen. Collins will continue to focus on JADC2. 
“We certainly are looking toward focusing on MDO and
large-scale combat operations,” Gen. Collins says. “Whether
it’s demonstrations, experimentation or prototyping of con-
cepts, or even as we shape touch points, we absolutely are
making sure that we’ve got a solid road map that gets us to
MDO, and enabling an MDO-capable force.”
contact: Kimberly Underwood,
kunderwood@afcea.org
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 19
7/22/20 9:52 AM
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Signal0820.indd 20 7/20/20 5:36 PM


Army Gears Up To
Battle for Cyber Resilience
ARL research taps existing areas while breaking new ground.
BY ROBERT K. ACKERMAN
T
he U.S. Army is attacking defen-
sive cyber operations from the
laboratory. It is focusing new
research efforts, including auton-
omous network agents, on ensuring
cyber resiliency in the battlespace.
Some of this work builds on related
efforts long underway at the Com-
bat Capabilities Development Com-
mand Army Research Laboratory
(ARL). Other thrusts aim at exploiting
capabilities that are within reach but
not yet ready to field. Still more are
Signal0820.indd 21
ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS
areas of research that have been given
greater emphasis reflecting the more
urgent need for cyber resilience.
Alexander Kott, chief scientist of the
ARL and Army ST—senior research
scientist—for cyber resilience, has
just begun reshaping ARL research to
reflect this new mission. What comes
out of the lab could have significant
ramifications to the civilian world as
well as the military.
“This is a whole world of interesting
opportunities,” Kott says.
“Most of the cyber assets and net-
works in our society are highly
Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff
vulnerable to a variety of attacks,” he
states. These run the gamut from com-
plex assaults to unsophisticated attacks.
With so many mobile assets, devices
and systems are increasingly vulner-
able to cyber attacks. He points out that
most assets on which people rely, such
as cellphones and tablet devices, are
relatively disadvantaged. Many people
do not realize that they tend to be in
close proximity to cyber adversaries, so
it is relatively easy for both parties to
achieve some form of contact.
Most of all, people generally are
not trained cyber defenders, Kott
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 21
7/20/20 5:33 PM
 available to us, or they will be spoofed
in some way,” he states.

Cybersecurity Takes a Moving ahead in cyber resilience

will require overcoming two hurdles

Hit From COVID-19

that double as opportunities. The first
is a quantitative one. “We need to learn

T
how to measure cyber resilience,” Kott
he COVID-19 pandemic brings with it a new set of cyber vulner- states. He adds that no engineering dis-
abilities built around lifestyle changes throughout society, and cipline ever has achieved any degree
these vulnerabilities cry out for new means of cyber resiliency. of maturity and sophistication without
“It’s quite possible that historians will remember COVID-19 as determining how to measure its prop-
one of the very important civilizational turning points,” says Alexander erties. Yet, no one seems to have any
Kott, chief scientist of the Army Research Laboratory and Army ST for method for measuring or even quanti-
cyber resilience. “COVID-19 is acting as a forcing function. It forces us fying cyber resilience. “It will be cyber
to accelerate the transition to a more virtual society than we were before, resilience engineering when we learn
and it is accelerating the trend that was occurring before COVID-19 but how to measure cyber resilience,” he
was happening more slowly and less noticeably.” declares. “That means we need rigorous
He continues that even if a reliable vaccine appears and alleviates fears tools that can measure cyber resilience.
of the virus, a large fraction of the workforce will never return to full- Only then can we actually improve our
time office life. Recent experiences have shown that virtual offices can cyber resilience.
be effective and can save a lot of money for both workers and businesses. “Once we have the means for measur-
Society will rely to a much greater degree on distributed work locations ing how good our cyber resilience is, we
such as home offices as well as mobile locations. will be able to make much more impact-
But this flexibility means that physical security will not be as good ful progress in it,” he warrants.
as in a formal office environment, which is rife with dedicated security The second big hurdle facing cyber
services and arrangements, Kott points out. Networks and computer resilience is the need for autonomous
security in particular are less secure with fewer controls. Even if a busi- artificially intelligent agents to execute
ness provides support personnel for home workers, it will be facing chal- actions for resisting, observing and
lenges inherent in serving multiple virtual customers. recovering from cyber compromises,
“What all this means is that the cyber attacker will have many new Kott says. He offers that the reliance
opportunities to get into our systems,” he posits. on human cyber defenders is eco-
Achieving cyber resilience in this new atmosphere is all the more nomically and technically inefficient.
important, Kott emphasizes. “The question now becomes, how do we This is not to imply that highly intel-
make it so that penetrating our systems is of little value to the attacker? ligent humans are unnecessary for cyber
Can we make it a fool’s errand for the attacker? Can we prevent that defense, he emphasizes. Rather, peo-
attacker from gaining any meaningful value for all the hard work they ple need to be reinforced with greater
have to invest in compromising our network and our system? numbers of autonomous artificial cyber
“COVID-19 made the importance of cyber resilience much greater defense agents. Industry is moving in
than it was before,” he declares. this direction, he notes, albeit “slowly
and hesitantly.”
Security orchestration, automation
and response (SOAR) technologies are
observes. This applies to both civilian “Hoping for some kind of a cen- an integrated collection of tools that
and military personnel. tralized continuous monitoring and help human defenders respond in a
Kott points out that cyber resilience is defense by a third party is often centralized manner to security com-
especially important for the Army as the unrealistic,” Kott observes. “One of promises. Yet, these are not foolproof,
service relies on cyber operations to an the first things a sophisticated cyber Kott says, adding that a more aggres-
increasing degree. The Defense Depart- attacker will do is disable the ability sive move in that direction is neces-
ment describes cyber resilience as the to communicate reliably with those sary. This would include making SOAR
ability of systems to resist, absorb and third-party defenders.” This applies tools more intelligent, so they could
recover or adapt to an adverse occur- to managed cyber defense services address unpredictable combinations,
rence during operation, so accordingly, providers, both in the civilian and and making them available locally on
the Army must be able to continue to military worlds, and they are comple- sub-networks.
carry out its mission when its cyber sys- mented by commercial software sup- One ARL effort focuses on tactical
tems are compromised or under attack. pliers that send upgrades and secu- autonomous intelligent agents for cyber
This includes being able to return a sys- rity patches. “A successful cyber attack defense. The overwhelming majority of
tem to “a reasonable degree of perfor- would make sure that those third- today’s cyber defense tools are “watch-
mance” as soon as possible, he notes. party remote services will not be easily ers,” Kott says. If they see an anomaly,

22 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 22 7/20/20 5:33 PM

 ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS

The Army Research Laboratory’s research

U.S. Army

efforts into cyber resiliency include

development of autonomous self-
monitoring systems that do not require
network experts to follow cyber activities
around the clock without assistance.

detailed issues facing Army cyber

they alert the user or network manager
to what they see. But as effective and
important as these watchers are, they
are not “doers,” he points out. They do
not engage in the activities that are most
important for cyber resilience, leaving
that action to the human they’ve just
alerted. “This does not bring us cyber
resilience,” Kott maintains.
Effective cyber resilience defense
tools must be active fighters, not merely
watchers, he continues. These active
fighters must take independent, intel-
ligent actions to maintain systems’ resil-
ience against compromises. Accord-
ingly, they must have a significant
something that we don’t want to hap-
pen,” he admits.
These potential ramifications include
breaking software, crashing a network
or corrupting data. The probability may
be low, but it cannot be counted out.
For that matter, human cyber defenders
can pose the same risk, he points out.
This risk must be weighed against the
negative consequences from not taking
action or from waiting until humans
can respond, he adds.
Gaps, challenges and opportuni-
ties abound, but Kott notes that the
resilience differ from those of the
other services. At the ARL, research-
ers already are working on a number
of projects, some of which will be
enhanced or strengthened.
One project is the Cyber Collabora-
tive Research Alliance, which comprises
government, academia and industry.
This alliance aims to create the founda-
tions of cybersecurity science, and it
includes cyber resilience. Kott wants
to see more work in that direction,
including rigorous analysis and design
of deception techniques aimed at the
cyber attacker. The goal is to make the
intruding cyber attacker unproductive,
he explains. These deceptions could be
linked to physical military deceptions.
Cyber deception is inseparable from
physical military deception, Kott con-
tinues. This includes electronic war-
fare and electromagnetic operations,
and clever tactics would integrate
cyber and electronic warfare.
Another target under development
would be the ability to learn how the

U.S. Army
degree of autonomy, via artificial intel-
ligence, to be able to respond rapidly to
a compromise. They also must be able
to absorb the compromise, and at least
partially recover from it—and quickly,
Kott adds. The speed necessary for these
actions often requires “the absence
of human involvement at time scales
humans cannot support,” he points out.
This mandates intelligent analysis of
risks and ramifications of the actions
the agents are trying to take, Kott says.
He adds that research into these types
of agents is beginning to emerge, but
again it is “somewhat hesitant.” This
hesitance comes from the inability to
guarantee that the actions of an auton-
omous intelligent cyber defender will
not cause undesirable ramifications. A Stryker Brigade combat team equipped with Warfighter Information Network-Tactical
“Anyone doing something inevitably Increment 2 (WIN-T 2) prepares to move out during a Network Integration Evaluation. Army
takes risks, and there is a risk that the Research Laboratory scientists are exploring new methods of ensuring cyber resiliency so
actions of [this type of] agent will do enemy operations cannot fully deny U.S. forces the use of their cyber assets in wartime.

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 23

Signal0820.indd 23 7/20/20 5:33 PM

 adversary operates once inside the
network. That would allow defensive
operations that parry the adversary’s
thrusts, Kott notes. This will require
building rigorous theory and experi-
mental methods to support this
approach to cyber resilience.
The ARL also is working on a proj-
ect called tactical autonomous active
defense. This effort is focusing in par-
ticular on defending military vehicles,
and Kott offers that some of the ideas
emerging from this work are begin-
ning to look like autonomous intel-
ligent agents. The laboratory is starting
a multi-university research effort on
cyber autonomy, which may include
performing sophisticated deception
via continuous learning and observa-
tion from another perspective.
Some ongoing ARL research already
touches upon cyber resilience issues.
Multidimensional cyber intrusion
detection and analysis has been an
area of active research for several
years, Kott allows. Network resilience
also has been an ARL research focal
point for some time.
The ARL has extensive collabora-
tive efforts with academia and indus-
try for research into autonomous
agents, and some of this work can be
applied to cyber resilience. The lab-
oratory recently awarded $3 million
to industry and academia partners
for a program on autonomy enter-
prise—Scalable, Adaptive and Resil-
ient Autonomy, or SARA. This focuses
on autonomous mobility, but Kott
emphasizes that its research also is
important for cyber autonomy. The
ARL is seeking input from existing
and new industry partners, including
international partners, on that topic.
Other cyber resilience efforts link
the virtual with the physical. “We
believe that the resilience of our
computers is inseparable from the
resilience of networks,” Kott says. “If
we don’t have communications, it is
even more difficult to achieve resil-
ience of individual nodes. Therefore,
we invest heavily into more resilient
[communication] networks, and a
major path toward resilience of net-
works is heterogeneity of these net-
works using a variety of channels
where we can jump from one type of
physical channel to another—not just
radio frequency, but also other types
of channels used in communications,”
he states. Intelligent, clever and decep-
tive switching between those channels
would help achieve this goal.
contact: Robert K. Ackerman,
signalnews@afcea.org

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Signal0820.indd 24 7/20/20 5:33 PM


