Defense Science Board urges new technology and tactics

Facing agile enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq who can quickly adopt new technology and tactics, U.S. forces must adapt in response and soon, not over the course of decades, as occurs under the current bureaucracy-driven process, the Defense Science Board said in a report released on Friday.

The report echoes comments made last week by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who said enemy forces in Afghanistan have adopted the use of cell phone technology on the battlefield far faster the Army has.

In its 194-page report titled "Enhancing Adaptability of U.S. Military Forces," the Defense Science Board recommended quick changes to tactics, techniques and procedures to meet evolving battlefield conditions, as well as developing a rapid acquisition system to speedily deliver the needed technologies.

During the past decade, all four services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have established more than 20 rapid acquisition organizations. They have met some urgent needs, the report said, but have not followed through with ways to support and sustain new equipment after deployment. The board said many of these rapid acquisition organizations ended up overstaffed with personnel who in some cases lacked the requisite technical or acquisition expertise.

The report recommended each of the services establishes a single rapid acquisition organization modeled after the Air Force's secretive Big Safari, a program focused on developing and fielding airborne intelligence systems with a staff of 20 to 50 people.

According to the report's 98-page appendix, the Air Force first set up Big Safari in 1952 and called it the "special operations force of the acquisition community." It said Safari can quickly field new systems by focusing on delivery of "80 percent solution now" capabilities rather than waiting years for the 100 percent solution.

The U.S. military derives much of its current capabilities from networked systems, information technology and communications, intelligence and GPS satellites. But, the report said, adaptability means the ability to continue to operate when an enemy attacks those systems and degrades them.

Defense has to train forces to operate in a degraded environment so they can continue when systems are attacked, the report said. This is "especially important in the areas of space and cyber systems, which are particularly vulnerable to potential disruption," the report said.

The board urged the Pentagon to enhance the adaptability of its workforce and develop a skills inventory of active-duty reserve and retired personnel, as well as the civilian workforce, a change that would allow better matching of skills with requirements.

Defense also needs to change a risk-averse culture that usually says no to a new idea to one that says, "It can be done," the report said.

Paul Kaminski, who served as undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and technology from 1994 to 1997 and who chaired the Defense Science Board panel that produced the report, wrote in a cover memo that Defense can adapt to changing roles and missions by "moving beyond the cultural, organizational and regulatory barriers that [currently] exist."