AFMC Command News

Futurist James Canton takes on Web 2.0, network defense

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Dr. James Canton, who will address the Air Force C2ISR Symposium at the end of September (see accompanying story for details), weighed in on the great debate within the Department of Defense about the risks and benefits of Web 2.0.

"I wouldn't embrace the entire 2.0 platform," he said. However, it does represent a cultural shift that the defense community needs to understand and exploit, he added.

The impact of social networking and real-time interaction is huge, he notes, and there can be real value in following the Wiki model, taking advantage of "the wisdom of the crowds."

There are dangers, too, of course, so DoD's caution is not unwarranted, he said. He suggests setting up experimental nodes in operational environments, such as Afghanistan, and seeing what benefits derive while also monitoring risks.

Dr. Canton also sees danger in so-called dark and rogue networks. He suggests that terrorists often have access to 'rogue technology' before the U.S. government does, for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are procedural or rule-based, but the U.S., he proposes, must also be more "invested in the innovation game" for network defense.

At the same time, he advises the U.S. to speed up the integration of agile, non-perfect, off-the-shelf defense systems in the short term, rather than searching in vain for silver bullet solutions.

Network defense is "a vexing problem," he said, and one he's looking forward to discussing, along with many others, in more detail at next month's Air Force C2ISR Symposium and Technology Exposition.