Chapter 10 Lt. Gen. Albert J. Edmonds, USAF (Ret.) 1996 Black Engineer of the Year THE
FOLLOWING ARTICLE, WRITTEN BY
GRADY WELLS, WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN US BLACK ENGINEER & IT, CONFERENCE ISSUE 1996. It is almost a truism that successful modern warfare is information intensive. Soldiers, who can see farther in chaotic and difficult situations, can project their strengths before their enemies can. But the same up-to-the-second information, which provides advantages to military commanders, is vital to civilian leaders in times of crisis. That is why the Defense Information Systems Agency is in charge of federal emergency communications. The same built-in reliability, clarity, and wide reach necessary for troop communications under battlefield conditions are critically needed by the leaders of federal agencies when disaster strikes. The parallels are striking. During the Gulf War, for example, global positioning satellites allowed coalition forces to navigate through the forbidding deserts in southern Iraq. Computer networks and radio-linked armored vehicles helped coalition commanders instantly locate Iraqi tanks and troop concentrations. When defeated Iraqi military commanders were shown the small devices that pinpointed our forces’ locations, they were astonished that even relatively low-level soldiers had such technology at hand. At home, after a devastating storm such as Hurricane Hugo, when power and phone lines are down, roads are washed out and entire communications are laid waste, similar abilities are needed. Authorities have to locate the scenes of worst damage, rapidly move rescue and cleanup crews into the hardest-hit areas, and open lines of communication to local-government leaders, private relief agencies, and citizens needing help and encouragement. As director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and manager of the National Communications Systems, Lt. Gen. Albert Edmonds is responsible for making sure the best information and communications systems are in place for our forces, at home as 55
