From: | Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> |
Date: | 6 Jun 2005 21:11:00 -0000 |
Reply: | cpeo-irf |
Subject: | Re: [CPEO-IRF] IT (Information Technology) Transformation |
The recently proposed closure of Onizuka Air Force Station, in my neighboring community of Sunnyvale, California, scarcely attracted any attention, despite the projected loss of 278 jobs. Known to commuters as the Blue Cube for it large, window-less main structure, Onizuka has gradually declined in strategic and economic importance over the years. Once the single point of control for the U.S. military satellite system, it lost that mission years ago to a newer facility in Colorado. And it sits on a small chunk of very valuable Silicon Valley real estate. To me the Blue Cube is symbolic of the military's weak command of information technology. I managed to tour the facility in the mid-1980s. (I know, security must have been bad ...) I was struck by the antiquity of its computer equipment. Air Force personnel were still using butcher paper to scheduled satellite downloads while my kids' day care center across town had a computerized scheduling system. I'm not sure if they've since replaced the CDC 38000 or the old Varian computers, but they could turn the Blue Cube into a computer museum simply by unplugging the satellite dishes. That tour reinforced my growing recognition that the military had fallen behind in information technology. The U.S. military funded the initial development of computers and chips, and during the 1960s the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported the technical advances - interactive displays, networking, etc. - that web users the world over now take for granted. But the military could not keep up with the rapidly changing technologies, and - perhaps with a few exceptions within the spy agencies - the technical and market leadership shifted to the civilian sector by the late 1970s. One of those technical advances was distributed data processing. A computer system can be distributed around the world yet function as a consolidated unit. And that's what it confusing about the Pentagon's proposal to consolidate data processing. I can understand that it might need less or smaller hardware, but the Pentagon has not yet shown how merging its IT operations, as the article says, would increase efficiency or strengthen security. Lenny Lenny Siegel wrote: > > BRAC recommends merging some IT operations > > By JASON MILLER > Washington Technology > June 6, 2005 > > The Defense Department is trying to use its latest round of recommended > base closures and realignments to consolidate operations and support > Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's transformation goals. > > In May, the Defense Department released recommendations to the Base > Realignment and Closure Commission, and for the first time included > suggestions to consolidate around functional areas including technology, > intelligence, education and training. > > Among the recommendations to close 33 bases and realign 29 others, is a > DOD plan to reduce from 18 to seven the number of Air Force and Naval > centers that provide command, control, communications and computers, and > intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations. > > ... > > For the entire article, see > http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/20_11/cover-stories/26327-1.html -- Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org _______________________________________________ Installation_Reuse_Forum mailing list Installation_Reuse_Forum@list.cpeo.org http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/installation_reuse_forum | |
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