In 1995, Lt. Gen. Albert J. Edmonds, USAF, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) director, called me asking for help. At that time I was the director of command and control systems (J-6) for the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM). Gen. Edmonds had provided briefings on the attributes of the new Global Command and Control System (GCCS) but needed to have it installed and operational in a “real warfighting command” such as USCENTCOM. So, I immediately began working with Maj. Gen. Joseph Hurd, USAF, USCENTCOM director of operations (J-3). When I passed the “OK — let’s do it” message, Rear Adm. John Gauss, USN, and Dr. Frank Perry immediately arrived at USCENTCOM to begin the installation.

What quickly developed was a new command and control system that provided a common operational picture (COP) for the joint forces of USCENTCOM. The system supplied a common joint picture of the USCENTCOM battlespace throughout Southwest Asia and at the headquarters in Tampa, Florida — a 9,000-mile bridge of new understanding. Over the years, the COP provided unprecedented collaboration and insights into the location of enemy and friendly forces.

The GCCS became the first great automated means of command and control for joint forces. Later, when Gen. Hurd transferred to Korea, he took the GCCS with him. So, for the first time, joint military forces could reap the benefits of the GCCS for our nation’s two most probable major theaters of war — the Middle East and the Korean peninsula. The GCCS was on the move throughout the U.S. Defense Department.

Over the years, the military services and agencies added many applications to the GCCS suite of capabilities. In fact, any hardware or software change to the more than 100 GCCS applications and program interfaces demanded that the entire suite had to endure strict developmental testing within service components and DISA’s in-house test facilities. Then they underwent certification through exhaustive operational testing at service and combatant command locations and at DISA’s Joint Staff Support Center in the Pentagon. Certainly, any change to our nation’s primary command and control system had to be fully certified and accredited before placing it into operation around the world where lives were at stake.

Read the rest of the article at SIGNAL Magazine. 

Related Content:
Article Library: Information Sharing – A Unique Point of View
Profile: Meet Gen. Harry Raduege, Jr
Overview: Center for Network Innovation 

Subscribe to receive complimentary alerts from the Center for Network Innovation.