Maritime C2 Strategy: An Innovative Approach to System Transformation

The U.S. Navy is undergoing a major information technology transformation to meet the changes in its operational commitments and to ensure that necessary operational and intelligence information is delivered to the right person, at the right time, and in the right way. Naval missions have expanded beyond those traditionally served with increased emphasis placed on non-traditional mission areas such counterterrorism, maritime security, counterinsurgency, civil-military operations, information operations, security cooperation, and humanitarian relief in areas with limited or no information network support. The Navy is also required to interoperate with other U.S. military services, U.S. governmental agencies, and international partners. In this new environment, information is no longer an enabler but is a core war-fighting area. In December 2009, the Chief of Naval Operations CNO issued his vision for Information Dominance, reference a, defining it as the ability to seize and control the information domain high ground when, where and however required for decisive competitive advantage across the range of Navy missions. The responsibility for Information Dominance was assigned to the Director for Information Dominance, a new organization that is the convergence of the former N2 Intelligence and N6 Command, Control and Communications directorates. This new directorate is responsible for making programmatic investment decisions for information, cyber and space capabilities, and for developing the Navys information architecture. The responsibilities also include achieving the integration and innovation necessary for warfighting dominance across the full spectrum of operations across the maritime, cyberspace and information domains.