AIR FORCE CHIEF SCIENTIST TALKS ABOUT FUTURE

Dr. Mica Endsley assumed her new duties and responsibilities as the 34th Air Force chief scientist June 3 in support of senior leaders and Airmen across the service. Endsley is the first woman to serve in this position. (U.S. Air Force graphic-Corey Parrish)

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE
AF chief scientist addresses future 
Posted 7/11/2013 
by Staff Sgt. David Salanitri
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

7/11/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force chief scientist addressed members of the Air Force Association about the Global Horizons study, which looks into the near and long-term application of science and technology in the force.

Dr. Mica Endsley, who was recently appointed as the 34th Air Force chief scientist, focused her talk around the future of air, space, cyber, and command and control.

"If we presume the future is going to look like today, I think we're going to be sorely mistaken," Endsley said. "The future environment in the next decade has some really significant potential threats that we need to be aware of and thinking of."

In the space environment, Endsley emphasized, the Air Force is not going to be the only player in the future.

"In space, we're not going to be operating with impunity," Endsley said. "It's going to be a much more congested, competitive and contested environment."

Speaking about air operations, Endsley noted that though the Air Force has enjoyed air superiority in recent operations, this may not always be the case as other nations use science and technology to continually develop their air forces.

"In air operations, I think over the past few decades, we've enjoyed pretty good air superiority in a lot of the theaters we operated in -- that's not necessarily going to be the case in the future," she said.

Endsley also suggested the potential for an attack on command and control capabilities.

"We believe our command and control and (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) operations are going to be targeted," she said. "That's something we're going to need to protect against very significantly."

Endsley emphasized the importance of protecting cyberspace and Air Force cyber capabilities from threats.

Cyber "is the thing that underlines everything that we're doing," Endsley said. "It's a very significant source of concern in terms of potential vulnerabilities."

As Endsley spoke, she stressed the importance of the ever-changing environment in which the Air Force operates in, and how the global horizons study identifies these future changes.

Endsley also made note that a key component of of Air Force efforts is to use science and technology to enable Airmen to carry out their duties more efficiently.

"One of our goals here is to develop technology that enhances the capability of our Airmen," she said. "My job is to enable our people to do their job effectively."

As Endsley concluded, a question from the audience brought up the impacts of sequestration, and how it is impacting in the Air Force.

In a field that is primarily comprised of civilian Airmen, Endsley said that with furloughs starting, a large part of her workforce will be out of the office, missing technical meetings that are vital to her researchers.

Furlough is "having chilling effects," she said. "If you look at who the researchers are in the Air Force, they are disproportionately civilians."

OBAMA, PUTIN AGREE ON CYBER AND NUCLEAR COOPERTION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

U.S., Russia Agree to Cooperate on Cyber, Nukes
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2013 - Cooperation at many levels will help to reduce misunderstandings between the United States and Russia, the leaders of both countries said after meetings in Northern Ireland yesterday.


Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin agreed to cooperate on a number of different aspects of the bilateral relationship. The men spoke at Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, as part of the G-8 Summit.

Putin said the United States and Russia "have an opportunity to move forward on most sensitive directions."

The two leaders discussed Syria. While they do not agree on all points, they said, they both want the violence in the Middle East country to stop. "We agreed to push the parties to the negotiations table," the Russian president said.

Obama stressed that discussions on Iran and North Korea were productive. "We both agreed to consult closely on the North Korean issue," he said in his remarks. "On Iran, we both ... expressed cautious optimism that with a new election there, we may be able to move forward on a dialogue that allows us to resolve the problems with Iran's nuclear program."

Obama noted that Russia and the United States are the world's two nuclear superpowers. "We have a special obligation to try to continue to reduce tensions, to build on the work that we did with New START, and to lead the world in both nuclear security issues and proliferation issues," he said. As part of that, the United States and Russia signed a convention to continue the Nunn-Lugar program to counter potential threats of proliferation and to enhance nuclear security.

"By working together, we not only increase security and prosperity for the Russian and American people, but also help lead the world to a better place," Obama said.

The two nations also negotiated a range of steps designed to increase transparency and reduce the possibility that a misunderstood cyber incident could create instability or a crisis in the bilateral relationship. Part of this will result in better links between the two countries' Computer Emergency Response Teams, officials said.

DEFENSE MINISTERS FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
NATO Defense Ministers Focus on Afghanistan, Cyber, Libya
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

BRUSSELS, June 4, 2013 - NATO defense ministers meeting here will discuss a new direction for operations in Afghanistan, alliance cyber defense efforts and a possible Libya training mission, Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove told reporters today.

Breedlove assumed command of U.S. European Command and the associated role of NATO supreme allied commander for Europe last month.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, where he is attending his first defense ministerial conference in his new role, Breedlove said his first priority for the alliance is to remain vigilant, and to meet future challenges with agile, capable, interoperable military forces.

His second priority now and in the immediate future, he added, is the transition in Afghanistan. That topic is on tomorrow's agenda for the defense ministers, he noted, but their meetings will focus on the concept of operations for the mission that will replace the International Security Assistance Force effort, set to conclude at the end of 2014.

Breedlove said the new train, advise and assist mission, called Resolute Support, "will be the fruition of more than a decade of sacrifice and hard work on the part of ISAF."

After ministers meet tomorrow and provide more guidance on Resolute Support, he added, NATO planning teams will, in the coming months, flesh out the specifics of how the alliance will fulfill the follow-on mission.

Moving to the subject of cyber, Breedlove invoked the words of his predecessor, Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, in saying that cyber has the largest gap between NATO's preparedness and the threat the alliance faces.

NATO is working to strengthen its network defenses, he noted, but he added that the work is far from complete. "We recognize that these threats continue to evolve," he said.

The alliance's Cyber Center of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia, is "part of the way ahead for NATO to find better ways to reinforce the strength of the integrity of our networks, and enhance our security," Breedlove said.

The general then turned to Eucom, where the United States has cut troop strength and is studying further reductions.

"I'm working intensely with my European colleagues and other partners to emphasize the strength and the vibrancy of our transatlantic linkages," Breedlove said. "Our security is deeply interwoven and supported by the deep roots in both economic and cultural shared values with our neighbors in Europe."

Relations between the United States and its European allies and partners are enduring, he said, and "will continue to thrive through all of our challenges, whether they are economical or tactical."

Breedlove acknowledged the United States is "paying more attention to Asia militarily than it has in the recent past," but said America's past, present and future are "deeply linked with our NATO allies, and there is no doubt that we will continue to best secure our future together, as a fully committed, full-time member."

Breedlove responded to a question on the potential U.S. role in a possible alliance training mission in Libya. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this morning that the Libyan government requested NATO's security advice, "and we have already moved fast to respond." The alliance will send a team of experts to Libya, where they will assess what assistance the alliance can offer.

"This is a real short-term thing," Breedlove said of the assessment. "I believe that [Rasmussen] has announced that the results of that study should be done by the end of June." He noted the secretary general also announced that any training NATO forces supply will be done outside of Libya.

"In the past couple of weeks, we have been looking at this ... on the U.S. side," the general said, "and considering how and where and why this might work; and we will, as the U.S. part of NATO, contribute our thoughts to this fact-finding mission. And then we'll see how that comes out."

As part of NATO, he added, the United States would be part of that mission.

Breedlove said as this week's ministerial meetings proceed, "I am very encouraged that we are taking on the tough issues like Afghanistan and cyber, and I'm looking forward to our progress."