Army Adds
Element of Surprise
to Technology Search
Officials never know what they
will get with xTechSearch.
BY GEORGE I. SEFFERS
Soldiers from the 5-3 Field Artillery Regiment conduct live-fire exercises with the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System at Yakima Training Center.
A lighter-weight, longer-range rocket fuel is one of the winners of the xTechSearch competition that will contribute to multidomain operations.
B
eing surprised on the battlefield is never a good
thing, but Army officials, who are focused on
modernizing the force, welcome industry—espe-
cially small businesses—to offer solutions they
didn’t know existed and didn’t know they needed.
The xTechSearch competition seeks novel, disruptive
concepts and technologies to support the Army’s top
modernization priorities, all of which contribute to the
service’s vision of multidomain operations, or MDO. The
MDO concept describes how the U.S. Army, as part of
the joint force, can counter and defeat a near-peer adver-
sary in all domains in the 2025-2050 timeframe.
The xTechSearch program provides cash prizes to
selected small businesses to proceed through four phases
of the technology competition. The focus is primarily
on so-called nontraditional companies that may have
Signal0820.indd 25
ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jacob Kohrs
never done business with the Army. Some may have never
worked with other parts of the military or the federal gov-
ernment. Ultimately, finalists receive awards of $120,000
each and will be invited to demonstrate proofs of concept
of their dual-use technologies to a panel of Army judges.
The program is a departure from traditional develop-
ment and procurement practices in a number of ways,
including being open to never-before-considered tech-
nologies, capabilities, concepts or solutions, rather than
defining requirements down to the size of nuts and bolts
or the number of lines of code. “In some cases, the Army
doesn’t even know that the solution’s out there, but also in
some cases, companies are developing technologies that
they don’t realize could solve an Army problem,” says Zeke
Topolosky, chief, Strategic Partnerships Office, at the Com-
bat Capabilities Development Command Army Research
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 25
7/20/20 5:33 PM
 Laboratory (CCDC-ARL), who oversees the xTechSearch
programr.
In some cases, the entrepreneurs themselves may be sur-
prised to learn the Army can use their technologies. “Some
of these nontraditional vendors that we’re trying to reach
aren’t aware of all the specific Army requirements for all the
systems we need to field. It’s a two-way street with us learn-
ing about new stuff that’s out there and also having innova-
tors out there realize they could tweak their system a little
bit and solve an Army problem,” Topolosky adds.
He cites one company that presented a lightning detection
system. “They had a system of sensors that could predict
and pinpoint lightning detection locations. Through some
conversations and questions … they realized they could do
some mortar detection or incoming fire detection using this
technology. It would be very low power, very passive,” Topo-
losky reports. “They went on to give the Army opportunities
to test the system in live-fire events.”
The winners of the first two challenges offered surprises of
their own. Adranos offered a solid-rocket propellent that is
lighter weight and offers longer range than traditional rocket
fuel. According to the company’s website, rocket fuels have
not really changed in 60 years.
“Their chemistry allowed them to basically make a
turnkey solution for the exact platforms that we’re using
now for Army weapon systems, as well as longer-range Air
Force systems. Both of them could drop and replace the fuel
that they were already using and get a 50 percent increase in
range,” Topolosky notes. “This enables things that the long-
range precision fires teams are trying to accomplish. It also
enables you to have lighter-weight platforms because you
can use less fuel to achieve the same range.”
And that longer range supports the MDO concept. “The
idea of multidomain operations that we will have to tie all
these things together—the sensors out in the field with long-
range weapon systems—this will enable us to be able to put
fires on target at closer or longer ranges. We can either carry
more payload in closer or enable farther standoff distance.
Forty to 50 percent increase in range is very significant. It’s
almost called a leap-ahead capability from what we’ve been
doing,” Topolosky explains.
Bruce Jette, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisi-
tion, logistics and technology, and the man credited with
starting the xTechSearch program, echoes that sentiment.
“There just aren’t very many new people coming into the
rocket fuel industry, and to have a company come in and
just come up with a rocket fuel that is significantly more
capable than the rocket fuel that we are currently using,

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Signal0820.indd 26 7/20/20 5:34 PM

 ARMY/MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS

that’s worth taking a hard look. Given that we’ve basically rather than telling them, “Here’s your shopping papers. Now
been developing most of our rocket fuel ourselves, that’s go out and find someone,” Jette says. He emphasizes, how-
pretty impressive.” ever, that he is not criticizing the other approaches.
Lumineye, the winner of the second challenge, offered “I can’t tell you I have 200 companies on contract because
a system known as Lux. It is a handheld radar for detect- I don’t. I have a number of companies that we’ve funded to
ing people behind walls. It can be used in urban combat mature to the point of a contract, and we’re doing so with a
environments but also is handy for firefighters, law enforce- focused approach against potential opportunities within the
ment and search and rescue teams, the company’s website Army instead of letting them go try to figure it out on their
indicates. own,” he offers.
The concept is not entirely novel, but the solution is. “Lots Speaking of numbers, the program has received 1,350
of other companies have tried this. They were able to do it proposals over the course of all the challenges. xTechSearch
with some very low-cost components and had great suc- 5 alone drew 350 proposals, which have come from 1,000
cess,” Topolosky states. “They’re now entering into a Small different companies.
Business Innovation Research grant with the Army as well as The Army has completed the first two challenges, along
with the Air Force. This will enable them to take their device with a specialized challenge to find low-cost COVID-19
and start developing networks of systems so you can have ventilators. Officials are considering the possibility of addi-
multiple handheld devices being used at once and get some tional special challenges, along with a combined effort with
3D imagery.” the Army’s Ground Vehicle System’s Center that will focus
Matthew Willis, director for laboratory management, on lowering the weight and improving the survivability of
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle. Jette says he is con-
Research and Technology and xTechSearch program direc- sidering other possible specialized challenges, such as one
tor, says the program’s surprise element is a core tenet of aimed at advanced antenna technologies.
MDO. “The Army doesn’t know what we don’t know. There
are many technologies out there that might contribute to our
ability to be agile and responsive in a multidomain opera-
tions environment, but we can’t possibly know the spectrum
of technologies that exist out there. We can try to drive
innovation by relying on the private sector to potentially
point us in new directions.”
contact: George I. Seffers, gseffers@afcea.org
Topolosky agrees. “We’re now looking at fighting across
all these domains, and typically our development cycles have
been more siloed into different commodity areas where sys-
tems and fighting units are operating independently, so mul-
tidomain operations will rely on a lot of different technology
solutions to link all these together.”
Jette notes that xTechSearch offers the service some flex-
For a look back at the future,
ibility in MDO solutions. “Multidomain operations is a very visit SIGNAL’s searchable
complicated set of requirements, particularly in the com-
munications-electronics side of things. We’re always looking
online archives at
for those technologies which can give us an advantage or
address some challenges that may be unique to the military.”
www.afcea.org/
The traditional process does not offer the same access to
those unconventional, nondefense-related companies that
content/archives
may well have great ideas. “Particularly in communications-
electronics there is a large demand for innovative technolo-
gies outside of just the military’s needs,” Jette adds.
The xTechSearch challenge also differs from other innova-
tion programs. Rather than awarding contracts at the end of a
challenge, xTechSearch funds development along the way. “We
set the bar low at the beginning with an opportunity for people
to build as they come along. We’re funding that construction
from A to B to C to D,” Jette says. “If you’re a small business,
cash flow is king. If [a small business] can get involved and it’s
going to take a while to get from point A to point B, then hav-
ing someone to help me with the funding is a really important
aspect of whether I want to go down this path.”
The xTechSearch program also connects entrepreneurs
to the Army organizations and personnel most able to help

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 27

Signal0820.indd 27 7/20/20 5:34 PM


Technology Drives New Satellite
Communications Capabilities
The democratization of space is
underway in orbit above the Earth.
T
he next era of satellite communications is upon us
in the form of low-earth-orbit constellations aiming
to revolutionize personal connectivity, according to
satellite experts. These new satellite swarms are being
driven by technology innova-
tions simultaneously with the growth BY ROBERT K.
of less-expensive launch services. ACKERMAN
The result will be an explosion in the
number and type of orbiters serving their earthbound hosts
while raising the bar for support technologies on the ground.
With the overall satellite communications (SATCOM) field
becoming more dynamic, companies are compelled to be
more flexible as uncertainties increase. Accordingly, they are
hedging their bets and exploring the use of orbiters that can be
28 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 28
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, carry-
ing the company’s StarLink low-earth-
orbit networking satellites. Flooding
near-earth space with hundreds of
satellites is the future of orbital activities
as satellite construction expenses and
launch costs continue to come down.
replaced or upgraded relatively easily, as opposed to complex
and expensive platforms that last many years but take just as
long to design and, if necessary, replace.
The result is a spurt in the number of low-earth-orbit satel-
lites that introduce new capabilities for SATCOM services.
Their constellations in turn will spawn innovative technologies
that can be applied both on orbit and on the ground. Both the
military and the private sector soon will have at their disposal
large constellations of communications satellites offering a
variety of capabilities.
“Low-earth-orbit megaconstellations will disrupt legacy
providers and bring new services online to connect the
unconnected world,” says Grant Bonin, senior vice president
of business development at Spaceflight, a rideshare launch
7/20/20 5:37 PM

services company based in Seattle. He notes a downturn trend
SpaceX
in the traditional geostationary satellite communications mar-
ket. While that downturn has recently reversed, no indication
has yet emerged as to whether that reversal will turn out to be
a true rebound. He also sees a reluctance to invest long-term
in the satellite sector when technologies and application areas
are changing so rapidly.
“The changes are coming,” says Bonin’s colleague Philip
Bracken, vice president of engineering for launch services at
Spaceflight. “It’s actually quite a vibrant mix between the tradi-
tional geocommunications [firms], the smaller geocommuni-
cations startups and the low-earth-orbit constellations trying
to gain market share. The next two to five years are going to be
very interesting to watch.” The likely outcome is
a mix of all of these types of systems, he offers.
Bonin relates that their launch services com-
pany sees increasing interest in small geocom-
munications satellites as well as in pathfinder
or demonstrator missions that can secure fre-
quency or reduce risk for low-earth-orbit con-
stellations. “The uncertainty in how SATCOM
is going to evolve is actually making it one of the
most exciting times to be in the services busi-
ness, getting satellites of all sizes up there,” he
states. The pressure on buyers to be more agile is
generating interest in smaller satellites that can
be replaced more easily as conditions warrant.
Bracken emphasizes that satellite technology
is the greater driver of the orbital revolution,
not launch services. Satellite buses aren’t chang-
ing to match new launch vehicles as much as A cluster of StarLink satellites stands ready for individual deployment into
the vehicles are adapting to the surge of new orbit. More commercial and even government launch customers will be
orbiters. taking advantage of less costly space access for a variety of missions.
Bonin reports that the miniaturization of
technology and the prevalence of software-defined capabili-
ties have enabled the rapid building of satellite hardware. More
spacecraft are being built in a way that allows them to be
reconfigured across the board by software—a development
that Bonin describes as exciting.
These capabilities also compress the talent pool necessary
for satellite development. What used to take 10 engineers now
takes only one, he says. And an increased emphasis on produc-
tion also is changing the state of the art. “Most of the history
of spacecraft has been the story of the bespoke spacecraft
that usually are extremely labor-intensive,” he recalls. “They
required a very high degree of talent and engineering, and
they were usually one-offs. You built one or two, and then you
launch the next highly tailored design.”
This stands in marked contrast to what companies such as
SpaceX are doing with its StarLink, which is defined by a vol-
ume-produced spacecraft, Bonin continues. “More and more
companies are placing an increasing emphasis not on their
R&D [research and development] capabilities but on scaling
and on producing.
“The nice thing about having textbook problems is they
have textbook answers,” he notes. “More and more, lessons
from other industries are being pulled into the satellite world.”
Bracken points out that the supply chain also plays a crucial
Signal0820.indd 29
DISRUPTIVE SATCOM
role. In less than a decade, the satellite industry has moved
away from bespoke spacecraft with vertically integrated sub-
systems built along strict lines from limited suppliers at sig-
nificant expense. Instead, the industry has seen that model
disrupted by small startups creating systems that can be used
in a number of different areas. The result is a robust supply
chain fed by versatile companies able to maintain their niche
production at high rates. Even testing costs are coming down,
he adds.
“You used to have to wait a year or longer and spend an
exorbitant amount of money to go out and buy a radiation-
tolerant processor that would have all the capabilities of
your calculator,” Bonin says. “Now, you can go [online] over-
SpaceX
night and buy something that has all the capabilities of your
smartphone.”
Another major technological change is taking place on
the ground. Bonin cites the proliferation of user terminals to
enable low-earth-orbit constellations as both an opportunity
and a challenge. Their progress is bottlenecked by how per-
vasive the terminals can be after they are miniaturized, made
convenient and distributed to end users. This technology has
lagged a bit, he offers.
“The miniaturization of technology allows the miniaturiza-
tion of satellites, and at the same time—historically—revenue
varies with aperture,” Bonin allows. “Spacecraft need to have
certain parts that are big to make big money. That’s just the
physics of radio frequency and earth observation, so it’s an
interesting balancing act that a lot of people are trying to play.”
And this is having a ripple effect across the industry. As
the megaconstellations of satellites are taken seriously, they
are generating market traction that has led to component
and device-level suppliers taking the market seriously, Bonin
notes. They now are mass-producing radiation-tolerant parts,
for example, that benefit the rest of the small spacecraft indus-
try as well as other areas.
One key technology that will improve SATCOM capa-
bilities is flat-panel antennas. Bonin offers that electronically
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 29
7/20/20 5:37 PM
 steered phased array antennas with no moving parts can
provide high gain with omnidirectional coverage. “It’s a dif-
ferent playground if I can have something like a mousepad
on top of my car or on a base station that can scan the sky
and interconnect with a satellite,” he says. “That’s a game-
changer on the satellite side as well, compared with the way
antennas are built and deployed now.”
The military can expect to benefit from these new satellite
technologies. “We’re heading down a remarkable near-term
future for military communications technology, whether
space-to-space or space-to-ground,” Bracken declares. “We’re
seeing more RFPs [requests for proposal] and RFIs [requests
for information] come out about this … companies are look-
ing at different ways to get military satellites out there quickly.
They [the military] are going to benefit a lot from this very
unique time, especially as things privatize more.
“It’s a big time for military communications,” he contin-
ues. “I think it’s going to be substantial.”
Bonin observes a significant focus on resiliency, which is
helped by greater numbers of smaller, more capable space-
craft. Rather than relying on a small number of big assets on
which an adversary easily can focus, the space force would
have a disaggregated large number of smaller spacecraft that
cannot be simply nullified en masse. “The proliferation of
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opportunities in the areas AFCEA serves.
Be sure to read the AFCEA Weekly
Digest each Friday to learn about
more ways to take full advantage
of your AFCEA membership.
30 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 30
smaller spacecraft with a huge amount of capabilities is a fun-
damental enabler for our U.S. Defense Department and intel-
ligence community customers across the board,” he states.
While Bonin offers that the SATCOM world is like the Wild
West, he and Bracken do not expect legacy SATCOM provid-
ers to go away. “It really will be the era of the communication
megaconstellation,” Bonin states while admitting that no one
knows which companies will emerge dominant or even sur-
vive. What will remain is the ability of customers to have a
variety of choices—such as lower latency or mesh networks—
whether in isolated locations or industrialized areas.
These capabilities are likely to spawn many spinoff tech-
nologies as part of their development, Bracken adds. Ulti-
mately, as the different types of satellite orbits—low-earth,
mid-earth and geostationary—establish their prevalence
and respective niches in SATCOM, they will be connected
together into a single layer that provides dramatically
increased capabilities for their customers. And these capa-
bilities will be transparent to the end user.
Bonin offers that the launch vehicle market is bifurcating
into either the Uber and Lyft of the world that can accom-
modate the individual passenger at greater expense, or
subway systems that are wholesalers but not retailers that
address the specific needs of a user. His firm sees custom-
ers that want to try out ideas more quickly and need help
engaging both types of launch providers to obtain either
the dedicated ride they need or a ticket on the subway sys-
tem that will take them to the right place, often with other
customers. The goal is to make booking a satellite launch as
transparent as setting up cellphone data service, he says.
Bracken suggests that the satellite and launch service
manufacturers and providers are changing the way they
view the business model and interact with customers. The
satellite launch industry, fueled by innovation in both sec-
tors, will transition to where it is less like global moving
companies and more of a container ship approach. The sub-
sequent step will be to embrace a model like that of delivery
services that are transparent to the customer.
Ultimately, all these advances should lead to an environ-
ment in which everyone is connected anywhere in the
world, and any spacecraft in cislunar space can be connected
at any time, Bonin offers. These capabilities would enable
users to have high-bandwidth connectivity that would func-
tion transparently.
Bracken foresees high-bandwidth, low latency communi-
cations, even with spacecraft heading to the moon. Spacefar-
ers will be able to interact with people on Earth and with
other vehicles with links that are better than with today’s
U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Peterson
cellphones, he predicts.
contact: Robert K. Ackerman,signalnews@afcea.org
7/20/20 5:37 PM
 DISRUPTIVE SATCOM

