Thursday, March 13, 2008

DMOC Simulation, Pentagon Plans Space War, + Drill/PMC News

Air Force Distributed Mission Operations Center Wins Department Of Defense Modeling And Simulation Award
http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=18341
The U.S. Air Force Distributed Mission Operations Center (DMOC) at Kirtland AFB, NM has been awarded the Department of Defense Modeling and Simulation Award for Training for "significant advancements in exercise delivery and combat training." Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) provides advanced distributed simulation support to DMOC, the Air Force's warfighter-in-the-loop simulation facility.
"This award validates the great value of the training that is being provided to the warfighter every day by the DMOC," said Brigadier General Steve Hoog, USAF Warfare Center Commander. "Realistic, integrated virtual training using high-fidelity models and simulations is no longer the wave of the future, it is the here and now. Through exercises like Virtual Flag, the Air Force's primary venue to train the entire Theater Air Control System from the Air Operations Center to the shooters, the great folks at the DMOC are building and enhancing joint combat capabilities that will increase the likelihood of victory in the next conflict."
DMOC links U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps assets to provide joint distributed training opportunities. The DMOC war gaming infrastructure includes representations of more than 400 computers and 50 local and three dozen wide area networks combined to support an immersive combat synthetic battlespace. This enables the modeling of different weapons and command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
"We have a longstanding partnership with DMOC that dates back to September 2001," said Dale Bennett, president of Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support. "DMOC is one of the best examples of how we work with our customer to deliver a state-of-the-art training facility, train globally across services and platforms, and optimize warfighter human performance."
In 2007, nearly 2,000 Joint and Coalition warfighters trained in four VIRTUAL FLAG (VF) exercises at DMOC, including an all-time high of 650 participants in VF 08-1, using 26 different weapons systems, from 40 distributed units. DMOC delivered the inaugural Multi National Information Sharing capability for exercise NORTHERN Goshawk, a coalition exercise linking the US-Great Britain and Canada in a common training environment. It also operated Cross Domain Security solutions for the Missile Defense Agency's Defense of the Homeland against the "Asymmetric Missile Attack 2007" exercise.
Top Defense commander hints at taking offensive actions in space, cyberspace
The chief of the Strategic Command hinted Wednesday during a Senate hearing that the Pentagon has plans to conduct warfare in space as well as in cyberspace, strategies the Defense Department has been reluctant to discuss openly in the past.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that cyberspace has emerged as "a unique global domain in which the United States must maintain freedom of action."
STRATCOM oversees the Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, which directs the operation and protection of global defense networks. Chilton told the Senate hearing that his command will continue to define the capabilities to not only defend networks but to "exploit and attack in cyberspace" those who threaten those systems. Chilton said he envisions the day when STRATCOM has assigned brigades, battalions, wings and groups "to conduct network warfare."
Chilton said STRATCOM is reacting to the changing nature of threats. Potential adversaries recognize U.S. reliance on cyberspace and constantly probe networks to gain an edge, he said. Last week, the Pentagon reported that it appeared that China was behind a series of attacks against computer systems and networks operated by Defense and other government agencies as well as those operated by governments worldwide.
Defensive measures already in place to protect networks and technology assets must be improved, Chilton said.
Adversaries also threaten Defense's assets, namely satellites, he said. The "global commons" of space has become vitally important to life in the United States, with civil, military and economic activities dependent on access to cyberspace and space-based capabilities, he told the committee. "We can expect future adversaries to attack these dependencies. Our dependence on these capabilities and their associated vulnerabilities require us to focus our efforts to ensure U.S. freedom of action in these domains."
Chilton said the Chinese anti-satellite test in January 2007 "made it clear that space is no longer a sanctuary [and] we can expect similar challenges in the future.".....

Feds Stage Cyberstorm to Prep for Attack (update)
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4425715&page=1

"In recent congressional testimony, McConnell cited anxiety about hacking from China and Russia, and about the practice of data destruction, as opposed to traditional hacking, to exploit information. "......






