Army creativity, commercial technology stressed at
acquisition lecture series
By Nancy Jones-Bonbrest
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (April 8, 2015) — With the idea that the Army acquisition community can better confront current and future challenges by learning from the past, the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) held its second installment of the Excellence in Acquisition Lecture Series on March 24.
Retired Lt. Gen. Steven W. Boutelle, who pushed for a network-centric force throughout his career, served as the second speaker in the series. He urged the audience not to forget that they work for the Soldier first, and to take risks when necessary to provide troops critical capabilities.
“I tried to do what I thought was right for the warfighter,” said Boutelle, a former Army Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G-6.
Boutelle led what is now known as PEO C3T at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey from 1997 to 2001, before joining the staff of the CIO/G-6 just weeks before September 11, 2001. He recalled talking with those who worked for him at the Central Technical Support Facility (CTSF) at Fort Hood, Texas in the years and months before 9/11, explaining that the communications technologies they were working on could someday be used in war. Soon after, many CTSF employees and their family members deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
“Every time you look at that box or that equipment, remember that your child, the treasure of America, may take that box into conflict and their life may depend upon it,” Boutelle said. “And that’s a hard thing to swallow. But the business you are in at Aberdeen Proving Ground, is life and death business.”
The event, free and open to the workforce at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), served as a reminder that the support they provide to today’s Soldiers is built on the foundation of past innovation and constantly evolving information technology.
“General Boutelle has been a great advocate for the Army’s movement toward digitization,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Hughes, current program executive officer for C3T. “I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to hear from General Boutelle because he has worked continuously to help not only the Army, but the world, become more digitized and connected.”
Boutelle laid out how, even in times of fiscal constraint, the Army can have great success in advancing technology and emphasized that if acquisition professionals don’t deliver what Soldiers need, then users will look elsewhere. He also encouraged a strong partnership with industry.
“Don’t be afraid to work with industry,” Boutelle said. “If you don’t tell these people what you want and the direction you’re going, don’t be surprised when they build something you’re not interested in.”
He also tied technology to current events, challenging everyone in the room to read a recent article in the Atlantic magazine titled “What ISIS Really Wants,” as well as recommending several books on recent events in the Balkans and the Middle East.
“You cannot build stuff fast enough, so how can you be creative and make commercial stuff do what you need it to do, and get it to the Soldier in time to make a difference?” Boutelle asked. “Toronto, Boko Haram, Yemen, Somalia, ISIS… all of this is interlaced together. It’s predictable what is happening. What is not predictable is how it will end and that’s where you all need to be a part of this. It’s about information technology and that’s what we do.”
Throughout his career, Boutelle championed a network-centric force that would enable information superiority down to the lowest echelons and improve interoperability across the military. He oversaw the growth of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below/Blue Force Tracking, the quick-reaction development of the technology that became Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1, and pushed for increased bandwidth to meet future communications needs.
He introduced the convergence of voice, data and video to the Army, building an enhanced enterprise network infrastructure by establishing the Army Knowledge Online portal and the Defense Knowledge Online portal. Together they provided streamlined access to content for more than six million defense employees.
“It was evolutionary, over time, how we made these things work,” Boutelle said. “You’ve got to understand where you’re going, what’s happening in the commercial world, and you have to be creative to move down this road.”
The inaugural speaker in the lecture series, Retired Lt. Gen. William Campbell, also attended the event.
The lecture series will be held quarterly, focusing on the intersection of acquisition and the Army’s command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies.
Now-retired Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle offered insights for today’s Army when he took the stage on March 24 at the Excellence in Acquisition lecture series. Denise Rule, PEO C3T
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