Heard a great talk given today by Major General Kevin Kennedy, Director, Joint Capability Development Directorate (J-8), HQ Joint Forces Command at the CWID Final Planning Conference. I’ve heard some good talks and some okay talks, but this was one of the better talks as it relates to CWID. I was hoping to have General Mattis though. Maybe next year.

One of the issues to be resolved in a coalition fight is data communication. How can pertinent data be formatted, transmitted, remain secure, and be trusted is key to more efficient and effective fighting in the future. He related this as being similar to Zip codes. Zip codes were created to make the sorting of mail more efficient. When more refinement was needed the Post Office came up with Zip+4. A similar thing needs to be done for data so that warfighters on the ground can use equipment that will communicate coalition force’s equipment, perhaps directly. Doing so would reduce the time required and the possibility of introducing errors.