Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

The DCA was established as a Department of Defense Agency, under the Joint Chiefs of Staff to exercise operational control and supervision over the Defense Communications System. DCA's mission is to insure that the Defense Communications System will be so established, improved, and operated as to meet the long-haul, point-to-point telecommunications requirements of the Department of Defense and other Government agencies as directed.

It was specified in the establishing Department of Defense directives that the requirements for efficient and economical long-haul, point-to-point telecommunications would be met by an evolutionary conversion of the common communications facilities of the military departments into a single system. On November 14, 1961, the two previously mentioned directives were combined into a single directive.

In defining the role of the Defense Communications Agency with respect to the DCS, it is important to point out that the communications components of the DCS are owned and operated by the military departments, but they have been given centralized direction in order to fully exploit their high potential for serving all DOD user needs.

As single manager for all DOD long-haul, point-to-point, Government owned and leased communications, the Defense Communications Agency pursues two principle objectives. These are: (1) Achieve a single integrated Defense Communications System, (2) exploit fully the capacity of this single integrated system.

The achievement of a single integrated defense system by the orderly conversion of the various military department networks is being accomplished through a series of comprehensive actions which, (a) consolidate certain communications facilities so that we may make better use of existing resources. and in some instances, reduce the requirement for new resources; (b) fully interconnect existing communications facilities to capitalize on the capability of communcations plants in being, thereby reducing the requirement for new major investments; (c) integrate existing and planned networks to increase their capability to handle a greater number of customers and attain greater circuit redundancy with resultant gains in system survivability; and (d) reorient certain tributary communications stations on other automate switching centers to reduce the length of circuits from centers to the tributaries and accrue financial savings through circuit mileage reduction.

In considering the planning tasks confronting the Agency, it is worthy to note that the DCA is not designing a new system but rather is reconfigurating networks which had been engineered, installed, and operated for a goodly number of years by the respective military departments to suit their particular uniservice needs. In planning for the integration of these networks into a single system, three points have been foremost in our minds.

First, our planning should increase the effectiveness of military communications.

Second, it should achieve real economies in manpower and money, if not at the outset, certainly in the foreseeable future. Or stated another way, we foresee the need to make an investment now in order to obtain definite dividends at a later day. Finally, planning must insure that the existing networks remain fully responsive to customer needs during the integration period.

With respect to exploiting fully the capacity of the single integrated system. the DCA is establishing a complex of communications control centers in geographical areas coincident with the location of important communications hubs and the major headquarters of U.S. military forces throughout the world. Through this complex the Agency exercises operational and management direction of the defense communications system to obtain maximum utilization of its significant assets. There are five major centers in operation today. These are: The Defense National Communications Control Center, the master of the complex here in Washington, colocated with the headquarters of the Agency. To this, there are four subordinated defense area communications control centers, one located at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colo., one in Oahu, Hawaii, another at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, and the fourth located at Dreux Air Force Base, France. The complex is being expanded as rapidly as possible to include six regional centers, further subordinated to the area centers previously mentioned. Regional centers are planned in the Philippines, Japan, Labrador, England, Spain, and Turkey. This control complex permits us to

maintain the hourly status of circuit conditions and traffic flow throughout the whole of the defense communications system.

On a responsive basis, the control centers reallocate and restore circuity and redirect the flow of traffic as necessary to reduce backlogs. Further, the control centers are responsible for transmission engineering to insure that all components of the system function effectively and compatibly.

My remarks thus far have been devoted to a description of the Agency activities in the planning and operational areas. The achievement of a single integrated system and its exploitation in the contemporary sense is the near-term role of the DCA. But the Agency must look to the estimated needs of the system in the future and take steps to insure that these needs are accommodated. Our activities in this regard fall into both long-range planning and the research and development area.

In brief, the Agency is charged with coordinating the communications research and development programs of the military departments which are applicable to the DCS to insure effective integration, standardization, and capability, and to eliminate unnecessary duplication in research and development effort and expense. It is emphasized that DCA does not duplicate service responsibilities or activities in research and development, but rather, insures that adequate R. & D. attention is given to the essential technical elements of future communications systems.

Two years have elapsed since the date of the original directive which established the DCA; 10 months of the first year were required to man the organization and to attain operational status. In the succeeding 14 months, up to the present date, major strides have been made in the exploitation of military communications as marshaled into the defense communications system and in planning the integration of its components into a single system. Our planning to increase our effectiveness has already borne significant fruit. On the other hand, much of the planning directed toward the achievement of a single integrated system is in stages of implementation with the ultimate results yet to be gaged. That economics, increased effectiveness, and heightened survivability will be achieved through single system planning, there is no doubt in our minds. Only the specifics and magnitudes remain to be determined.

(The attachments are as follows:)

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »