Pentagon relies on IT for military 'transformation' initiatives
<FONT SIZE=2>The White House is asking for significant funding increases in fiscal 2004 for Defense Department transformation efforts, such as satellite communications, space-based radar and cryptology, that are rich in information technology, a senior defense official said at a briefing last week. </FONT>
Mitchell Daniels, director of the OMB, said his office would move quickly to ask Congress for additional funds if President Bush orders an expansion of the war against terrorism.
Olivier Douliery
The Pentagon's request for IT spending is $27.9 billion, up $180 million from 2003.
Overall, President Bush is requesting $379 billion for the department, $15.3 billion more than what was allotted in 2003. The request does not include costs that may be associated with supporting future conflicts, the senior official said.
However, transformation efforts will result in reallocating $80 billion between 2004 and 2009, according to the Defense Department. The agency wants to reorganize command and control operations to use recent gains in IT and better prepare for emerging threats.
Overall, about $24 billion of the 2004 Defense Department budget will be allocated to transformational issues, about a third of its total discretionary budget for that year, according to the senior official.
The 2004 budget reflects a number of IT-related transformational efforts, including:
*Improved satellite communications: The budget calls for $453 million to develop a laser-based satellite communications system that would greatly improve satellite bandwidth levels. It also slates $778 million to develop an advanced, extremely high-frequency satellite constellation to replace the Milstar system.
*Space-based radar: The budget calls for $299 million to continue developing a radar to track global threats.
*Cryptologic modernization: The budget calls for $416 million to improve cryptographic techniques to protect Defense Department networks.
*Unmanned aerial and undersea vehicles: The budget calls for about $610 million to purchase more Global Hawks, $250 million to upgrade and purchase Predators and $81 million to develop unmanned undersea vehicles.
Communications systems are at the heart of the defense transformation, the senior official said. The drive for greater bandwidth will be paramount to transformational efforts.
"You're limited by how much information you can generate and receive. You need the bandwidth to do that," the official said. "Laser satellite communications breaks the back of that problem. It becomes almost limitless. ... You're getting real-time information at unbelievable speeds, and we all know just by working on the Internet and computers ... what a difference it makes depending on how you link up."
The senior official would not estimate how much a possible war on Iraq would cost over the present peace-time budget. The official, however, did note that the previous war with Iraq, Operation Desert Storm, ran approximately $61 billion, of which the United States contributed $11 billion.
Mitchell Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said his office would move quickly to ask Congress for additional funds if President Bush orders an expansion of the war against terrorism, such as military action in Iraq.
Documents relating to the 2004 Defense Department budget, including full defense budgets estimates, can be found at http://www.dtic.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2004/.
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