Private Contractors Defend Their Role
 Representatives of three companies providing private contractor services in war zones today defended their roles and said their main motivation was not money.
Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association; Paige Craig, president of the Lincoln Group; and Doug Horn, vice president, government operations support at KBR, spoke on the role of contractors in U.S. military operations at the Armed Forces Journal annual conference, The Power & Limits of Jointness, in Washington D.C.
Jointness Can Be Improved by Sharing Information
 Jointness in the U.S. military has come a long way in terms of equipment sharing and doctrine, but three main issues still need to be addressed, said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Michael E. Ennis. Interoperability, slow decision-making and the continued lack of information sharing still prevent the services from maximizing the capabilities each service has to offer, he said. Speaking at the Armed Forces Journal’s Power & Limits of Jointness conference in Washington, D.C., Ennis said a general “lack of understanding” persists about information sharing among the services, and that the joint world needs to “get over the idea that information is proprietary.”
He points to the commercial world and its success with information sharing platforms, including Amazon.com, Napster, Mapquest and Orbitz. Databases also need to be networked so that data are accessible to soldiers in the field, he said. Information should be organized and standardized so that it’s retrievable and understandable; it should also be tagged with metadata so that what’s needed is “discoverable,” he said.
Future Navy Mission Broader and Larger
 The new vision for U.S. seapower includes a shift to joint warfighting, a shift in geography toward the west and a shift in operational terrain that will include more green- and brown-water activities, said Rear Adm. Joseph A. Walsh, director of Submarine Warfare Division.
Walsh outlined the Navy’s roadmap for the future at the Power & Limits of Jointness, the Armed Forces Journal annual conference in Washington, D.C., on June 1, where he described the service’s plan to “use power to defend freedom and to forge new friendships.”
Air Force Acquisition Chief Sees Smaller Fleets, More UAVs
 The days of large aircraft fleets are gone and the future for the U.S. Air Force will focus on smaller fleets, more unmanned aerial vehicles, more networked systems and more open architectures, an Air Force acquisition chief said June 1.
Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition said the war on terrorism, down-sizing of personnel levels and recapitalization were the new priorities.
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