Coalition Commanders

Feb06CoverCMYK.qxd
1/9/06
10:58 AM
Page 1
Maritime Muscle 17 • NATO Enablers 63 • Sorting Surveillance 75
FEBRUARY 2006
SPECIAL REPORT:
AFCEA’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 2006 • $5.00
COALITION
OPERATIONS
Homeland Security
Freedom With Interoperability
SIGNAL
VOLUME 60, NUMBER 6
SPECIAL SECTION:
Security Directory
SPECIAL REPORT
Kabul Facility
Brings Big Picture to
Coalition Commanders
Advanced headquarters unites technology and personnel
under one roof to shorten coalition decision loops.
new, state-of-the-art command
involving politics and necessity. Multinacenter is coordinating the opertional units require shared command and
ations of allied forces in
control assets to operate in harmony. But,
Afghanistan. It provides offibecause of security concerns, this becomes
cers with enhanced
difficult when time-sensitive data
connectivity and situa- By Henry S. must be passed across different
tional awareness and features a
nations’ computer networks. SysKenyon
specially built network to share
tems designed to facilitate inforsensitive coalition data. A large
mation exchange between coalion-site staff of liaison officers helps speed
tion commanders will greatly improve the
inter-organizational information sharing
speed and efficiency of the overall mission.
and decision making, allowing for more
Launched in November 2005, the Comrapid and streamlined operations.
bined Forces Command–Afghanistan (CFCCoordinating coalition warfighting and
A) Joint Operations Center (JOC) replaces a
peacekeeping is often a complex dance
smaller, less capable facility, explains
A
The Combined Forces
Center–Afghanistan
(CFC-A) Joint Operations
Center (JOC) is a stateof-the-art facility
designed to accelerate
and streamline
commanders’ decision
loops. It was developed
to coordinate combat
and security operations
across the country.
Coalition liaison officers use JOC facilities such as this room to send and receive
classified communications from their various commands.The liaison officers
play an important role in verifying and passing along secure messages because
coalition forces’ Secret-level computer networks are not compatible.
Sgt. Maj. Floyd Edwards, USA, in
charge of combined J-3 operations,
Kabul. The new center provides coalition commanders with a strategic view
of the battlefield, allowing enhanced
situational awareness and increased
flexibility. JOC personnel report directly to the coalition general staff and the
CFC-A commanding general in
Afghanistan. The JOC also offers oversight and coordination for national
events such as Afghanistan’s recent parliamentary elections. “We deal directly
with the Afghan government and the
U.S. Embassy. Anything that has to be
executed operationally comes through
the JOC,” the sergeant major says.
The JOC does not manage tactical
combat operations, but it supports and
coordinates Combined Joint Task Force76, which does. Although the center can
access lower echelon units and get information from them, Sgt. Maj. Edwards
explains that it tries to operate through
its subordinate commands.
Because it can access a variety of
data such as live video feeds from
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and
other reconnaissance assets, the JOC
briefs the high command about everything that takes place on the battlefield.
“He [the commanding general] depends
on us giving him continuous update
information. Even though we aren’t out
there on the ground, it’s our responsibility to put all the information together to
make sure that he sees the correct picture on the battlefield,” he says.
The new facility also accommodates
more liaison personnel from different
service branches and allied nations,
making it easier to share information.
Besides liaison officers, the JOC houses
a variety of specialists such as journal
clerks who monitor the wall of knowledge. These clerks are responsible for
collecting data and passing it on to the
chief of operations. The chief of operations relies on a battle captain who collects information and directs forces on
the battlefield and a senior watch officer
who oversees each shift. A director and
a senior noncommissioned officer
manage all of the center’s functions.
Operations are not the JOC’s only
role, however. It coordinates planning
for current and future operations and
force management. In addition, the
facility can serve as a venue for joint
exercises by supporting and coordinating training events in theater.
To meet mission requirements, the
new JOC facility supports more information technology and communications equipment. The sergeant major
notes that the added connectivity and
bandwidth allow more information to
be displayed on the center’s knowledge
walls—large high-resolution video
screens that present a variety of images
such as real-time video feeds from
UAVs, sensor data and videoconferences. The system enables the CFC-A
commander to remain in touch with
regional commands in the theater, and
it also provides a reach-back capability
More than seven miles of wiring were installed in the JOC.To properly house
equipment such as these servers and meet U.S. military specifications,
contractors had to refurbish the facility extensively.
