Title: Information Warfare (IW): Air Staff Roles and Responsibilities
Subject: Adequacy assesment of recent Air Force IW organizational changes to support an Information Superiority (IS) core competency.
Author(s): Dwayne W Frye; John R Corneil (Faculty Advisor)
DTIC Keywords: ELECTRONIC WARFARE, INFORMATION CENTERS
Abstract:
The Air Force intends to incorporate Information Superiority (IS) into "our way
of doing business"; to make it a service core competency. To accomplish this
objective; it has reorganized the Air Staff, established an Information Warfare
Center (AFIWC), and created a deployable IW squadron. Yet all these actions
still fall short of what needs to be done to achieve IS as a core competency.
The Air Force must organize its fighting units around information warfare, not
strictly around force combat units. It must establish within the Air Force an
IW culture - an "IW ethos." To ignore that information has become a critical
factor in winning wars and that our doctrine and organization must change to
accommodate this reality will ensure the Air Force, like the French in the inter
war period (with tanks), will not fully realize the possible benefits from new
technologies. The Air Force may claim IS as a core competency, but it will not
truly achieve the claim unless it significantly reorganizes.
This paper suggests three possible organizational modifications: (1) create a
dedicated IW career field, (2) establish a Joint Force Information Component
Commander (JFICC), and (3) establish a new independent IW Corp within DOD. Only
two of these suggestions (1 & 2) are recommended for implementation.