Military Aims to
Urgently Provide Disruptive
Satellite Capabilities
The year-old Space Development Agency emphasizes
speed in pursuing innovative space capabilities.

T
he threats to the U.S. military and
the nation are such that additional
space-based capabilities must be
rapidly fielded. A proliferated low-
earth-orbit constellation of satellites and
sensors will connect to the military’s
tactical legacy datalinks and weap-
ons systems to deter against advanced
threats. In particular, beyond-line-of-
sight targeting capabilities and enabling
the detection, tracking and fire control
of advanced missile threats will be a
part of the system that the Space Devel-
opment Agency deploys as part of its
National Defense Space Architecture,
or the NDSA, says the agency’s director,
Derek Tournear.
“The architecture is focused on deliv-
ering the initial capabilities of beyond-
line-of-sight targeting for time-sensitive
targets, both ground and maritime,”
Tournear states. “We need to get that up
there as rapidly as possible. And because
more advanced missiles are being fielded
[by adversaries], we need to have a space
sensing layer that can detect, track and
then set down fire control information to
be able to take out those targets. So that’s
what drives us. That’s why it’s important.
We believe that these threats are in exis-
tence now, and we believe that we need
the capabilities fielded as soon as we can.”
U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Peterson
BY KIMBERLY
UNDERWOOD
The United Launch
Alliance Delta IV Heavy
rocket lifts off from Van-
denber Air Force Base on
January 19, 2019. With
its rapid fielding pace,
the Space Development
Agency plans to launch
initial capacity of its
new network in 2021.
“And we should not ever try to slip sched-
ule to add more requirements,” the direc-
tor emphasizes.
Specifically, the SDA is looking to field
advancements across the transport, battle
management, tracking, custody, deter-
rence, navigation and support layers of
the NDSA. The agency also is address-
ing capability gaps in the military’s space
solutions, including providing space
situational awareness in extended space
to cislunar between the Earth and the
moon’s orbit.
First off, the agency is providing a back-
bone transport layer, made up of hundreds
of satellites in low-earth orbit (LEO) that
will all be optically connected to form a
mesh network in space, the director states.
As part of the first deployment of capabili-
ties in the next year, in Tranche Zero, the
SDA will fly about 20 transport satellites to
form the network and enable communica-
tions to legacy tactical datalinks.
“In addition to being able to talk to
each other, that data transport layer also
can talk directly via existing tactical data-
links, such as Link 16, and down to weap-
ons systems that are already fielded and
already have that capability,” Tournear
says. “We are working very closely with
the Army to ensure that we can talk from
our transport satellites down to their

The Space Development Agency’s
(SDA’s) effort to create and sustain resilient, afford-
able and lethal space-based capabilities as part of
the NDSA for the military also includes providing
the space-based backbone for the services’ Joint all-
domain command and control, or JADC2.
The agency’s speed-priority approach is to roll out
minimum viable products in tranches starting in
fiscal year 2022 and then every two years thereafter.
TITAN ground system, so they could then
further disseminate the data to other weapons sys-
tems that aren’t connected via Link 16. And we’re
working with the Navy for similar systems to do that
over their CEC comm channels.”
Three sensing layers will feed data to the trans-
port layer: (1) a tracking layer made up of over-
head persistent infrared (OPIR) sensors to detect
and track adversarial advanced missiles; (2) a

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 31

Signal0820.indd 31 7/20/20 5:37 PM

 and a better fire control solution
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Aubree Owens

for these hypersonic glide vehicles.

And again, that data would then go
either directly to the ground or to the
ground via the transport satellites.”
For the custody layer, the SDA
will rely on mission partners—the
Army, Air Force and other agencies—
to build out ISR satellites to provide
the beyond-line-of-sight targeting
capability.
In Tranche Zero, the SDA is work-
ing to show that it can move data to
the ground from the mission part-
ners, send data from the partners
directly back up to the SDA transport
satellites, and then send that data over
the mesh network to other areas of
interest.
“For example, if the Army had one
of their TITAN ground stations and
they have that located in Germany,
they could download the data to that
system in Germany, send it back up
to transport, where then we could use
the transport satellites to go down to
an F-35 in the INDOPACOM Theater
via Link 16,” Tournear clarifies. “That’s
one example that we’re going to dem-
onstrate in Tranche Zero.”
For the third sensing layer, the SDA
is conducting studies on how to best
design a deterrence solution that pro-
vides detection and tracking beyond
A United Launch Alliance barge delivering the Delta IV Heavy rocket boosters docks at Van-
geosynchronous orbit out to cislunar
denberg Air Force Base, California on April 5; and (above) the boosters are offloaded on May 4.
Commercial launch operations will be a key part of the Space Development Agency’s mission.
space. And that sensing would feed data
back into the transport layer. “Anything
operating in that environment has his-
custody layer that would allow military users to send target torically been ignored just due to a lower priority over items
location information in real time directly to weapons systems; that are in LEO or geosynchronous, so we want to look in that
and (3) a deterrence layer for space situational awareness. area to make sure that there are no activities going on there
“The sensing satellites will detect the missile, send the that we’re unaware of,” the director states.
track to the transport layer where that data could be fused A battle management layer of the NDSA architecture
with other data and then send [it] down to the ground to would tie all the layers together and would be where
the actual weapon systems that would engage the threat,” onboard processing, algorithms for autonomous operations
he explains. and any automatic target recognition algorithms would run.
The SDA will fly eight wide field-of-view sensors in “In order to do those missions, essentially the autonomous
Tranche Zero to demonstrate the traceability that will be used detection and tracking, and targeting of time-sensitive tar-
for hypersonic glide vehicle detection over the entire globe, as gets and missiles, there is a lot of processing that needs to be
well as for passing the data either directly to the ground or to done,” he clarifies. “That processing will reside ultimately on
the transport satellites. board the sensing satellites as well as the transport satellites.
“Shortly after, but still part of Tranche Zero, we’re work- That’s our battle management layer.”
ing with the Missile Defense Agency to fly the hypersonic Moreover, the position, navigation and timing (PNT)
ballistic tracking space sensor satellites, or HPTSS, either data of the NDSA transport layer offers an additional PNT
one or two for what we call our medium field-of-view sen- signal to individual users that are tied into the associated
sor,” Tournear says. “Our goal is that our wide field-of-view comm network. “We’re not going to broadcast like GPS
sensor will tip the medium field-of-view sensor and that does, but folks that are on our comm channel can get navi-
sensor will allow us to actually even get more sensitivity gation using our backbone,” Tournear offers.

32 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 32 7/22/20 9:53 AM

 DISRUPTIVE SATCOM

To help enable the military’s JADC 2 operations, the He clarifies that the USDR&E “will still always have the role
NDSA platform would connect to all of the services’ with the assistant director of space, whose role is to ensure
ground and air networks tied into JADC2. For example, the that the overall Department of Defense space architecture
Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, Aper- fits together and has some sort of unity and a road map that
ture One and Radio One networks would link to the SDA’s makes technical sense.”
transport satellites. “We would be the backhaul for that data The NDAA 2020 also called for the establishment of a
across our mesh network,” he says. new assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisi-
In the rest of this fiscal year and next, the agency is con- tion and Integration, which will have purview over the
ducting a set of demonstrations focused on the communi- Space and Missile Systems Center, the Space Rapid Capabil-
cations backbone technology to demonstrate the function- ities Office and the SDA, Tournear adds. “That design and
ality of the optical connectivity. construct is still being developed, primarily by the Space
Additionally, there will be experi- Force in conjunction with others, and any final construct
mentation of the OPIR tracking would be a design that General Raymond and Secretary
layer, collecting IR data over a Barrett and Secretary Esper would all have to decide upon,”
wide range of infrared bands, to he shares. “And exactly how that construct looks on an org
see which band will best perform chart is still being determined.”
background light rejection with
the missile detection system in
a LEO environment, Tournear
states. The agency also is prepar-
ing the related software and algo-
rithms to show that their custody
satellites can run the algorithms contact: Kimberly Underwood,
that operate the flight electron- kunderwood@afcea.org
ics and can perform sensor and Speed in deploying
data fusion to tie all of the signals the National Defense
together. Space Architecture
The director also will be work- is a priority, says
ing on growing the SDA. The Space Development CUSTOMIZED MICROWAVE
agency started with less than five
employees when it was created
Agency Director
Derek Tournear. DATA LINK SOLUTIONS
in March 2019, and there were UHF-Ku Analog
about 12 people when Tournear took over, including a mix Band Transmitters & Digital
of contractor and government employees. “We’re just now Frequencies Receivers Video Links
up to 60, including contractors, FFRDC [federally funded
Full Duplex
research and development center] support, government Transceivers
career civilians and military personnel that are detailed to
SDA,” he shares. “Eventually, we’ll get to about 200. [We Solid State
Power
are all working] to get the capabilities out as rapidly as Amplifiers
possible.”
Multiple Low Noise Low SWaP
Notably, the SDA is slated to move into the U.S. Space Waveforms
Force by 2022, as dictated by the National Defense Autho- Amplifiers
rization Act of 2020. The SDA began as a defense agency
under the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for
Tunable Audio or
Research and Engineering (USDR&E) and the agency will Data Subcarriers
retain ties with OUSDR&E, the director notes.
“In our role, we have enough autonomy and authority to
essentially establish what we need to put in place to deliver Land/Sea/Air
the capabilities and deliver these satellites,” Tournear offers. LOS and BLOS
“And our plan is to continue to push forward and deliver
Broad Design and
that tranche at the end of FY 2022, at which point, once we Manufacturing
start to fly and operate those satellites that are doing our Capabilities
data transport mission, as well as our missile tracking mis-
sion, then the new architecture will show that it has military 13741 Danielson Street, Suite J
utility. And at that point, the intention is to roll out from Poway, CA 92064
underneath USDR&E, where we then become the innova-   s&!8  
tion arm of the U.S. Space Force, and we will continue to do www.RamonaResearch.com
the same mission, but underneath the U.S. Space Force.”

