Blog entries

Senate Committee Ponders Cyber Security

Ken Miller — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:31:44 +0100

On Tuesday, June 15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) held a hearing on comprehensive cyber security legislation, S. 3480, The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, which was introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman, Susan Collins, and Thomas Carper. The bill seeks to modernize the government’s ability to safeguard the nation’s cyber networks from attack and establish a public/private partnership to set national cyber seRead More...

Senate Committee Passes Defense Bill

Ken Miller — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:02:15 +0100

On the same day the House passed its version of the FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate made sure it wasn’t too far behind. On May 28, the Senate Armed Services Committee marked-up the Senate version of the defense bill, which is expected to reach the Senate floor soon after Congress returns to session. The bill is nearly identical in cost coming in at $725.9 billion, including $549 billion for the Defense Department and $159 billion for overseas contingenRead More...

House Passes FY11 Defense Bill

Ken Miller — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:24:16 +0100

Before heading home for the Memorial Day holiday and subsequent recess, the House passed H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2011, by a rather narrow margin of 229-186. The bill provides $726 billion in budget authority for our warfighters, including funding for the following items of interest to the EW community:

$3.3 billion for 30 F-18 strike fighters and 12 EA-18 Growlers;
$4.1 billion for 20 Navy/Marine Corps F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft
$56.5Read More...

Final Report Language to Spectrum Inventory

Ken Miller — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:49:56 +0100

Final Report Language in Spectrum Inventory Act

Below is the final report language that Rep. Joseph Pitts was able to secure in the Energy and Commerce Committee report to H.R. 3125, the Spectrum Inventory Act, which passed the House on Wednesday. While report language is non-binding, it does provide a foundation for specifying congressional intent and providing oversight as the process develops.

In preparing the spectrum inventory and any recommendatiRead More...

Spectrum Inventory Passes House

Ken Miller — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:36:05 +0100

House Passes Spectrum Inventory

Congress is one step closer toward spectrum inventory and relocation after the House passed H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, yesterday afternoon (April 14). The bill was considered under “Suspension of the Rules,” which means there were no amendments, a limited time for debate, and a requirement of a 2/3 vote for passage. This procedure is reserved for noncontroversial bill or those with strong bi-paRead More...

Headline Only Society?

Joel Harding — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:31:53 +0100

I just read a very thought provoking statement: "...everything is
a headline, no one even reads magazine articles in their entirety."
This statement is disturbing to me on a number of different levels.
First, it's somewhat true for me. I generally read a headline, I read
the first few paragraphs, skim much of the rest of an article and then
the last few paragraphs I read in detail. I just don't have time to
read everything available that IRead More...

On Cyberwar - After the War is War Symposium

Joel Harding — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:58:55 +0100

During the last week of January 2010 I was at the Army War College for a Cyberwarfare Symposium where all the US Combatant Commanders, Service representatives, Joint Staff and Cyber and/or IO leaders were present. The publications we were required to read prior to our participation were voluminous, but when we were finished we all had a very good understanding of how a cyberwar will play out from a variety of perspectives. I came out of this symposium a shaken man; to my corRead More...

Rep. Pitts Hits the Mark on Spectrum Inventory

Ken Miller — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:48:04 +0100

On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked-up two bills that have significant ramifications for the EW community. The first measure is H.R. 3125 establishes a radio spectrum inventory, which will inform the FCC and the NTIA on future rounds of spectrum reallocation. The other bill, H.R. 3019, the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act, reforms the process of relocating federal government users from spectrum that has been reallocated from federal to non-federal and cRead More...

2010 Congressional Elections are Heating Up

Ken Miller — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:17:13 +0100

The mid-term elections are still nine months away, but interesting developments are taking center stage. While it is not practice for AOC to endorse candidates – before or after primaries – there are some interesting races that could impact the support that electronic warfare (EW) receives in Congress.

First and foremost, on Monday (Feb. 15), Sen. Evan Bayh (IN) who was running for reelection announced that he will instead retire. This creates what will likely be a competiRead More...

Larsen Applauds Funding for Growlers

Ken Miller — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:52:12 +0100

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) expressed his strong support for funding in the President's defense budget for EA-18G Growlers. The budget includes $1.1 billion for 12 Growlers in FY 2011 and $2.4 billion in FY 2012 for 24 Growlers. Rep. Larsen is an outstanding champion for EW in the House. The AOC applauds his efforts, especially as they pertain to strengthening Navy EW at NAS Whidbey. His recent press release is below. AOC members from his congressional district shouRead More...

