It’s clear from the Department of Defense’s 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026 about Internet-based Capabilities (IbCs) and the stand-up of CYBERCOM that DoD is committed to the Internet and IbCs. To successfully navigate this field of maneuver, it’s critical that DoD appropriately train and equip its workforce, on both the responsible (defensive) and the EFFECTIVE (offensive) use of IbCs.
This includes incorporating IbCs into a number of already-existing training programs regarding the safe and secure use of DoD systems and handling of information: OPSEC, IA and Ethics. It also includes developing and deploying NEW training that educates the DoD workforce about:
- What are IbCs, social media and other emerging tools and technologies,
- How to use these and technologies, and
- How these tools and their FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES, e.g. collaboration, crowdsourcing, information sharing, can improve mission effectiveness and efficiency throughout the Department.
Training the workforce on the RESPONSIBLE use but not the EFFECTIVE use of IbCs would be a tremendous missed opportunity for DoD. Learning to effectively utilize the IbC toolkit and concepts can increase mission effectiveness for public-facing areas like Public Affairs and Recruiting, AND ALSO for myriad other DoD missions which will benefit from internal, cross-component and cross-agency collaboration and information-sharing. It’s not about the tools and technologies; it’s about the behaviors that they enable.
IbCs not only enable people to work differently, they ENCOURAGE people to work differently. This is a big cultural shift for all of us “digital immigrants”–especially within the command and control structure of DoD. However, information sharing and collaboration are the behaviors that enable success in this network-based field of maneuver. We can’t afford to stay in our hierarchical, need-to-know comfort zone. The safety and security of our nation depends upon successfully leveraging the power of networks.
This is not just about Public Affairs Officers who officially manage DoD’s External Official Presences or senior leaders who officially represent the Department. IbCs afford all members of the DoD workforce the access and influence previously only available public-facing functions. With anyone as a potential spokesperson for the Department in their professional communities, it’s critical that they are educated on the guidelines for using IbCs for Official Use.
Beyond the scope and substance of their official responsibilities, the DoD workforce and their family members–stakeholders with access to mission critical information–are using IbCs for personal use. Therefore, responsible use includes extending (requiring?) OPSEC, IA and Ethics training to the entire DoD workforce and their families.
The challenge with moving these concepts forward is three-fold. First, as a lowly contractor at DoD, I have the vision and ideas, but no authority to affect change, or even to secure the ear of a senior leader who does. Second, even if I could secure an ear, its another thing to get DoD senior leaders to embrace these concepts and do things differently — not business as usual. Third, “not my lane syndrome: these are cross-functional approaches which, in and of themselves require collaboration in development and deployment–not a single champion.
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Good post. Even beyond IbC’s, a lot of government agencies would do well to train on the effective use of all of our communication and collaboration tools. Between wikis, discussion groups, chat, email, phone, file sharing, VTC and VoIP (across multiple networks of differing classification) we had countless ways to communicate and share, but no strategy for doing so while I was assigned to a geographic combatant command; and that was just inside the organization.
Government leaders would do well to ID what tools are best for specific types of communication and encourage some discipline in their use. Simple rules like:
– Don’t use chat for questions you don’t need an answer to today.
– Maximize public forums for questions. Fosters wider learning and quicker answers.
– Limit email to personal or sensitive communication between individuals.
– Match your subject matter to the classification of the medium.
– Publish all policy drafts on a blog and/or wiki
These are just examples that would help focus internal communications and are worth including in any org training program.
Govt seems to be through the puberty stage of social media use and certainly has enough lessons-learned to be able to train on effective use. We’ve dedicated a tremendous amount of effort towards getting our communication and conversation with the public right via SM. I wish we’d put as much effort into the use of our productivity and social tools for the internal network-based field of maneuver.