Lin Wells' STAR-TIDES Blog May 21, 2009

Conference Participation

STAR-TIDES participated in the AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association) Joint Warfighting conference in Virginia Beach from May 12-14th. The display included representatives from each of the infrastructure sets (photos posted separately), and introduced new concepts for rapidly accessible situational awareness, including precision imagery support to agriculture, that could have significant value to stressed populations.

There were many informative speakers at the conference, but a particularly valuable panel, moderated by Gen Anthony Zinni, USMC (ret) addressed “Beyond the Military: How Do We Foster and Employ a More Comprehensive Approach in the Future Security Environment?” The varied panelists included Dr. Heather Hanson, Director of Public Affairs for Mercy Corps, Mr. Len Hawley, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Maj Gen Christopher D. Miller, USAF, Director, Plans, Policy and Strategy, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Ambassador Mary C. Yates, Deputy to the Commander, Civil-Military Activities (DCMA), U.S. Africa Command.

The panel’s theme was how to integrate military and non-military elements better, and to combine not just “whole of government,” but also private volunteer organizations (PVOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), and others, as well as anticipating the second and third order impacts of the interactions among such disparate groups and stressed populations. These tie directly with TIDES goals of building public-private partnerships, whole-of-government solutions and trans-national engagements. These will be important themes going forward.

The conference also highlighted links between STAR-TIDES and key concepts of both the joint military force and civilian operations. For example, in late 2008 the Commander of the Joint Forces Command issued a paper called the Joint Operating Environment (known as the JOE: http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2008/JOE2008.pdf ). This was followed in January 2009 by the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO: http://www.jcs.mil/content/files/2009-03/031009163216_090115CAPSTONEConc... ), signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The JOE can be thought of as a “problem statement” for the future international security environment, while the CCJO represents the “problem solution,” at least from the standpoint of US joint (multi-service) military forces.

The JOE describes a complex, adaptive international security environment over the next 25 years, and this is aligns closely with the sort of situations on which STAR-TIDES is focused.

The CCJO outlines four basic categories of military activity which US joint military forces will have to execute in the future: combat, security, engagement and relief & reconstruction. STAR-TIDES contributes directly to two of theses categories (engagement and relief & reconstruction) and indirectly to a third (security).

“Engagement activities seek to improve the capabilities of, or cooperation with, allies and other partners.”

“Relief and reconstruction activities seek to restore essential civil services in the wake of combat, a breakdown of civil order, or a natural disaster.”

“Security activities seek to protect and control civil populations and territory…They may be performed as part of a military occupation during or after combat, to help defeat an insurgency, or in response to a humanitarian disaster…they seek to reassure rather than compel.”

The agreed national security terminology can be helpful in describing some aspects of STAR-TIDES approaches.