All at Once: Budget, QDR, and Supplemental Released Today

Ken Miller — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:27:51 +0100

Today, the President released the FY 2011 defense budget proposal, 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, and the FY 2010 war funding supplemental request. This certainly sets off a flurry of activity through offices of defense industry, and within the walls of the Pentagon and the halls of Congress.

The defense budget proposes $708 billion for next year, which includes $549 billion in discretionary authority for the Defense Department and $159 billion to support our warfighters eRead More...

Spectrum Inventory on the Move

Ken Miller — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:06:29 +0100

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet (CTI) marked-up H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, and H.R. 3019, the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act, this morning and reported the legislation to the full committee by voice vote. The AOC is tracking both bills, but directly engaged in H.R. 3125, because we believe the bill may significantly and disproportionately affect the joint warfighters who rely on the electromagnetic spectrumRead More...

The Real Psychological Operation for Afghanistan

Joel Harding — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:59:47 +0100

The Real Psychological Operation for Afghanistan

By Matt Armstrong

Originally posted at http://mountainrunner.us/2009/12/psyop_for_afghanistan.html

On December 1, 2009, President Obama announced his Afghanistan strategy and what immediately followed was an expected and unoriginal cacophony of sound bites based on selective memories of the past and shallow and ignorant visions of the present and future. The decline in the public’s support for the struggle is surely aRead More...

Spectrum Inventory moving through Congress

Ken Miller — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:44:26 +0100

When Congress returns to session in January, an early legislative initiative will be attempting to pass H.R. 3125, the Spectrum Inventory Act. The AOC is very concerned about this bill because it stands to hurt our warfighters. Basically, H.R. 3125 establishes an annual inventory of spectrum utilization for federal and non-federal activity in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration would manage the inventRead More...

Capitol Hill Wrap-Up

Ken Miller — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:25:37 +0100

The House and Senate made it home in time for the holidays after a flurry of activity that included final passage of the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations Act. The defense bill was the last spending measure to pass because it was a strong bi-partisan vehicle to attach extraneous provisions, such as extensions for unemployment insurance and the PATRIOT Act, funding for highway programs, food stamps, and Small Business Administration Loans. The House passed the defense bill on DecemberRead More...

New AOC Advocacy Site

Ken Miller — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:10:23 +0100

Welcome to the new AOC website! I hope that AOC members (and the public) find this site to be a helpful tool for staying up-to-date on current events in our nation's capital and our community. I want to take a moment to explain some of the new functionalities on the Advocacy page. One of our goals in developing the new website is to make it more interactive. First and foremost to this goal is the new advocacy blog. As Director of Government and Industry Affairs, it is my responsibility to proRead More...

Operational Security Reminder

Joel Harding — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I admit I stole something today. Well, maybe not, I didn't exactly steal it. There is a saying that the greatest form of flattery is plagiarism. I read a joke today that really made me sit up and notice. It was sent around by the OPSEC Professionals Association and I was sure glad I received the following joke, so I'm reproducing it here:

There was a man who had worked at a factory for twenty years. Every night when he left the plant, he woulRead More...

What is IO?

Joel Harding — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

What is Information Operations

Information Operations (IO) are activities conducted in or via the information environment with the intent to affect and protect cognition, cognitive processes, information, and the connectivity and processing systems necessary to create and exchange information. IO uses any or all means, in integrated and coordinated means, to create cognitive effects. IO span the full range of activities in human interaction from person to pRead More...

Spectrum Inventory Act

Ken Miller — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:53:46 +0100

The AOC is closely monitoring H.R. 3125, the Spectrum Inventory Act, which was introduced on July 8 and referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill creates a band-by-band inventory of the spectrum with the purpose of reallocating under-utilized bandwidth for commercial purposes. The AOC is very concerned about this legislation because the EMS is fundemental to all military mission. The spectrum is essential for existing anRead More...

The Unvarnished Truth about Information Operations

Joel Harding — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The Unvarnished Truth about Information Operations

Joel Harding

We have some really great news about Information Operations! Recent reports from the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review in the US Department of Defense confirm that there should be a new definition of IO soon that is much easier to understand, focused on integration and effects, and enables more tools to be used because it does not list components as a part of the definitiRead More...