China's Olympic security dilemma
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7292025.stm

It has bought the latest surveillance equipment from across the world, staged anti-terrorism drills and sought advice from the FBI.
But experts believe there is only a low risk that either home-grown or international terrorists will seek to disrupt the Games.
China's massive security operation appears to be aimed at preventing political demonstrations at the Olympics as much as terrorist attacks.
According to a report published by the US-based Security Industry Association (SIA), China will spend $300m (£150m) on security at Olympic venues.
It has received a range of hi-tech equipment from companies such as General Electric, Honeywell, Panasonic and Siemens, says the report.....

Globalizing private military training
Ten years ago any discussion of a global market for private military training would have been premature. Today, however, an increasingly consolidated and professionalized sector of the private security industry is changing the way states train their armed forces.
The last decade has seen private security companies (PSCs) transform themselves from a small-scale and ad hoc domestic training asset or discreet tool of foreign military assistance into an important global supplier of military training....

Guns blaze and spray flies as Guard runs harbor drill

With the crack of automatic weapons fire, three 25-foot Coast Guard boats surrounded an inflatable raft in Honolulu Harbor yesterday to the astonishment of by-standers at Aloha Tower.
Chicago resident Art Urdiales initially thought the action was part of a "drug raid or something."
Though only blank rounds were used, the realistic demonstration gave service members a chance to hone their anti-terrorism skills, officials said.....

Terrorism Drill Prepares Alabama First Responders For Real Life

Phenix City, AL (WTVM)- Crazed mothers screamed for their children...
Injured bystanders called for help, while others who were completely unresponsive laid there covered in blood.
These were only a few of the scenarios facing first responders when they arrived at the scene of major terrorist attack...that was staged, by Russell County EMA officials.


Five Shands hospitals in the North Florida area will be conducting emergency drills Wednesday, the hospitals reported. Continue to 2nd paragraph
The exercise at Shands AGH, Shands at the University of Florida, Shands Lake Shore, Shands Live Oak and Shands Starke will simulate a mass-casualty event associated with a nerve-agent release in a public area, according to a statement from the hospitals.
Some of the hospitals involved in the drill will be setting up �decontamination areas� that are part of the exercise, officials noted

Saline Co. emergency crews conduct bio-terrorism response exercise Friday (IL)
HARRISBURG — The Saline County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, along with the Egyptian Health Department, will conduct a Strategic National Stockpile Exercise Friday afternoon outside the Little Chapel Church just north of Harrisburg.The purpose of the exercise is to test the county’s cooperative plan to deliver and distribute medications in an emergency event such as a bio-terrorist attack....
Drills aim to defuse bombs' threat
Federal explosives experts are training local police at DIA with new techniques for dealing with aviation dangers.http://www.denverpost.com/technology/ci_8538233

94 foreign observers for army, air force joint war game

Northrop Grumman On Army Team Presented With Defense Department Modeling and Simulation Award for Excellence

Northrop Grumman BCTB teammates include General Dynamics, Falls Church, Va.; Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Md.; Raytheon, Waltham, Mass.; Blackhawk Management, Houston; and TechWise of Colorado Springs, Colo......

Former Security Officials Make Private-Sector Shift
f you want to keep the country secure, follow the money.
That's the focus of Joe Grano, who honed his security and financial expertise in past roles as a Green Beret captain, head of UBS (NYSE:UBS) ' UBS Paine Webber unit (now UBS Wealth Management USA) and chairman of the president's Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Grano puts financial transaction fraud among the top information safety risks. And he's betting that the private sector can play a big role in mitigating those dangers.
He has joined former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to roll up a handful of security companies into one full-service outfit to provide everything from intelligence to emergency preparedness.
The two also sit on the board of anti-fraud startup Ethoca. Grano recently spoke with IBD.....

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