Version 2.0, the newest iteration of the Distributed Common Ground System Integration Backbone, or DIB, facilitates better information sharing across the military services and intelligence community. “With this version of the DIB, the DCGS programs of record can query each other’s holdings and find critical [intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance] information,” said Marine Corps Maj. Tony Barrett, DCGS multi-service execution team deputy director. He added, “Everyone is talking about the need for intelligence sharing, and this is a giant step forward.” DIB Version 2.0 puts the architecture in place to ensure all the different DCGS systems can interact by querying and retrieving information from each other’s catalogs of ISR information. With the release of Version 2.0 in October, work is already under way on Version 3.0, which is due for release around June 2011. Among its planned features will be better information sharing with coalition partners. (Hanscom report by Patty Welsh)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
