As you may have read in this month's Air Force Magazine, the Air Force Information Warfare Battlelab was established by Headquarters Air Intelligence Agency and the Air Force Information Warfare Center here at Kelly in March . As it is an integral part of the Chief of Staff's vision of Global Engagement for the Air Force, Gen. Ronald Fogleman personally presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony of this, the first of six Air Force battlelabs. This month's Spokesman will give you a better perspective on what this new organization does and how it will work with other battlelabs and other parts of the Air Force. The key point to remember about the Battlelab is innovation. You know that already within AIA and the AFIWC we work the issues of gaining and exploiting information, as well as information protect and attack. What we're doing now is working Information Operations issues into today's military in real time, probing the operational utility of possibilities offered us by the information age.

We work quite closely with hardware, software, connectivity, and databases, and as you know half the battle is simply keeping up with the major and minor upgrades that routinely and frequently. The IW Battlelab's charter is to go even farther afield, leap past obstacles that may be before us, and originate ideas in doctrine, tactics, organization and training, as well as technology.

The IW Battlelab will not work in a vacuum. It's personnel will certainly take advantage of the resident expertise here on the Hill, while leveraging other pockets of expertise throughout the Air Force, industry, and academia.

The Battlelab will also be electronically wired to the other battlelabs (Air Expeditionary Force, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Command and Control, Force Protection, and Space) to utilize their knowledge, integrate ideas, and keep an eye on the big picture.

Taken together, this will enable our Battlelab to explore innovative concepts for information protect, attack, gain, and exploit, to further prove their practical use and value to Air Force operations.

It is this commitment to innovation, to create leading edge concepts and technology applications, that is the heart and soul of the IW Battlelab. It fulfills one of AIA's goals, to build compelling planning and implementation strategies that turn our vision into reality.

And our information operations vision - that information can be used as a weapon, a target, and a place...not just an enabler - is on the mark. Everywhere I've briefed this concept I've seen heads nod in agreement, and after giving examples heard someone say, "We hadn't looked at it that way before." The Air Force as a whole has taken this to heart - Information Superiority is one of Global Engagement's Core Competencies, which is more emphasis than any other service gives it.

We have invested in our vision. AIA is in the lead (by far) in the "information protect" realm, implementing our ASIM system when there is no DoD system, no U.S. government system, and no U.S. national system to protect national/government computer networks.

The AFIWC is larger than all other service's information warfare centers combined, pulling together operations, intelligence, and communications. And let us not forget, as "Kelly Team" we include and rely on the JC2WC and the daily hands-on work they do with the CINCs. Those of us here on the Hill have dedicated ourselves being the lead in Information Operations, and the fact that the IW Battlelab is here shows we have been recognized as such.

We need to continue to blaze the trail in Information Operations, and the IW Battlelab is a large part of making that happen. We need to claim the entire vertical dimension of IO, and treat IO as an operational force. We need to keep it a unified force, and step up to be DoD's lead for all info protect and info attack operations.

The concept of dedicating an organization like the Battlelab to innovate new ways to pursue the integration of Information Operations into the Air Force, and ultimately all services, is a step in the right direction. I'm very proud to have the IW Battlelab on board with us, and I know that your support and imagination will make it a success.

Retrun to July 97