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 33

Signal0820.indd 33 7/20/20 5:37 PM

 The Naval Research Lab’s Blossom
Point satellite tracking facility
is fully automated, reducing
manpower and costs. Now, the
research lab is extending those
capabilities with autonomous
antennas in California and Hawaii.
NRL Extends Autonomous
Satellite Tracking Ability
The Navy’s Blossom Point site adds remote antennas.
B
y year’s end, U.S. Navy researchers intend to add
one of two remote autonomous antennas to its
satellite tracking architecture, enhancing its abil-
ity to collect strategic satel-
lite data and support space-related BY GEORGE I.
research and development. SEFFERS
The first antenna will be located
at a secure, undisclosed and unmanned site in California
and will extend the tracking capabilities from Blossom
Point, Maryland. The second is planned for Hawaii.
Blossom Point is located south of Washington, D.C., and
is owned and operated by the Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL). It is considered a state-of-the-art command and
control facility capable of supporting satellite spaceflight
missions from launch through end-of-life.
The facility provides command, control, communica-
tions, network engineering, and management of new
and on-orbit assets. Blossom Point supports spacecraft
34 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 34
operations in all orbits and complements and supports the
NRL’s skills in space systems by providing compatibility
testing, pre-launch, launch, and post-launch support,
flight operations, and mission data processing, according
to an NRL fact sheet.
The facility supports an advanced suite of ground
equipment in a resource pool that includes antennas,
front-end processors, command encoder units, receivers,
amplifiers and all of the other equipment necessary to per-
form satellite command and control functions in a secure
environment.
The systems there are fully automated, reducing man-
power and costs. The foundation for this broad range
of capabilities is the NRL-developed and government-
owned  Neptune software system, according to an NRL
website. The NRL has optimized the hardware and soft-
ware architectures over many years to maximize flexibil-
ity in integrating new spacecraft programs and ground
7/20/20 5:39 PM
 DISRUPTIVE SATCOM

systems while minimizing manning for the engineers to go in and actu-

Emanuel Cavalarro

requirements and costs. ally test the whole architecture from

Blossom Point produces high-level Blossom Point end to end. And right now, it’s just
military mission data. “We support the
strategic layer where we provide lots of
At a Glance limited conditions with the COVID-
19 virus—limited by the number of
information in a much less expensive Number of Antennas people we can have on-site and what
but more robust manner,” says Robert at Blossom Point we can actually do with fewer people
Ritter, an NRL system engineer sup- (without extension): 10 at one time.”
porting the antenna expansion. Asked if it might be completed by
But for military purposes, they Highly automated support August, Cox suggests it’s possible.
see a high demand for weather data. for both operational and “There is a chance. There might be
“One of the really important ele- experimental spacecraft, with a really good chance. Either way, it
ments of data that we gather from eight simultaneous downlinks should be this year,” he adds. L-3
Blossom Point to mission is weather. and seven simultaneous satel- Harris Communications Systems
Being able to get weather over areas lite uplinks with future expan- West is the prime contractor on the
without coverage that a weather sta- sion on and off site planned extension effort.
tion doesn’t necessarily have but the Support for LEO, MEO, The final testing includes live sat-
spacecraft has, being able to get that HEO and GEO orbits ellite contact with the remote site
data more quickly, more reliably, out acting as a relay station. During the
to the field is very beneficial for the Command and control in UHF, contact, officials will transmit infor-
military,” adds Andrew Cox, who L, S, C, X, USB and SGLS bands mation to the satellite and download
heads NRL’s Satellite and Communi- mission data from the satellite. That
cations section. Simultaneous tracking information will then be processed
The site also supports experimenta- and data acquisition at Blossom Point, now referred to as
tion and space-related research and Health and status monitoring the hub site.
development for the military services, Live contact during final testing
the Defense Advanced Research Proj- Dedicated satellite operations also will include checking the health
ects Agency (DARPA) and others. center on the Air Force of the spacecraft. “A satellite will pass
They turn to Blossom Point because Satelite Control Network overhead, and we will be able to com-
“we’re good at it, because we’re effi- municate with the satellite and get
Support for all spacecraft
cient, and it saves them money for the status and health—what the bat-
phases of life from concept
these research and development satel- tery level looks like, how the satel-
definition and design to
lites that they have,” Cox offers. lite’s doing, whether it’s reporting
flight operations and
Now Blossom Point’s capabili- any anomalies or errors. It could be
eventual disposal
ties will be extended with the remote overheating, could be underheating, it
antennas in California and ultimately Quick response and on-call could be any number of things,” Cox
Hawaii as well. “Obviously, cover- capabilities to ensure mission explains.
age of a spacecraft on the ground is success at reduced costs He emphasizes the importance of
not always consistent. Extending that automation. “We can do all the testing
ground coverage gives us quicker Fully redundant ground we want without anybody being out
access to data from ground to a space- infrastructure with there. Nobody has to be there to do
craft by having more deployments of backup power onsite anything because we can do whatever
ground assets,” Ritter says. we want from Blossom Point.”
The Blossom Point location was The schedule for the Hawaii site is
originally chosen because it was a little less certain. The design is 95
remote enough not to receive a lot of electrical interfer- percent complete, Cox reports, but the effort “hit a little
ence, but having multiple sites offers additional advan- bit of a roadblock because the funding for that one kind
tages, Cox notes. “A number of years ago, we worked with of fell apart recently.”
the Pentagon, which funded us to extend our architecture The NRL has, however, fielded a temporary antenna
to California and Hawaii, to locations where we can and is delivering racks of associated computer equipment,
expand the footprint of the parts of the Earth that we can so the site should be operational to some degree this
cover in a more real-time fashion.” That funding began in month. “The permanent antenna is on order and will be
2017, he clarifies. done in January. We just have no concrete to put it on yet.
The California site has been undergoing final testing, The temporary antenna will be operational with limited
but officials couldn’t predict exactly when that testing operations until we find the funding and finish that part
might be completed. “If COVID wouldn’t have happened, of the work,” Cox indicates.
it would have been done right now. It’s really, really While antennas at both extension sites will be fixed,
close right now,” Cox says. “It’s just that we need time the NRL officials allow, when asked, that it is technically

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 35

Signal0820.indd 35 7/20/20 5:39 PM

 DISRUPTIVE SATCOM

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory/Jamie Hartman

The Blossom Point Tracking Facility (BPTF) campus, located south of Washington, D.C., consists of a satellite
mission operations center, multiple antennas and an existing infrastructure capable of providing space system
command, control and management for all customer classes. The facility, operated by the U.S. Naval Research
Laboratory, is in continuous 24-hour, seven-day operation and, at present, supports numerous on-orbit spacecraft.

feasible to place antennas on a mobile platform. “There is
absolutely nothing preventing that,” Cox acknowledges.
The officials tout the automation capabilities at both the
Blossom Point hub site and the Pacific region extension.
“They’re completely autonomous remote facilities. The
only time you visit them is to do maintenance, either for
preventive maintenance or upgrades or whatever you may
want to do. But there is no requirement to have people
located at both sites,” Cox states.
However, human intervention is possible. Typically,
that is only done if a satellite is having issues, which is
rare. “People can sit at a keyboard at Blossom Point, dis-
able the automation on the software with one click of a
button, and then when you do that, you’d better have a
person sitting there and getting ready to do something
with the satellite because now you’ve stopped the automa-
tion,” Cox points out.
Even in times of trouble, automation often is preferable.
“Having an automated system can help recover the space-
craft easier and faster than a person sitting in a seat,” Cox
adds.
Whether operations are automatic or manual, ground
networks play a critical role in connecting the remote
sites to Blossom Point, Ritter explains. “We have to condi-
tion the equipment that’s remote and the communication
link between that equipment so that we can transport
data reliably across these ground networks,” he offers.
“Ground networks, even though they seem like they’re
really, really good … get spotty sometimes.”
And when the connections get spotty, synchronization
is key. “It’s a matter of getting everything very tightly
synchronized between the assets. We’re able to deploy
equipment that does that synchronization so that we have
reliable, error-free synchronous communications between
Blossom Point and those remote stations. That allows us
to have a variety of data rates, of mission data, and health
and status data go across this network extremely reliably,”
Ritter elaborates.
The extension antennas are satellite agnostic, meaning
they will work with any kind of satellite in any orbit, Cox
points out. “The remote antennas are universal. They’re not
dedicated to any particular mission. You could do one mis-
sion for the Air Force, and 20 minutes later, you do one for
the Army or DARPA or NASA or whoever. They are not at
all hard coded to a particular satellite or agency.”
contact: George I. Seffers, gseffers@afcea.org

36 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

Signal0820.indd 36 7/20/20 5:39 PM


Leaders Seek a Grand Strategy
for Cybersecurity
Geopolitics in an online world are defined
by what’s changed and what hasn’t.
Photo by courtesy of S4
Former NSA hacker Dave Aitel speaks
at the S4 security conference in Miami.
W
hen the first Solarium Commission con-
vened in 1953, it had the task of help-
ing Former President Dwight D. Eisen-
hower and his cabinet colleagues assess
the threat from the Soviet Union after the death of
Joseph Stalin and agree on a stra-
tegic U.S. response. Three teams of BY SHAUN
policy experts put together three WATERMAN
competing policy models: contain-
ment, confrontation and roll-back. Former President
Eisenhower famously chose containment, a strategy
based on the deterrence of Soviet military power and a
norms-based alliance with Western Europe.
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission that Con-
gress chartered in 2018 says in its March 2020 report
that it also looked at three policy approaches. The first
is denial and defense at home to strengthen the United
States against online attacks. The second advises using
networks of alliances to promote global norms and to
Signal0820.indd 37
CYBER
define illegitimate behavior online. And the third pro-
poses imposing costs on U.S. adversaries who violate
those norms through defending forward and persistent
engagement.
Unlike its predecessor, however, the 2018 Cyber-
space Solarium Commission chose an all-of-the-above
approach. It opted for a strategy it calls layered deter-
rence that weaves together all three methods to dis-
suade adversaries from trying to use cyber attacks
against the United States.
But in cyberspace, deterrence means something very
different than it meant for the first solarium commission.
“In nuclear deterrence,” explains commission member
and former Department of Homeland Security Under-
secretary Suzanne Spaulding, “it’s really binary. You either
have deterred someone from using a nuclear weapon or
you haven’t. There’s really no shades of gray there.”
Conversely, conflict is persistent in cyberspace,
pervasive and almost always conducted in shades of
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 37
7/20/20 5:39 PM
 gray. “There is cyber malicious activity taking place every
single day,” Spaulding says. And much of it is happening
below the threshold of armed conflict. “We needed a new
focus because many bad actors were going unchallenged
when they acted under that threshold,” she adds.
And that means, in the cyber context, “When we talk about
deterrence, we’re not talking about a strategy that will cause
Photo courtesy of 10 Downing St.
The UK cabinet holds a meeting using Zoom.
malicious actors to entirely give up on using cyber activity to
achieve their desired goals,” Spaulding relates.
Instead, layered deterrence uses all the elements of national
power to change the strategic calculation of U.S. adversaries.
“We’re looking at how can we change their calculus to reduce
the level and the impact of cyber activity to put us in a better
position at the end of the day,” she says. “You want to increase
their costs and reduce their benefits.”
Indeed, as Atlantic Council Cyber Statecraft Initiative Director
Trey Herr observes, layered deterrence is better understood in
criminological terms. “Deterrence in the context of cybersecurity
looks much more like what we think about when we think about
policing: trying to create change in a complex system to either
incentivize or disincentivize certain behaviors.”
That difference is partially explained by the much larger
numbers of players in the cyber arena as compared to the
nuclear one, which was limited to a handful of nation-states.
In cyber, many more states have pieces on the board, and their
significant nonstate players include organized crime groups or
ideologically motivated hacktivists.
These players often overlap, too. States will use criminal or
hacktivist groups as proxies, fronts or cutouts to hide their
hand. Intelligence services will reuse malware created by oth-
ers for the same reason.
“Cyber undermines the fundamental principles of [classic
Cold War style] deterrence because it enables malicious actors
to operate ... in a gray zone where they enjoy plausible deni-
ability,” explains Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, USN (Ret.),
executive director, Cyberspace Solarium Commission.
But a different concept of deterrence also is needed
because there is one way in which the new connected world
38 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 38
unquestionably changes the geopolitical equation between
the United States and its adversaries: It abolishes geography.
An attacker can reach across the world online and strike
a connected target in the U.S. heartland as easily as they
could shoot across the street—and more clandestinely, if
they’re any good.
For almost two centuries after 1815, the continental United
States, protected by thousands of miles of
ocean, remained inviolate to its foes. “For
all those years, we didn’t think we needed
to invest in protecting our infrastructure,”
Adm. Montgomery says.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 “were an
inflection point,” he says. For the first time
in modern history, an attacker reached
into mainland America, highlighting the
many vulnerabilities of the nation’s immi-
gration and aviation systems.
But even terrorists can be stopped at the
border—or at the airport. The threat from
cyber warfare is “more comprehensive,”
the admiral says, holding at risk any piece
of national infrastructure connected to the
Internet, which is pretty much all of it.
“After 9/11, we hardened our aviation
and border infrastructure ... Now we have
to harden the rest of it,” he says.
To do so, the commission recommends drawing on a con-
cept originally developed by the emergency management
community charged with responding to natural disasters:
resilience.
“Resilience is something the national security community
started to think seriously about after 9/11,” says Spaulding,
who is a commission member. “It’s about reducing the con-
sequences.” That’s important in the disaster context because
extreme weather events can’t be prevented. But it’s just as
important in the cyber context, where the defender’s axiom is
“assume you’ve been compromised.”
In the context of a natural disaster, resilience means things
like having a diesel generator on hand in case the power
goes out. In the cyber context, Spaulding explains, resilience
means making society less reliant on computer networks that
can be manipulated or brought down entirely. It means hav-
ing redundant backup systems.
“Obviously, you do everything you can to dissuade your
adversary from attacking in the first place, and everything
you can to secure your crucial systems ... but at the end of
the day, you may have to deal with a successful attack, and
resilience means reducing the consequences of that attack,”
she states.
In an election, for instance, resilience means having an
auditable, recountable offline record like paper ballots.
Online tabulation or reporting systems might be successfully
attacked, but the paper ballots backstop those systems, thus
reducing the damage from the attack, Spaulding says.
But Dave Aitel, one-time NSA hacker and founder of the
cybersecurity firm Immunity, points out that hardening sys-
tems—deterrence by denial, as the commission calls it—isn’t
7/20/20 5:39 PM

