Picking his way through the crumbling houses of Ad Duluiyah, Feldmayer is tied to the American grid by only the thinnest of threads.
Popular Science reports on problems with information-centric warfare in Iraq. Issues include out of date maps, limited access, overloaded channels, hardware failures. Some workable successes are patrol-level visualization and browser-based fora (as the New Yorker noted more than a year ago).
Meanwhile, the guerrillas seem to be ahead in the network-centric game:
Using disposable cellphones, anonymous e-mail addresses at public Internet cafés, and “lessons learned” Web sites that rival Cavnet, disparate guerrilla groups coordinate attacks, share tactics, hire bomb makers, and draw in fresh recruits. It’s an ad hoc, constantly changing web of connections, so it’s hard for U.S. spooks to know where to listen in next. It also lets the insurgents keep a loose command structure, without much hierarchy—just like the network-centric theorists call for.
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