[iwar] [fc:A.Cautionary.Tale.About.Soldiers.And.Technology]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-07-16 21:35:02
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:35:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:A.Cautionary.Tale.About.Soldiers.And.Technology]
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Lawton (OK) Constitution
July 14, 2002
A Cautionary Tale About Soldiers And Technology
By Richard Hart Sinnreich

A pair of recent stories from the European Stars and Stripes tells an
interesting but cautionary tale about the American soldier, his military
superiors, and the challenge of rapid technological change.
Two weeks ago, the Stars and Stripes reported that National Guard soldiers
performing peacekeeping duties in Bosnia have been snapping up hand-held
two-way radios from the PX for use both on and off duty. The commercial
hand-helds are smaller, more powerful, and more reliable than those issued
by the Army, one platoon leader reportedly insisted.
While the Army has purchased similar radios for military use, they have less
range than commercial versions and currently are issued only to active Army
units, leaving National Guard soldiers to make do with older and heavier
portables or their vehicle-mounted radios.
So, GIs being GIs, the Guardsmen apparently decided to fund their own radios
out of pocket, at $69 to $159 a pop. The commercial hand-helds have been
used for everything from foot patrolling and convoy control to in-garrison
personal communications.
Of course, it couldn't possibly last. Apart from the professional indignity
associated with letting soldiers buy their own equipment, using commercial
radios in the field sends higher commanders and their communications
security watchdogs into orbit.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the day after the Stars and Stripes story
appeared, Bosnia Stabilization Force authorities confiscated all personal
two-way radios. Soldiers were warned that failure to surrender the radios
could result in disciplinary action.
"The use of commercial radios is not authorized by U.S. Army Europe and
Stabilization Force policy," a command spokesman told Stars and Stripes this
week, adding that soldiers are given receipts for their confiscated radios
and will be able to reclaim them at the end of their overseas tours.
In the meantime, of course, that leaves the Guardsmen high and dry. "This
action will seriously hamper the operations of my unit," one sergeant
reportedly complained.
The irony is that both parties were trying to do the right thing. The troops
were looking for a better way to do their jobs, just as we should want them
to do. Their bosses were unhappy to see them spending their own money to do
it, and rightly concerned about the risk of insecure radio communications to
mission accomplishment and troop safety, just as we should want them to be.
Moreover, while the issue in this case concerned radios, similar flaps have
arisen over issue items as diverse as combat boots and laptop computers, as
soldiers have attempted on their own initiative to substitute newer and
better commercial equipment for older or less capable military versions.
Nor is it entirely fair to criticize the military procurement system. The
reality is that technology in many areas is outpacing the capabilities of
current procurement procedures. Buying a new hand-held radio every year or
so may cost an individual soldier a hundred bucks. Replacing several hundred
thousand every year is another matter altogether, never mind issues of
compatibility, reliability, and security. The same problem applies to a host
of other issue items from field glasses to flashlights.
This dilemma is only going to get worse, and resolving it will require
genuinely innovative thinking. That should include a serious reexamination
of the way we fund, purchase, and replace common-use military commodities,
including increasingly ubiquitous small electronic devices such as hand-held
radios that until now have not been considered commodities.
Likewise, in dealing with matters such as communications security,
commanders increasingly will have to decide at what point it makes more
sense to trust in the self-discipline and training of their troops than to
continue relying on traditional but also initiative-deadening blanket
prohibitions.
Finally, the radio episode is a reminder that among the notable
peculiarities of today's military environment is the likelihood that
adversaries not inhibited by the need to procure in quantity and justify the
expense of frequent replacement--terrorists, for example--may be able to
acquire and employ some forms of new technology faster and more easily than
the U.S. military forces they confront.
Carefree presumptions about American military technological supremacy thus
at best are imprudent. Indeed, if history is any guide, technological change
often tends, initially at least, to favor the weaker and less conventionally
organized force.
That's still another reason to revisit the way we procure rapidly improving
commodities, empower the troops to decide when issue equipment doesn't serve
their needs as well as commercial alternatives, then find ways enabling them
to replace the former with the latter on Uncle Sam's dime rather than their
own.
Meanwhile, it would be nice to get our deployed Guardsmen some decent
hand-held radios. 

Richard Hart Sinnreich writes regularly for The Sunday Constitution.

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