as simple as it might seem, given the hugely complex supply
chains for computer software and hardware. “To do deter-
rence by denial properly … you have to get your supply chain
security exactly correct,” he says.
The problem is the globalization of supply chains, both for
computer components like microchips and motherboards,
and for software itself because U.S. companies often out-
source their code development offshore. And at least one
link in almost all of those chains is in China, one of the larg-
est manufacturers of information technology products and
software development services in the world.
That means that U.S. companies are often using compo-
nents made, or software developed, in a country that has
one of the most aggressive cyber-espionage programs in the
world, too.
Aitel ridiculed the decision by the British government to
hold cabinet meetings on Zoom, a video conferencing tool
that bases its engineering team in China and uses Chinese
servers to generate the mathematical keys utilized in its
encryption. “When you’re doing national grade work, how
secure your supply chains are and where they’re coming
from becomes a major national security issue,” he points out.
“Deterrence by denial involves really hard decisions about
platforms,” Aitel adds. And those decisions are made even
more difficult when the national software and hardware pro-
duction base has eroded because it was undercut by much
cheaper products from China and elsewhere. “When you’re
not the producer of any of the software you rely on, you are
essentially beholden to the people that do produce the soft-
ware,” he says.
But Martin Libicki, professor of cybersecurity studies
at the U.S. Naval Academy, says beyond the supply chain
issues, some cyber strategy scholars see other problems with
the concept of deterrence by denial. “There’s no evidence
that it works,” he says. Indeed, he adds, “the evidence is that
hardening systems doesn’t stop anybody from trying any-
thing,” though it might protect systems from compromise
when they do. But that’s not deterrence, argues Libicki. “If
I’m wearing armor and you swing a sword at me, I may be
unharmed. But were you deterred? No!”
The commission’s vision of layered deterrence also depends
on successfully promulgating international norms of cyber
behavior, something that has been one of the central principles
of U.S. global cyber strategy for at least a decade.
These norms, articulated most recently in a 2017 G7 decla-
ration, don’t have the authoritative status or the exactitude of
international law. In theory, they represent a set of commit-
ments broad enough to have impact if widely respected but
fuzzy enough that states don’t feel like they’re tying their own
hands too tightly. They include actions such as not attacking
or using Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) as
attackers; not engaging in commercial cyber espionage such
as intellectual property theft; and not damaging civilian infra-
structure such as the power grid or elections systems.
But Aitel argues that there’s a level of hypocrisy in U.S.
endorsements of these principles. Last year, for example, The
New York Times reported that U.S. Cyber Command was
“stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power
Signal0820.indd 39
CYBER
grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin.” And U.S.
intelligence agencies have a long and, to some observers,
inglorious history of interfering in foreign elections, though
not by cyber means.
The United States is not on the same page even with some
of its closest allies when it comes to cyber issues like privacy
and data protection, for instance. “The Europeans view pri-
vacy in a very different way than Americans do,” Aitel con-
tends. “If we think that they believe the same thing we do,
we are fooling ourselves.
“We want to be special,” he says of the United States. “We
want the rest of the world to live by a set of rules that we’re
not necessarily willing to live by ourselves.”
Libicki agrees, noting that, “We’ve paid some very smart
people in this country to do unto other countries the sort of
things we don’t like being done unto us.”
To avoid the charge of hypocrisy, he adds, “The sorts
of things that we are wanting to prohibit [through global
norms] should be the sorts of things that we’re willing to
forego or never wanted to do in the first place.”
But, Libicki observes, swearing off certain categories of
cyber attack might mean limiting the activities of top-tier
U.S. hackers to the detriment of national security. “Maybe
you shouldn’t give up things that we’re very good at even if
[the adversary is] very good at them too, because that will
end up favoring them,” he offers.
Aitel notes that states generally don’t forgo such advan-
tages. “A lot of the pushing of cyber norms runs into the
sand because state cyber interests are all conflicting.”
It gets more complex still when you consider that the
principal U.S adversaries see cybersecurity in a very different
way than the United States where it’s a technical issue.
“China and Russia view cybersecurity issues inside their
country primarily in terms of if they can control informa-
tion, if they can protect the regime,” Aitel says. Their norms
center on censorship and surveillance, he explains, and those
concerns about the integrity of national information ecosys-
tems and regime survival are widespread in other countries,
too. “I think their cyber norms ring pretty true to a lot more
countries than we would prefer,” he states.
This is the first of two articles addressing the Cyberspace
Solarium Commission’s proposed strategy of layered deter-
rence. The second article will look at persistent engagement
and defending forward.
Shaun Waterman is an award-winning reporter and editor
who has worked for the BBC, UPI and POLITICO. He is
currently freelancing covering federal information technol-
ogy, cybersecurity and homeland security.
contact: WatermanReports@gmail.com
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 39
7/20/20 5:39 PM
 SPECIAL INTEREST EDITORIAL
Getting the Whole Picture
with Next Generation 911
Mobile device capabilities make first responders
more efficient, situationally aware.
BY HENRY S. KENYON
Mapping and location finding
technologies common to every
smartphone are making their way
to 911 emergency calls, letting first
responders know exactly where to go
and saving precious time that can be
used to save lives.
These capabilities are emerging in
what’s known as Next Generation
911, or NG911. They represent a
fusion of mobile device applications
and services that are being overlaid
or built into these new emergency
telecommunications systems that let
police, paramedics and firefighters get
to exactly where they need to be.
Part of the change to NG911 tech-
nology is reflected by the major
telecommunications carriers shifting
away from their legacy databases and
systems to session initiation protocol
(SIP)-based systems. SIP is a signaling
protocol used for initiating, maintain-
ing and ending real-time sessions
including voice, video and messaging
applications. SIP is used for signaling
and controlling multimedia commu-
nication sessions in Internet telephony
applications for voice and video calls,
private IP telephone systems, instant
messaging over Internet Protocol net-
works and mobile telephone calls.
While the shift to SIP is ongoing, the
technology itself is over a decade old
and is very mature, says Brian Ander-
son, director of public safety at Avaya.
He adds that although public safety
lags behind in this area, nations like
Canada lead the world in mandating
NG911 and the U.S. is close behind
in that migration as telecom carriers
move away from wireline services and
regional pockets move to NG911.
40 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 40
Leveraging smartphone
technology
The current global pandemic situation,
with many people staying at home and
working remotely, created a unique
situation for NG911 that wasn’t present
one or two years ago, Anderson says.
Older, more static technologies can’t
really track remote workers’ cellphone
locations, but next-generation SIP-
based systems can do this.
Besides allowing users to automatically
report their locations every time they
log into their work laptops or their
cellphones, SIP-based technology also
lets 911 immediately detect a person’s
location when they call. This is vastly
different from older systems that even
one or two years ago required users to
submit a location change request and
then wait 48 to 72 hours for it to go
into effect, Anderson says.
One of the reasons NG911 technology
works with a variety of mobile devices
is thanks to the work of a company
called RapidSOS, which approached
Apple and Google with software
code for smartphones and tablets
that greatly increased the accuracy of
the data coming from those devices.
Because 80 percent or more of 911
calls come from mobile devices,
Anderson notes that this created an
opportunity for expanding the reach of
NG911 capabilities.
RapidSOS’s technology was included
in recent Apple and Google Android
devices where it allows their location
information to be transferred between
other devices. This means that a
smartphone won’t just gather GPS
and WiFi data to get its geographic
position, but also communicate with
other nearby mobile devices to get its
location in relation to them.
This technology is now used to cover
911 calls by roughly 90 to 95 percent of
the U.S. population. It allows compa-
nies like Avaya to notify an enterprise
when a cell-based 911 call is made from
an associated physical location like a
corporate campus or office.
An example would be a large
government facility like an Army base.
If someone is injured in an accident or
has a medical emergency on the base,
when they call 911, the NG911 system
would also notify base authorities—
something current 911 systems can’t
do, Anderson says. Besides not being
aware of an emergency on the facility,
base personnel would only have a
vague idea where the call came from,
whereas the new technology essentially
creates a Google Maps view of where
the caller is located.
However, there are still some issues with
NG911’s use on facilities such as military
bases, such as security considerations
when connecting into an IP-based com-
mercial network, Anderson says.
Avaya’s NG911 system is designed to
work within set geographic boundaries,
such as a military facility or corpo-
rate campus. Any mobile devices on
that covered terrain are automatically
detected and connect to the system
when they make a 911 call because they
go through the customer’s defined Rap-
idSOS Geo-Fence.
At the same time, when the informa-
tion for a 911 call is going out to the
911 center, the NG911 service also noti-
fies the facility’s government or private
enterprise as part of Avaya’s subscrip-
tion service, Anderson says.
7/22/20 1:10 PM

