Issues Associated with the Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) is undertaking a major initiative to create a communications network called the Global Information Grid (GIG). The GIG is intended to be a single information-sharing network with multiple levels of security for use by DoD and possibly other elements of the national security community, including the intelligence agencies. It is intended to satisfy all operational and business needs for transmitting and sharing information among elements of DoD in both peacetime and wartime. According to DoD, the GIG will be key to implementing the department's plans for what it calls network-centric warfare, which focuses on rapidly sharing information among all levels of military command to win battles. Although the content of the GIG continues to evolve, it currently encompasses numerous programs that will be executed over many years to address needs for both tactical (associated with combat units on the move) and strategic communications. Portions of the network have already been implemented and are being used on a daily basis by elements of DoD. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) document focuses on one part of the GIG: the Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE). That project involves upgrading the transmission capacity of some of the busiest parts of DoD's existing communications networks. Final testing of the GIG-BE is scheduled to occur in 2005. However, the technological approaches that DoD has taken to carry out the expansion have raised questions. In particular, some observers have expressed concerns about the degree to which the GIG-BE's capacity, security, and quality of service will represent improvements over DoD s existing networks. This CBO review addresses those concerns by examining some of the choices that DoD has made for the GIG-BE and their implications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 28, 2005
Accession Number
ADA447165

Entities

People

  • J. M. Gilmore

Organizations

  • Congressional Budget Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computer Network Security
  • Computer Networks
  • Computers
  • Data Links
  • Digital Communications
  • Electronic Mail
  • Global Information Grid
  • Information Systems
  • International Organizations
  • Local Area Networks
  • National Security
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Protocols
  • Networks
  • Routing Protocols
  • United States
  • Voice Communications

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting
  • Strategic Security Studies