29 October 2003
Real-time collaboration deemed “quick win” from wargame
U.S. Joint Forces Command's first joint intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance wargame has yielded some interesting initial results that will help in future wargames.
By Mair Downing
USJFCOM Public Affairs

More than 90 representatives from across the services and combatant commands gathered in USJFCOM's new Distributed Continuous Experimentation Environment (DCEE) to brainstorm the joint collection management process.

Topping the “quick wins” list was an enhanced tool, which expedites collaboration in a real-time, networked environment.

Although this capability surfaced as a significant outcome, the overall scope of the USJFCOM-hosted JISR wargame wasn't discovering capabilities, but rather testing the JISR tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) of information collaboration as applied to the Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) .

The TTPs, developed by the USJFCOM JISR team, outlined a joint effects-based collection plan. Testing the JISR TTPs in a wargame setting “got the ball rolling” in the unification of the collection management process, making it more effective and efficient during a Joint Task Force standup.

“The TTPs were primarily focused on collection management,” said U.S. Army Reserve Maj. John Patrick. “How we establish a collection plan and task the assets.”

The challenge of joint information collection management isn't really the collection itself, he stated, but the collaboration between the different services.

“Each service owns their own communications systems. If you're under a JTF, the systems are going to fall under different commands. So the question is: 'How do we bring all this together?'

“In this wargame, we weren't focused on dissemination; we weren't focused on the product; we just wanted to take it through the process itself. We needed to discover how the collection manager could collaborate on a horizontal (between services) or a multi-echelon level given all the different platforms and capabilities that are out there,” Maj. Patrick said.

The tool used to collaborate amongst the players was a web-based software system that allows people to communicate and work with others regardless of physical proximity.

The tool was used in Millennium Challenge 02 to provide real-time communication across the different distributed exercise locations.

According to Maj. Patrick, using the tool helped the collaboration function more effectively.

“It really allowed for fast collaboration. You could bring in the different commands, and they could all go into a room and talk. If you had a rapidly emerging mission that needed to be done, they could meet very quickly and have access to the collection plan. Everybody could see the same picture. The collaboration was a quick win,” Maj. Patrick said.

These are only the quick wins, however. An in-depth analysis is ongoing and will eventually feed into a complete JISR lessons learned document. These lessons learned will be distributed to the SJFHQ and eventually make their way to the regional combatant commanders.

After that, indicated Maj. Patrick, the JISR team will collaborate on the Multinational Experiment held in Feb. 2004, then a multinational JISR workshop event in April-- all leading up to the second JISR wargame next summer.

Although there is a long-term plan for information obtained from this wargame, the data derived from the JISR wargame could have near-term implications as well.

“The capability enhancements gleaned from the JISR wargame will go directly to hardware/software program managers,” said Maj. Patrick, “as well as into the lessons learned. This will then be distributed to the SJFHQ for possible near-term solutions to collection management.”