About NG911
Avaya has sold a Next Generation 911
product called SENTRY for some years,
Anderson says. SENTRY is made for
Avaya by a company called 911Secure.
While this product has been on the
market for a while, what is happening
now is the addition of more data-
based solutions, capable of reporting
location data from cellphones calling
911 using the 911inform application.
Additionally, the latest applications
allow multimedia files detailing a
caller’s location to be sent to first
responders and those using the public
safety answer point (PSAP), he says.
“The real difference over the last two
years is we’re getting much more from
911 callers based on an enterprise PBX
system that we can deliver [data] to as
well as cellphones,” Anderson says.
On the enterprise side, what is
important is the data that NG 911 can
supply. This includes the nature of the
emergency, a person’s location down to
one meter outdoors and three meters
indoors. This is different from cell
tower triangulation that is only accurate
to somewhere between 100 and 200
meters, Anderson explains.
These new capabilities provide
emergency responders with highly
accurate location information and
potentially other data, such as a person’s
health status and floor plans with a
marker of the 911 caller’s location on it.
Avaya is working with partner com-
pany Synergem Technologies Inc., on
a product that will answer 911 calls in
the PSAP, the call center that receives
911 calls. This will take advantage of
existing infrastructure used by Avaya’s
Communication Manager tool, allowing
the company to provide additional func-
tionality “that’s fully NENA i3” compli-
ant without heavy modification to the
existing infrastructure, he says.
Automation is key
An important aspect of Avaya’s NG911
technology is ease of use and automa-
tion. Anderson notes that many mobile
911 applications and products require
the user to download software onto their
Signal0820.indd 41
device or to subscribe to a service. He
adds this makes little sense because all a
person should do is call 911 when they
need it, without any additional worries.
“If I were to pass out and my kid picks
up my phone next to me, they’re going
to call 911. There’s no reason to have any
kind of app or app to unlock my phone
to get an app for emergency response,
just dial 911. The technology is there—
all the hooks and handles in terms of
finding data, finding location, all that
kind of stuff is already there in the back-
ground,” Anderson says.
Such automation could also be used
for other Internet of Things and mobile
devices, from individual medical
aid devices that send out an alert if a
person is having a health emergency, to
shot-spotter devices police departments
use to detect and locate gunfire. This
data from a variety of devices can
potentially be fused to create maps
and overlays in police department and
emergency services command centers,
allowing first responders to quickly
respond to incidents.
Depending on the size of an enterprise,
NG911 systems like Avaya’s allow
organizations to layer on services, such
as providing automatic notification
calls to key personnel when a 911 call is
made from a facility, or also including
building security camera feeds and
paging services that can be shared with
first responders.
If there is a building fire, for example,
after the 911 call is made first
responders could get an interactive floor
plan of the facility that allows them to
click on cameras to directly view their
feeds. If the fire is on the north side of
a building, then first responders could
access the paging system to direct the
people in the structure to evacuate to
the south side, possibly by following
emergency strobe lights activated
during the emergency, Anderson says.
A near-future goal for the technology is
to use artificial intelligence tools to make
automated decisions for facility own-
ers. Such a product could be used by a
school district and consist of a two-door,
two-stage entry into a facility where peo-
ple coming in are scanned by cameras.
This can be to either detect their body
SPECIAL INTEREST EDITORIAL
temperature to detect anyone with a
fever, or to search for weapons. In either
case, he notes that they are prevented
from entering the main facility, either
being isolated or directed to a side entry
where their status can be determined.
For its enterprise customers, Avaya’s
NG911 system is designed to be highly
automated, allowing it to run in the
background on a corporate network
until its needed. This approach differs
for government customers such as intel-
ligence community organizations with
high security requirements. In these situ-
ations, where most mobile devices are
either locked down or not permitted to
move freely around a facility, Avaya gives
those customers more fine-grained con-
trol over how the system interacts with
them and what information is shared
with the commercial network. This often
boils down to less automation and more
human-based management, he says.
Anderson expects the technology to
become more sophisticated and even
more automated in time. In a commer-
cial environment, when a person calls an
airline to make a reservation, the system
can recognize a repeat customer or an
individual, potentially directing them to
reservations or some other service. None
of this happens in public-domain sys-
tems such as 911 today, he says.
Emergency dispatching is still done
manually today, meaning that an
operator looks for the radio tags of
police officers in the area to direct them
to an incident, Anderson explains. In
the near future, such systems may be
integrated with NG911 technologies
that can use algorithms and navigation
tools to more efficiently direct police
and medical teams to incidents,
navigating them around traffic and
other delays to get there more efficiently.
The main goal is to do more with
automation to decrease dispatch and
response times, which is attractive to
cash-strapped law enforcement agencies
and municipalities, Anderson says.
For more information,
visit www.avaya.com
SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 41
7/22/20 1:10 PM
 SPECIAL INTEREST EDITORIAL
Multi-Domain Secure Systems
Aid Remote Government Workers
Devices let at-home workers securely access classified data.
BY HENRY S. KENYON
Intelligence community and
government personnel who work
with classified or sensitive
information often use multiple
computers on their desks, each one
connected to a separate network
based on the security level of the
information being accessed.
This can create a variety of IT and
logistical challenges for workers
onsite, but as ongoing COVID-19
pandemic and other circumstances
force more people to work remotely,
managing all of this equipment and
their security requirements from
a private home can be difficult or
nearly impossible without multilevel
secure systems capable of doing the
job of multiple desktops in a single
secure station.
Although such systems have been
used for years, the pressing need for
staff to work securely from home
opens new opportunities for cross-
domain solutions because while
they are useful in eliminating excess
infrastructure and physical space
requirements in an onsite, enterprise
setting, they are ideally suited for
meeting the surge in home telework
created by the pandemic.
One big advantage of systems like
Forcepoint’s Trusted Thin Client
is that in an institutional setting,
“it eliminates the need for person-
nel like analysts to have multiple
computers linked to different secure
networks on their desks. This allows
workers to access different networks
with varying security levels from a
single endpoint device by clicking
on a menu on their desktop,” says
George Kamis, chief technology offi-
cer for Forcepoint Global Govern-
ments and Critical Infrastructure.
42 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 42
Traditionally, intelligence community
or other government personnel with
access to classified information cannot
work from home at all. The select few
that are allowed require a specialized
setup. This often consists of a safe
to store one or more secure laptop
computers and encryption devices
that allow their computers to securely
connect to classified networks. This
can be impractical to scale in special
conditions, like working in a COVID
pandemic. This also does not scale for
those individuals, who might need to
access dozens of secure networks
during the workday, Kamis says.
This can now be done in a more
streamlined manner with a system
like Forcepoint’s Trusted Thin Client:
Remote, which allows remote users
to securely access unclassified and
classified networks using technology
developed in compliance with the
National Cross Domain Management
Strategy Office and National Security
Agency’s Commercial Solutions
for Classified (CSfC) program. The
technology leverages cross-domain
technology and off-the-shelf virtual
private network technology to make
a secure network connection to a
classified network, protecting any
information in transit between the
worker and the enterprise, Kamis says.
Besides providing secure
connectivity to a variety of
networks at different classification
levels, he notes that it also makes
use of the CSfC-developed
encryption technology to secure the
data while it’s in transit and at rest.
Forcepoint also leverages a virtual
desktop infrastructure that allows
users to access a variety of work envi-
ronments, both classified and unclas-
sified, from standard government-
issued laptop computers.
“Their data, applications and
operating systems all run within
headquarters or their protected
data centers, and all that’s being
sent to the user is a redisplay or
the view of those applications
running remotely,” Kamis says.
When users log into their computers,
they don’t really log into the Trusted
Thin Client Remote; instead they
indirectly log into a computer running
in the customer’s data center and any
programs, such as Microsoft Outlook,
that they access all reside in that data
center. Display data is sent to the
remote user, but Kamis notes that no
sensitive data ever is stored on their
laptops at any time. When the user
logs out of the system, no data resides
on their laptop, Kamis says.
This is a great benefit for personnel
working remotely who need to access
information on multiple secure
networks. The Trusted Thin Client:
Remote eliminates the need and
security headache of keeping multiple
laptops in a safe or maintaining an
encryption device, he adds.
A big challenge government
agencies face when setting up
remote workers is being able to
scale up large numbers of end
points and their security levels.
For commercial solutions in this
space, scalability and the ability to
support it from a range of different
products is a key requirement that
Forcepoint can meet, Kamis says.
Forcepoint’s cross domain solutions
are included on the US NCDSMO
baseline list for TSABI, SABI, meet NSA’s
Raise The Bar guidelines, and are on
the CDM Approved Product List (APL)
7/22/20 1:11 PM
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 ACCESS THIS FREE WEBINAR
www.afcea.org/signal/webinar

What to Consider When Purchasing

an Unmanned Aerial System
SPEAKER:
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not require the manpower or resources necessary to op- SIGNAL Magazine
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Signal0820.indd 44 7/20/20 5:40 PM

 ProductQuest

Advanced Computing
Escondido, California-based One
Stop Systems Inc. is offering a com-
puting expansion system that sup-
ports NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core
graphics processor units (GPUs).
The company claims that it can
improve computing performance by
up to 20 times of previous levels and
allows developers to scale up servers by adding up to eight of the GPUs. The sys- Improved Position,
tem works with computing-intensive applications such as artificial intelligence
(AI) training, AI inference, video analytics and mixed-reality rendering. Navigation
For more information, visit www.onestopsystems.com. and Timing
GridGain Systems is providing enterprise-grade in-memory computing solu-
Neûchatel, Switzerland-based Orolia is offer-
tions that offer high performance, scalable applications that leverage digital
ing a low size, weight, power and cost min-
integration hubs, hybrid transaction/analytical processing and other strate-
iaturized rubidium oscillator, known as the
gies. The company, headquartered in Foster City, California, suggests that
Spectratime mRO-50. The mRO-50 provides
common use cases for their platform include application acceleration and as
accurate frequency and precise time syn-
a digital integration hub for real-time data access across data sources, as well
chronization to mobile applications, includ-
as legacy and greenfield applications.
ing military radio-pack systems in global
For more information, visit gridgain.com. navigation satellite system- (GNSS-) denied
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Artificial Intelligence temperature of -10°C to 60°C—extended

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Data-to-knowledge company Babel Street recently announced it acquired is also ideal for unmanned aerial vehicles
patented technology from the software firm Dunami that leverages advanced and underwater applications, the com-
artificial intelligence and machine learning to conduct relationship analysis pany says.  Orolia also has partnered with
of associated networks and audiences.  According to the Washington, D.C.- Granada, Spain’s Seven Solutions, which
based company, the technology automatically identifies the intersection of builds sub-nanosecond time transfer and fre-
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For more information, visit babelstreet.com. 
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New York-based ResoluteAI has launched a platform called Conceptual Attribute positioning, navigation and timing services,
Search, or CAtS, designed to enhance scientific search capabilities. The platform including global positioning system and
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Signal0820.indd 46 7/20/20 5:42 PM

 Association News
AFCEA Website www.afcea.org • Online Directories www.afcea.org/directories • SIGNAL Online www.afcea.org/signal
AFCEA Main Number (703) 631-6100 • For a full list of AFCEA contacts, visit http://url.afcea.org/contacts

New
AFCEAN of the Month Corporate
Master Sgt. Heath Curless, USAF Members
Listed below are the latest
KAISERSLAUTERN MILITARY CHAPTER organizations to become
corporate members of

M
aster Sgt. Heath Curless, USAF, has been contributing to AFCEA International. A
the Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC) Chap- capabilities statement for each
ter since 2018, when he decided it was time to get more new member will be published
involved. He competed for a board position and was elected to in this issue or in the future.
the Events Committee, a role that he still holds today. A complete list of corporate
Sgt. Curless is responsible for coordinating chapter events to members is available online at
include two Tech Expos and a Sports Day event each year. The www.afcea.org/membership/
KMC Tech Expos have averaged more than 500 attendees and corporate/corporates.jsp.
50 vendors per event over the past two years, with the most
Boone Group
recent Tech Expo held February 12, 2020, at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany.
During his tenure, he has led three Tech Expos and two Sports Day events. BSEt LLC
Additionally, Sgt. Curless is involved with the Cycle 4 STEM team. In 2018, Coder
his team of 20 riders rode 250 kilometers over three days while raising $36,000 Document Storage
in donations. All donations went toward scholarships in the KMC area for Systems Inc.
those entering STEM career fields. He enjoyed it so much that he led the team FedLearn Inc.
in 2019, raising another $32,000. Fraym
Furthermore, Sgt. Curless organized the most recent KMC AFCEA Golf Information Partners Inc.
Tournament. This event capped off the Expo Week and directly contributed JETCOOL Technologies Inc.
$5,800 for STEM scholarships. Precision Procurement
Sgt. Curless works for Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Solutions
Africa, Communications Directorate, where he is a command satellite com- Resecurity Inc.
munications manager. He will soon be moving back to the states and hopes to RSBG ICT GmbH
continue to serve on the board at his next chapter.
Security Centric Inc.
In recognition of his dedication to the association, AFCEA proudly names
SES S.A.
Master Sgt. Heath Curless, USAF, AFCEAN of the month.
Wealth Management
Information Security

SIGNAL’s newest
online section and
e-newsletter dedicated
to all things CYBER. news.afcea.org/TheCyberEdge

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 47

Signal0820.indd 47 7/20/20 5:43 PM

 ACCESS THIS FREE WEBINAR
www.afcea.org/signal/webinar

Identity Governance in
Multi-Cloud Environments
These days, more than three out of four agencies use multiple cloud platforms. This gives them
the freedom to match the requirements of each use case to the unique strengths of each cloud
platform, whether it’s AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Platform. What these agencies lack, however,
is a way to effectively and securely govern access across these multi-cloud environments. These
challenges leave businesses open to the risks and costs of non-compliance, cyber attacks and
simple human error. Some may use native tools with basic identity and access management
for a single platform, but this is not governance.
This lack of governance also stifles productivity and growth—if users can’t get the access they
need when they need it, work doesn’t get done. Managing who has access to what and with
which privileges is a real challenge in the cloud due to rapid change and large scale. SailPoint
Identity and Cloud Access Governance allows IT and security teams to back control of cloud
access by providing 360-visibility across the enterprise and cloud infrastructure and adds a
critical layer of security and governance. Cloud security is a journey not a destination.
Join us in this informative session to begin
plotting the course to your successful
SPEAKER:
and secure cloud journey. Discussion Topics:
• Understand the three key questions of
FRANK
governance: Who currently has access? BRIGUGLIO
Who should have access? Global Public
How is the access being used? Sector Strategist,
• Discover access relationships, patterns and SailPoint
improve the application of access controls.
• Manage and control access to your
hybrid cloud infrastructure including
MODERATOR:
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
• Enforce access to cloud infrastructure with GEORGE I.
predefined policies and credential cycling. SEFFERS
• Leverage out of the box compliance guardrails Executive Editor,
to monitor for adherence for NIST SP 800-53. SIGNAL Magazine

HOSTED BY

Signal0820.indd 48 7/20/20 5:43 PM

 Greenspan Wins AFCEAN of the Year
Award for Exemplary Service
BY CHUCK GRIFFITH participated in numerous events, but says. “We also provide our members

T
he essential qualities of a good
leader include integrity, account-
ability, humility, vision and posi-
tivity, and AFCEA is an excellent
environment to grow leadership skills,
according to Tamara Greenspan, this
year’s winner of The General James M.
Rockwell AFCEAN of the Year. “The
world is always changing, and a strong
leader needs to be able to adapt to
changes in the environment and work-
force and consistently look to improve,
adjust and innovate,” she suggests.
The Rockwell award is AFCEA’s
premier award given for exemplary
service to AFCEA over the past year.
Greenspan, from the Northern Vir-
ginia Chapter (NOVA) and group
vice president of public sector appli-
cations, Oracle, exemplifies commit-
ment, humility and dedication. As the
chapter underwent changes for the first
time in a few years, Greenspan dedi-
cated time and energy to helping the
board weather the storm by providing
leadership and guidance. “I was pas-
sionate about working with our board
on innovation and encouraged new
ideas and making changes if that was
the best for our membership,” she says.
“I have had the privilege of support-
ing the DOD for more than 30 years,
and I love working in the public sector
industry. I am lucky to work with an
amazing AFCEA NOVA board with
many different backgrounds, leader-
ship skills and DOD experience.”
Greenspan has been an AFCEA
member for many years and has
working with the Women in NOVA
(WIN) Committee was her first expe-
rience with volunteering.  The WIN
Committee provides a forum for
women in government, military and
industry, offering them the opportu-
nity to prepare, promote, support and
mentor senior and emerging leaders
within the STEM fields.
“There are so many amazing leaders
in AFCEA International and AFCEA
NOVA,” Greenspan says. “Becoming
co-chair of that [WIN] committee
was how I was exposed to the AFCEA
NOVA board.”
Greenspan has always been passion-
ate about helping women in the work-
force, and WIN was the perfect way
for her to engage with AFCEA NOVA.
After joining the leadership team, she
was elected to the board and eventu-
ally became president, a position in
which she has excelled for the past two
years.
With over 6,500 members, the chap-
ter’s mission is to connect membership
with the government through a variety
of meetings and events. These include
popular monthly luncheons that run
September through June and feature
leading government speakers giv-
ing presentations about information
technology and its relationship with
national security, as well as other rel-
evant U.S. Defense Department topics.
“We hold larger full-day IT Day
conferences, featuring speakers …
from the Army, Navy, USMC [U.S.
Marine Corps], Air Force, DOD and
other federal agencies,” Greenspan
with more intimate settings to connect
one-on-one with industry and govern-
ment leadership, including Small Busi-
ness Breakfasts, Annual Golf Outing,
Women in NOVA speaker series and
our popular Young AFCEAN social
events.”
The chapter’s monthly luncheons,
IT Days, breakfasts and special
events allow members access to gov-
ernment speakers who are experts
in current policy and possess insight
into future objectives. “[We] have
the Pentagon in our back yard, the
nation’s capital right next door and
the backbone of the Internet at our
center,” Greenspan says.
Greenspan advises AFCEA mem-
bers interested in becoming chapter
leaders to “get involved, engage and
find your passion.” She recommends
that members reach out to their local
chapter, volunteer and offer assistance.
“I think the best way to get involved
is to join a committee and help with a
program or event. You will understand
how the chapter works and how best
your skill sets can support the chapter.”
Greenspan champions AFCEA’s
rewarding leadership opportuni-
ties, and she has taken advantage of
as many as possible. “It has been an
amazing experience, and I have truly
enjoyed my time as president and look
forward to engaging and helping as a
past president.”
Chuck Griffith is the vice president of
information for the Northern Virginia
Chapter.

Connect with AFCEA JOIN our LinkedIn Group to discuss

best practices, ask questions, share

on Social Media
AFCEA is dedicated to encouraging conversations
and providing valuable information where it’s
most convenient for you. Connect and engage
with us on your favorite social platform.
concerns and highlight news.
LIKE us on Facebook to access
important AFCEA updates.
FOLLOW us on Twitter for real-time
news that fits your busy schedule.
Find links to these pages and more under
“Connect with Us” at www.afcea.org

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 49

Signal0820.indd 49 7/20/20 5:45 PM

 Corporate Capability Statements
The following new AFCEA corporate members have recently completed online capability listings.
See the full profiles of these and other AFCEA corporate members in searchable form at www.afcea.org/directories.
ATLAS SOLUTIONS PLUS
928 S 201st Street, Elkhorn, NE 68022  following areas: geospatial data, predictive analytics, machine
(402) 782-1774 • Email: gtaylor@atlassolutionsplus.com
Website: www.atlassolutionsplus.com
Owner: Glenn Taylor
Business Focus: Atlas Solutions Plus is the premier disabled
veteran-owned and operated company specializing in training,
education and consulting. Atlas Solutions Plus offers superior
cyber certification, soft-skill training and unparalleled consulting
services. Courses are taught by experienced professionals who
are singularly-focused on their customers’ needs and success.
The use of mobile training teams enables tailored training
opportunities at the local level to organizations nationwide.
Atlas Solutions Plus is dedicated to engaging minds and
empowering success.
Products/Services: Bootcamp certification training focusing on
CompTIA and EC Council courses, as well as custom training
created to meet customer needs.
Business Type: Service-disabled, veteran-owned small
business.
CIS SECURE
21050 Ashburn Crossing Drive, Suite 145, Ashburn, VA 20147
(703) 996-0500 • Email: sales@cissecure.com
Website: www.cissecure.com
Business Focus: CIS Secure is the leading supplier of secure
communications products, with the leadership and expertise
to provide best-in-class security solutions that meet the
highest and strictest government standards. Its customers
include organizations within the defense, intelligence, law
enforcement and homeland security communities whose
missions depend heavily on the ability to communicate and
securely exchange information and to operate in challenging
physical environments. CIS Secure’s diverse product portfolio
of advanced, emerging and custom-built technologies are
developed by collaborating with the industry’s leading OEMs to
deliver high-quality, dependable and cost-effective solutions.
Products/Services: CIS Secure’s portfolio of secure and
custom communications technologies includes TEMPEST,
TSG, plus a broad portfolio of tactical and custom products.
Its mission is to meet the most demanding requirements for
government and commercial security-conscious customers.
Business Type: Small business.
FRAYM
7900 West Park Drive, Suite A160, McLean, VA 22102
Email: info@fraym.io • Website: www.fraym.io
CEO: Ben Leo
Business Focus: Fraym is a geospatial data company that uses
proprietary machine learning algorithms to deliver precise,
local-level information about people in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. Fraym helps fast-growing companies, government
agencies and development organizations succeed in places
where data has been traditionally hard to access. Fraym’s high-
resolution data goes down to 1km^2, and adds an entirely new
dimension to strategic and operational planning discussions.
Previously unanswerable questions like, “Where are my target
populations?” and “What services are they interested in?” can
now be answered quickly and confidently using Fraym data.
50 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 50
Products/Services: Fraym has best-in-class capabilities in the
learning and artificial intelligence GIS mapping software
development
Business Type: Small business.
MERRITT GROUP
8251 Greensboro Drive, Suite 600, McLean, VA 22102
(703) 390-1500 • Email: info@merrittgrp.com
Website: www.merrittgrp.com
CEO: Alisa Valudes Whyte
Business Focus: Be audacious, and we will triumph together.
Every goal. Every time. There is great power in the right blend
of marketing PR and creative grounded in industry expertise—
it means that Merritt Group’s strategy is always connected to
market and business goals. Merritt Group empowers others
to join in disrupting the status quo and changing the world.
This belief makes Merritt Group bold in helping clients chart
a course. Forge ahead with Merritt Group and discover a rare
find—data analytics, cutting-edge digital, smart creatives, big
ideas and great storytelling—in one agency.
Products/Services: Marketing, public relations, creative and
content development.
Clients: Deloitte; Samsung; Unisys; BAE Systems; Booz Allen
Hamilton; CACI; CrowdStrike; and Microsoft.
Business Type: Woman-owned small business.
MONTREAT COLLEGE
PO Box 1267, Montreat, NC 28757 
(828) 413-2311 • Website: www.montreat.edu
CEO: Paul Maurer
Business Focus: Montreat College is a private, Christian
liberal arts college founded in 1916 and offering associate,
bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for traditional and
adult students. Montreat College’s main campus for four-year
traditional students is located in Montreat, North Carolina,
in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just outside
Asheville, North Carolina. The college’s School of Adult and
Graduate Studies also has locations in Asheville, Charlotte and
Morganton, North Carolina, and online.
SECURITY CENTRIC INC.
689 Splitrail Court, Livermore, CA 94551
(925) 292-4309 • Email: info@securitycentric.net
Website: securitycentric.net
CEO: Sean Hulbert
Business Focus: Security Centric Inc. is a cybersecurity
enablement company that specializes in hardened, secure
virtualization technology. It offers cutting-edge cybersecurity
courseware development, security assessments and cyber risk
management consulting. Security Centric has designed custom
cybersecurity solutions that are actively being used around
the world. The company develops hands-on cybersecurity
programs that map to leading industry certifications and are
now focusing on professional skills gap closure.
Products/Services: Courseware development; cybersecurity
services in penetration testing; risk management; secure cloud
environments; cybersecurity training; and digital forensics.
Business Type: Federally-designated small business.
7/20/20 5:46 PM
 AFCEA Sustaining Members*
A.M. Fadida Consulting Cisco Systems Inc. IBM Federal Northrop Grumman
Abacus Technology Cole Engineering Services Insperity Corporation
Corporation Inc. Intelsat General Corporation NTT DATA Federal Services
Accenture Collins Aerospace Jet Propulsion Laboratory Inc.
Aerospace Corporation, The Comcast Business Services L3Harris Technologies Oracle America Inc.
Artel LLC CommScope Leidos Parsons
AT&T Government Dell Technologies Lockheed Martin Perspecta
Solutions Deloitte LLP Corporation Poly
Avaya Government Elastic Federal ManTech International Raytheon Company
Solutions Ernst & Young (EY) GPS Corp. SAIC
BAE Systems FedData Technology McAfee Inc. Samsung Electronics
Bechtel National Inc. Solutions Micro Focus US Inc. America
BeyondTrust Inc. Fortinet Inc. Microsoft Corporation SAP Public Services
Boeing Company, The General Dynamics IT MITRE Corporation, The Serco Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton General Dynamics Mission Motorola-U.S. Fed. Gov’t Sev1Tech LLC
CA Technologies Systems Markets Div. Telos Corporation
CACI Inc. General Micro Systems Inc. NEC Corporation of Teradata Government
Carahsoft Technology Corp. Google Inc. America Systems
CenturyLink Government Guidehouse NetApp USAA
CGI Hewlett Packard Enterprise Netscout Systems Verizon
Chenega MIOS HP Inc. Noblis ViON Corporation

* List is current as of June 8, 2020. A complete list of AFCEA’s corporate members is available at www.afcea.org/membership.

TechNetCyber
Webinar Channel
Leading up to AFCEA’s TechNet Cyber event, SIGNAL Media Scheduled webinar dates are:
is hosting four webinars featuring experts from within DISA
August 5, 1 p.m. EST
talking about new leadership, emerging technology, DISA’s Small
Business Office and Procurement Service Directorate and virtual August 19, 1 p.m. EST
recruiting. This series will keep the conversation going leading September 2, 1 p.m. EST
into AFCEA’s TechNet Cyber event, December 1-3 in Baltimore. September 16, 1 p.m. EST

Register at https://signal.afcea.org/TechNetCyberChannel

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 51

Signal0820.indd 51 7/21/20 3:23 PM

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Signal0820.indd 52 7/21/20 4:56 PM

 INTERNATIONAL

CHAPTER
NEWS Edited by Megan Lee
EDITORIAL POLICY: Chapter News must
be received by the 20th of the month
two months prior to publication date.

