The U.S. Navy's Vision For Information Dominance: Concept, Information as a Weapon, Guiding Principles, Road Map

The CNO has directed that the Navy position itself to remain pre-eminent in the fields of Intelligence, Cyber Warfare, Command and Control, Electronic Warfare and Battle & Knowledge Management. There is no other Service or nation that is as good, collectively, across these mission areas as the U.S. Navy. To obtain information age dominance, we will exploit new opportunities in distributed command and control, networking, and use of vast stores of collected data information and intelligence that too often lies at rest, undiscovered, unavailable, and untapped. In short, information will be elevated to a "main battery" of the U.S. Navy's arsenal. This paper provides a vision, principles, and initial direction to help guide us towards achieving our aspirations.
The concepts in this paper boldly point to the new niche Navy will fill at the intersection of maritime, information, and cyberspace domains. We do not seek to replace kinetic combat with information warfare or diminish the need for traditional instruments of military power. Rather, we aim to develop a penetrating understanding of our adversaries and an unmatched knowledge of the operating environment to amplify traditional naval combat capabilities and expand options for our operational commanders. As we develop a globally-distributed, highly networked force, our Fleet will become much greater than the sum of its individual parts. Fundamentally, our information capabilities are being designed to deliver game-changing decision superiority and command and control overmatch.

Time is short and the task paramount. Potential adversaries are working to offset our strengths and level the playing field. We can no longer afford inefficiencies incurred with stove-piped networks, systems and processes. Unless we leap ahead to develop a rigorous and comprehensive approach to control the electromagnetic spectrum and cyberspace, we will risk losing our competitive advantage. To achieve our aspirations, we must dramatically alter the status quo. The CNO expects us to develop and maintain a fleet battle management capability that synchronizes all elements of information, dominates the electromagnetic spectrum, and permits the Navy and our nation to wield information as a weapon.

Foreword * Vision * Purpose * Background * Information Dominance - the Concept * Assumptions * Information as a Weapon * Implications for Navy Operations in the Information Domain * Guiding Principles * The Information Dominance Corps Navy Information Dominance Roadmaps * Game Plan: Near-Term Priorities/Objectives * Caution * Summary