SPECIAL REPORT
to the United States. He observes that
the older JOC supported a four-display
knowledge wall, while the new facility
houses a large 12-display knowledge
wall with a resolution of more than 75
million pixels per display. The added
displays and bandwidth have significantly shortened coalition forces’ decision-making loops. Seven miles of
cabling connect the JOC’s computer
and communications systems, and the
facility also has its own power plant to
ensure continuous operation.
Because most of the CFC-A staff are
located in one facility, if the commanding general requires specific information about coalition forces, the experts
can be contacted in person. This proximity allows any potential conflicts to
be settled quickly. Because of the former facility’s smaller size, liaison officers were distributed across several
compounds, which forced commanders
to call specific sections to get advice.
“Now we have a person right there. If
we need to know something about the
Afghan army, we go to the Afghan liaison officer, and he will get the information. Instead of picking up the phone
and making a lot of calls, we just go to
one person—that’s their area of expertise, and they will go and get the information,” says Sgt. Maj. Edwards.
Because the JOC coordinates all coalition operations in Afghanistan, it must
interface with the NATO command structure and the International Security Armed
Force (ISAF). The sergeant major notes
that NATO and ISAF liaison officers are
stationed in the CFC-A JOC and that U.S.
military liaison officers are located in
ISAF headquarters. This representation is
important because U.S. and coalition
forces cannot share classified e-mail and
electronic communication. On-site liaison
officers can quickly review and clear information before it is passed on. “Because
our systems do not communicate, they
[liaison officers] are the go-between to
deconflict messages between us
and ISAF,” he says.
Reprinted with permission from SIGNAL Magazine,
February 2006, Copyright 2006
AFCEA
4400 Fair Lakes Court, Fairfax, Virginia 22033-3899.
(703) 631-6100. Printed in the U.S.A.
For example, ISAF’s liaison officer
in the JOC can access ISAF secret
communications channels. This officer
receives a message, approves it and
transfers it to the JOC’s network. ISAF
uses Citrix network software, and the
JOC also is increasing its use by allowing users to receive Citrix-based e-mail.
Sgt. Maj. Edwards explains that the
Citrix software serves as an intermediate system because the U.S. military’s
secret Internet protocol router network
(SIPRNET) and the ISAF Secret-level
network cannot talk to each other. Data
can be placed on the Citrix system
where all the coalition partners can
access it. Like their coalition counterparts, U.S. personnel in ISAF facilities
can communicate via the SIPRNET.
“This makes it a lot easier for us to
communicate,” he says.
The JOC also can provide certain
levels of classified information to
NATO nations, such as the United
Kingdom and Canada, and to Australia. To share important information
among the other coalition nations, the
JOC staff created a separate drive on
its network. The “R” drive provides a
secure venue where data can be
stored, distributed and accessed. Created for use in the theater, it eliminates the security uncertainties that
accompanied placing documents and
data on a shared system. Information
on the “R” drive is accessible only to
coalition staff authorized to access it.
“We mostly do all of our business on
the ‘R’ drive. It’s a lot easier for them
[liaison officers] to get and send out
information,” the sergeant major says.
Speed was essential to building and
launching the new JOC facility. This
haste was necessary to provide a
seamless switch from one center to
another while retaining continuity of
command and control. The request to
build the new JOC was sent to the
U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s European office in
Stuttgart, Germany, which contracted
the operation to MC Dean Incorporated, a Dulles, Virginia-based building
design and systems integration firm.
The new JOC was fitted into an existing facility in Kabul, explains Eric
Ausen, MC Dean’s lead engineer and
planner for the project.
Local contractors had hastily
assembled the two-story structure
from shipping containers, but it presented many challenges, Ausen
observes. The power supply was inadequate, the wiring and cooling systems had been incorrectly installed
and most of the flooring and wiring
conduits had to be torn out and
rebuilt. MC Dean had 150 days from
the contract award to refurbish the
structure, design and install the new
equipment and get the information
technology systems accredited.
The MC Dean team separated the
project into four parts. The first phase
was to refurbish the building in Kabul,
while the second and third parts of the
operation involved designing and building the interior—but in Virginia. During those phases, the company used the
exact room dimensions to ensure the
systems would fit, and all equipment
was tested prior to delivery. The hardware was then disassembled, packed
into containers and shipped to
Afghanistan where it was assembled in
two and a half weeks. Ausen notes that
the new facility was complete and
operational two days before deadline.
WEB RESOURCES
Combined Forces
Command–Afghanistan:
www.cfc-a.centcom.mil
SPAWAR Europe:
https://www.eur.spawar.navy.mil/
home.asp
MC Dean Incorporated:
www.mcdean.com