Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 17:13:25 -0700
From: Marko Peljhan

Command Communications and Control in Eastern Europe
A View from Isolation

Marko Peljhan

the following text includes a draft and a collection of notes for a lecture first presented at the LEAF conference in Liverpool in April 1997

TOPICS

* changing geopolitical and social circumstances in Eastern Europe and the world

* unveiling of previously invisible divisions and political preferences

* digital revolution - end of the analogue era, the last possible time to exert any kind of control over oppressive media and state structures A new state of awareness must be developed in connection with the completely changed and invisible power structures, which at this very moment shape the state of the world. Study the enemy, learn from it, build on the knowledge, push back (pull out if necessary), start from the beginning.

Use the following strategies:

The principles of war

1. objective: clarity of purpose - direct every operation toward a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective.

2. offensive (initiative): seize, retain and exploit the initiative

3. mass: concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time

4. economy of force (efficiency): allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts

5. manoeuvre: place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power

6. unity of command (cohesiveness): for every objective ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander

7. security (do not be surprised): never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage

8. surprise (surprise your opponent): strike the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which he is unprepared

9. simplicity: prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure successful operations through understanding

Learn the functions of command and control:

1. planning: selecting the mission and objectives as well as the strategies, policies, programs, and procedures for achieving them; decision making that is future oriented: the selection of a course of action

2. directing and leading: clarifying, guiding, teaching and encouraging participants in the organisation to perform effectively and with zeal and confidence

3. co-ordinating: achieving harmony of individual effort with a group effort toward the accomplishment of group purposes and objectives. (the words individual and group in this definition should be interpreted to include organisational units and supra units as well)

The following is the gathered material from one of the study cases, that PACT (Projekt Atol Communication Technologies) has been working on for the past year.

RESEARCH - A CASE STUDY

RIVET JOINT PROGRAM / JOINT STARS PROGRAM -

MICROWAVE OVEN IN THE SKY

USAF R135v/w rivet joint surveillance aircraft are equipped with an extensive array of sophisticated intelligence gathering equipment that enable military specialists to monitor the electronic activity of enemies or potential enemies of the US and it’s allies. The Rivet joint AWACS combination has become a powerful tactical weapon in the 1990’s during Desert Storm, the occupation of Haiti, and most recently over Bosnia. Using automated and manual equipment, mixed crews of electronic and intelligence specialists can precisely locate, record and analyse much of what is being done in the EM spectrum.

Basic roles:

- providing indications about the location and intentions of enemy forces and warnings of threatening activity

- broadcasting a variety of direct voice communications. Of highest priority are combat advisory broadcasts and imminent threat warnings that can be sent direct to aircraft in danger

- operating both data and voice links to provide target info to US ground based air defenses

Redefined intelligence data can be transferred from Rivet Joint to AWACS through the Tactical Digital Information Link TADIL/A or into intelligence channels via satellite and the TACTICAL INFORMATION BROADCAST SERVICE (TIBS), which is a nearly real-time theater information broadcast. For example the aircrews in Okinawa watched the live broadcast of the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia. TIBS is broadcast via FLEET SATCOM and enhances the battle picture as provided to combined air operations centers such as the one in Vicenza, Italy, which oversees operations in Bosnia. The Pentagon’s primary military goal at the end of the 20th century is to create a battlefield environment in which US forces know a foe’s intentions with precision, early enough to foil completion of his plans. If the goal is achieved, US forces could dominate combat. They claim, that sufficient prior knowledge of intent might even keep a conflict from breaking out. Knowledge of an enemy’s intentions is referred to within the Pentagon as dominant battlespace knowledge, DBK and a key element for it’s success and applicability is a fleet of 14 RC 135 Rivet Joints, which is scheduled to be increased to 16 in 1998. The linkage is still being designed, that would complete the operational, communications and electronic connectivity among Rivet Joint, E-3 AWACS and E-8 JOINT STARS. The linkage is expected to seamlessly connect the RJs ability to intercept and plot the location of electronic emissions with the AWACS aerial radar picture and the JOINT STARS ground radar and moving target indications.

Ground radar activities happened over an extended period of time during 1994/95/96, where strong microwave emissions were present over the Balkan region.

Digital communication between AWACS aircraft, Rivet Joint and Joint Stars could not be decrypted. The analogue era is over. If you don’t want to be monitored and heard, encrypt your own signals, jam back.

RESPONSE

Goals: to monitor and promote awareness of these activities

to prepare adequate tactical answers

Take similar systems as possible models for reaction and organisation.

Fight back with the same tools.

Problem: telecommunication laws are very oppressive towards any new and independent media. The presence, activities and policies of telecommunications monopolies stop the possible development of telecommunications and their proliferation into the second and third worlds. Study the case of the wind-on radio, the radio without batteries. Produce the radio, distribute it.

Suggestion: build a global independent satellite telecommunications network / an alternative to the Intelsat system, and the new low orbit commercial systems that are slowly becoming reality. A multinational, interdisciplinary organisational effort would develop tactics and strategies and confront the global capitalist and state multinational organisms with organised resistance and provide an alternative, non-commercially based means of reliable telecom. Start collecting funds, start working on possible strategies, after you develop a firm plan, look for allies.