Infighting Tanks Yet Another Project

The Senate Armed Services Committee directed the Defense Department to terminate a new command and control system modeled on commercial Web sites such as Travelocity due to unwillingness of the services to agree on a centrally managed system.

The committee, in its report on the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill said it was "deeply disappointed" that Defense has not been able to "come to grips with ongoing dissent" on development, fielding and central management of the next generation C2 system, Net Enabled Command Capability (NECC).

Since the boys and girls in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force have not demonstrated an ability to play nice together -- what a shock -- the Senate chopped its funding and stuffed it into aging Global Command and Control Systems operated by the services as well as the Global Command and Control System-Joint program.

The Defense Information Systems Agency had requested an operations and maintenance budget for NECC in fiscal 2010 of $9.6 million, down $1.2 million from fiscal 2009 and a fiscal 2010 procurement budget of $4 million, down $2.2 million in fiscal 2009.

The House Armed Services Committee, in its version of the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Bill, said Pentagon management cannot develop a "rational" plan for C2 modernization and chopped 25 percent of NECC funding until, I guess, irrationality goes away and Defense submits a coherent plan to reorganize and consolidate management of NECC.

The Senate wants DISA and the assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration (ASD/NII) to work with the services to develop the best governance and funding structure for the a new C2 system.

This sounds like a dandy idea, except ASD/NII has been leaderless since April, when Bush holdover John Grimes resigned</>.