ArkLaTex
Chapter Provides a Unique
ARKLATEX—In May, KTBS TV host Rick Rowe asks Chapter President Lt. Col. Michael Harris,
Scholarships Presentation USAF, about the chapter’s annual scholarship program and the 2020 recipients.
This May, the chapter held two signifi-
cant events recognizing the tremendous
achievements of 14 high school seniors.
These events would normally be held within
a large banquet setting, allowing parents,
grandparents, teachers, school counselors,
sponsors and elected officials to attend. Due
to the health crisis, this was not possible
this year, so other alternatives were explored
and executed flawlessly. The chapter first
recognized the students during a live broad-
cast by local television station KTBS. This
broadcast was hosted by local television per-
sonality Rick Rowe, and was filmed at the
Cyber Innovation Center, one of the area’s
most preeminent locations for technologi-
cal collaboration amongst government, pri-
vate industry and academia. The theme for
this first event was “The Best and Bright-
est,” and during this live broadcast, the 14
students were presented with a check for
$2,000 through the generosity and support
of local and national sponsors, some of them
giants in aviation. In addition, each student ARKLATEX—In May, founding chapter member Barbara Schleben presents a $2,000
gave remarks on their respective scholastic scholarship check to one of the 14 winners of 2020 made possible by generous local and
journey, plans for the future and goals to international sponsors.
be trailblazers. The second event was a vir-
tual scholarship presentation held via Zoom.
The guest speaker was AFCEA International
President and CEO Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea,
USMC (Ret.), who talked about the history
of the association and the global security ini-
tiatives undertaken by AFCEA International.
He stressed the importance of maintaining
competitive advantage with representatives
in over 130 countries. He also mentioned the
importance of the relationships built over the
years with the Pentagon and the challenges
presented by the changing world order and
countries that do not play by established
norms. The chapter was grateful to have
Gen. Shea speak to the scholarship recipi-
ents, and they appreciated his insight and
congratulations. The chapter is glad to be
able adapt to the environment and contin-
ue to give scholarships to deserving local ARKLATEX—Scholarship winners, chapter staff, sponsors and news crew gather in the
students while providing new and unique renowned Cyber Innovations Center for the scholarship presentation broadcast live on KTBS
opportunities for their recognition. 3 ABC in May.

Professional AFCEA has two pathways for professional development – Onsite courses taught for your
organization at your location and academic institutions in our Preferred Provider network
Development for both organizations and individuals. AFCEA members can receive continuing education
with AFCEA! attendance documentation. For more information go to www.afcea.org/site/Education AFCEA PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT CENTER

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 53

Signal0820.indd 53 7/20/20 5:47 PM

 New Ecuador Chapter Holds First Virtual Event
In June, members of the first AFCEA
chapter in Ecuador and the second
in Latin America (after Argentina),
Ecuador
enjoyed a virtual meeting. The fes-
tivities began with the Ecuador National Anthem and a memo-
rial to Col. Marco Ernesto Miño Montalvo, who recently passed
away. Col. Montalvo was a military and academic leader and
a devoted member of AFCEA. Tina Jordan, vice president of
membership, AFCEA International, delivered the welcome mes-
sage. Brenda Puch, corporate development coordinator, AFCEA
International, gave the AFCEA International Headquarters
message in Spanish. María Dolores Santos Vidal, chapter presi-
dent, also gave a welcome message and presentation. A group of
distinguished speakers followed, including Dra. Rosalía Arteaga,
former acting president of Ecuador and current executive presi-
dent of the FIDAL Foundation, and Luis Lenin Recalde Herrera,
director of the Center for Scientific and Technological Investiga-
tions of the Army and dean of the School of Electronic Engi-
neering at the Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESPE). Juan
Carlos Fondevila Sancet, regional vice president for the South
America region, received a certificate of gratitude. Sancet pro-
vided tremendous support to the leadership team for this new
ECUADOR—The chapter enjoyed presentations from
distinguished members of the Ecuadorian community
as well as messages from AFCEA International
representatives at the chapter’s virtual meeting in June.
54 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal
Signal0820.indd 54
chapter. The Argentina Chapter offered guidance and support
during the planning and formation stages. Both chapters plan to
expand this collaboration as the two AFCEA representatives for
South America. Silicon Valley Chapter also provided assistance
and cooperation. During the virtual meeting, Glenn Kesselman,
chapter president of Silicon Valley, spoke about continuing that
partnership. The chapter is dedicated to promoting a culture of
digital transformation within the military, government, indus-
try, academia and community sectors with the support and
assistance of AFCEA International. As the chapter moves into
the future, it will pursue a mission of strengthening academic
and scientific development in the fields of information technol-
ogy, intelligence, communications, national defense and security
and technological innovations in the community. The chapter
hopes to become a national intercultural educational platform
by expanding research in the following areas: multidimensional
security, geopolitical strategy, virtual learning, cybersecurity and
cyber defense and intelligence. The chapter is passionate about
engaging Ecuadorian youth through STEM programs for stu-
dents and empowering women through education and technol-
ogy. The virtual meeting ended with beautiful Ecuadorian music
and a toast to the bright future of the chapter.
ECUADOR—Chapter members pose
for a photo. Sitting from l-r: Rafael Tenor
Linares, Grad. (SP) Roque Apolinar
Moreira Cedeño, Grad. (SP), Carlos
Modesto Rodríguez Arrieta, María
Dolores Santos Vidal, Valentina Estefania
Almeida Terán, Francisco Javier Delgado
Villarreal, David Villacis and Col. E.M.T.
Avc. (SP) Patricio Roberto Salazar
Benavides. Standing from l-r are Capt.
de Navío Juan Oscar Mariscal Pérez,
Mayor (SP) Patricio Eduardo Chacón
Mejía, Mayor (SP) Luis Lenin Recalde
Herrera, Jaime H. Endara, Luis Pazmiño,
Francisco Reyes Mena and Bruce
Schulte. In June, members of the new
chapter met online for a virtual event.
Photo taken at a previous meeting.
ECUADOR—In June, the new chapter participates in a virtual meeting.
Appearing in the screenshot are María Dolores Santos Vidal, chapter
president; Juan Carlos Fondevila Sancet, regional vice president for
the South America region; Tina Jordan, vice president of membership,
AFCEA International; Glenn Kesselman, Silicon Valley chapter president;
and Brenda Puch, corporate development coordinator, AFCEA
7/20/20 5:47 PM
 Dayton-Wright
Chapter Education Opportunity:
Intelligence Analytic
In May, the chapter partnered with
AFCEA International for another continu-
ing education program with the Ameri-
can Public University System to provide
members with a 60-minute webinar titled
Evaluating COVID-19 Models Using Intel-
ligence Analytic Methods. During this
COVID-19 crisis, leaders from the presi-
dent to local school boards have had to
make some very tough decisions based
on available information and analysis,
including a variety of models used to track
and predict the severity of the outbreak.
Unfortunately, many of these models have
proved to be inaccurate and misleading.
In this webinar, Erik Kleinsmith, associ-
ate vice president for strategic relations
in Intelligence, National, Homeland and
Cyber Security at American Military
monitor products. Over 50 attendees par-
ticipated in the session. While chapter
University, and the author of the recent members missed breaking bread with other
book, Intelligence Operations: Understand- like-minded professionals, the delivery by
ing Data, Tools, People, and Processes, dis- Red Hat exceeded expectations, making the
cussed and presented methods for adapt- chapter’s first virtual event a success.
ing intelligence to more effectively evaluate
these models.
Oklahoma City
Virtual and Agile
Meet Members’ Needs
National pandemic activities didn’t
stop the chapter from spreading technical
knowledge to its members. The organiza-
tion leveraged Google to provide an online
meeting that enabled Red Hat to demon- OKLAHOMA CITY—Mike Conigliaro from
strate their vision on the future of Open- Red Hat provides his technical experience to
Shift and the adoption of CNCF-Compliant compliment the leverage of OpenShift at the
infrastructure to host, build, deploy and chapter’s virtual event in May.

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AFCEA BrandLink is your

toolbox to optimize the
marketing, communications
and networking power of AFCEA.
AFCEA BrandLink is a marketing portal that connects your
brand to the AFCEA world in a unique and customized way.

The AFCEA BrandLink Director is here to assist with individual

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Contact Jennifer Deuterman: 703-631-6181 • jdeuterman@afcea.org
url.afcea.org/AFCEABrandLink

SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | Official Publication of AFCEA 55

Signal0820.indd 55 7/22/20 1:55 PM

 Incoming

How to Prime the Innovation Pump

W
hen global positioning system (GPS) devices
entered the consumer marketplace, they were
big, clunky and not user friendly. To reach a
location, users had to input waypoints and then
be sure to stay on the line connecting each one. Despite
their difficulties, early GPS receivers represented a typi-
cally incremental pathway for
innovation: evolving from an
early military application to
becoming extremely useful on
a commercial basis when con-
nected to digital maps.
Now, GPS connectivity is stan-
dard in cars, smart phones and
fitness devices, and the innova-
tion continues with applications
for autonomous farming equip-
ment, online cargo tracking and
smart munitions.
What has powered so much BY MAJ. GEN.
innovation in the United States JENNIFER
is the access to raw materials, an NAPPER,
educated and productive work- USA (RET.)
force and investments in scien-
tific programs. This has allowed
the nation to pursue policy objectives and maintain its supe-
rior position and influence for many decades.
But innovation is ravenous, and there is a risk of falling
behind without continual focus on better systems, processes
and the ability to execute policies within every organization.
That risk is evident when you consider the volume of legacy
organizational, business and military systems that are still
in use today. Instead of meeting challenges posed by adver-
saries and the speed of change, these relics serve as today’s
Maginot Line.
In the meantime, according to the Information Tech-
nology and Innovation Foundation, China is closing the
innovation gap with the United States. According to a 2019
study, which measured 36 indicators such as investment in
research and development, China has increased its propor-
tion of the world’s supercomputers in the preceding decade.
That nation also filed for more patents at a rate totaling 81
percent of U.S. patents, up from 10 percent.
What will it take to offset this trend and reinvigorate the
U.S. stance toward innovation?
First, there’s a need to stay grounded in what defines
innovation. Improvements to existing solutions such as
GPS are vital, but in parallel, the country needs to make
investments in research and development that have never
been done before. The Manhattan Project, the Apollo
program, the Human Genome project and mobile
device development kicked off numerous downstream
innovations.
Second, leaders must remain committed to a long-term
period of research, development, testing and production.
There is little instant gratification in the innovation jour-
ney, and the culture must encourage scientists and other
participants to continue despite inevitable failures. Even
when there is not a specific problem to solve, funding and
policies need to facilitate creative environments in agen-
cies and companies.
Third, rolling out an innovation requires a phased
approach so that users become accustomed to it. Position-
ing innovation as a valuable asset, providing training for it
and refining it must be included in a strategy that accom-
modates both early adopters and laggards. Each group has
different slants on its value and distinct inclinations for
using it.
Today’s COVID-19 pandemic highlights the risk of
neglecting innovation. Just when growth in the number of
positive cases accelerated, it became evident that primary
manufacturing sources of personal protective equipment
(PPE) were overseas. This means there is little control over
the direction of research for the nation’s requirements for
gloves, gowns and masks, and fewer industrial resources
for production.
In effect, the decisions surrounding PPE production
were built around minimum requirements and lower cost,
not innovation. In the fragmented PPE industry, this can
present challenges such as the quality of materials used,
supply disruption due to global politics, not enough facto-
ries to repurpose assembly lines in a crisis and susceptibil-
ity to unknown vulnerabilities.
Fortunately, there has been a silver lining of innovation
amid the pandemic. Forward-thinking automobile manu-
facturers have been able to retool their plants and produce
necessary ventilators for hospital patients. Eager drug
companies have sped up vaccine research with political
support. And community-centric organizations and indi-
viduals have made face shields with 3D printers.
The seeds of innovation are present and growing. Strong
incentives from the government will sustain that momen-
tum, and part of that must include striking a balance
between domestic and overseas manufacturing to avoid
future shortages of critical solutions. There is just too
much risk in maintaining the status quo.

Maj. Gen. Jennifer Napper, USA (Ret.), is a vice president in Perspecta Inc.’s Defense Group. She previously served as director
of cybersecurity plans and policy for the U.S. Defense Department Cyber Command, and she led the U.S. Army’s Network
Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM). To share or comment on this article go to http://url.afcea.org/August20

56 SIGNAL, AUGUST 2020 | www.afcea.org/signal

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 2020 INTELLIGENCE &
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