Strong Angel II: Designing the Edge

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Strong Angel II Designing the Edge
Design and implement a far-forward capacity for
rapid and appropriate humanitarian information
management from global resources within and
across civil-military boundaries.
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 17 - 22 July 2004
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Complete a set of tasks demonstrating techniques
and capabilities designed to achieve secure,
edge-based information flow across the
civil-military boundary during complex
humanitarian emergencies in austere environments.
Mission
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Participation

• SPAWAR Systems Center - Europe
• TIDES World Press Reports (DARPA)
• UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• UK Royal Navy
• United Nations Joint Logistics Center
• United Nations World Food Programme
• US Army (352nd Civil Affairs)
• US Marine Corps (3rd Civil Affairs Group)
• US Navy (Third Fleet and others)
• US State Department
• National Representatives
• Canada
• Egypt
• France
• Jordan

• OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defence)
• DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
• DHS (Department of Homeland Security)
• ARC (American Red Cross)
• BBN (Bolt, Baranec, and Newman)
• Buckminster Fuller Institute
• CENTCOM (US Central Command)
• Coalition Provisional Authority (Baghdad)
• George Mason University
• Groove Networks
• Harvard Brigham and Womens Hospital
• International Medical Corps
• Mindtel (Syracuse University)
• MITRE Corporation (Mass Inst Tech Res Eng)
• National Virtual Translation Center
• NATO
• Rocky Mountain Institute (Aspen)
• San Diego State University

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A few guiding principles

1. Disconnected operations are the rule, rather than
   the exception.
2. Agility is more valuable than planning.
3. Effectiveness depends on inclusiveness.
4. Trust only grows on neutral ground.
5. Open pipes and open eyes protect your data--not
   the network.
6. Expect to wage war and peace simultaneously.

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• Kosovo (S-M), 1999
• - US Army soldiers
• - German food
• Russian helicopter
• NATO leadership
• - Civilian support
• - United Nations mission

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Cultural insight
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Koran published in Zulu funded with 1
million through a personal donation from Osama
bin Laden through the Islamic Propagation
Center in Durban, South Africa
Regional perspectives Osama viewed by others
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And languages(always languages)
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Consequences when misunderstood
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A complex refugee management problem
Strong Angel 2000
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From Strong Angel 2000 to IraqUN staff who were
present for both
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The area of interest was perhaps more
complicated than we first thought. -- COL John
Graham, RAMC
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MERPI Medical Evacuation and Repatriation Program
for Iraq
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Strong Angel II Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 17-22 July
2004 OSD-NII sponsorship DARPA funding
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Strong Angel Topic Areas

• Translation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cultural awareness
• Information management

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Strong Angel Topic Areas

• Translation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cultural awareness
• Information management

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Near-real-time broadcast translations Human and
machine-based
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Babylon Simultaneous multi-lingual chat (
English-Arabic-English )
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Be prepared to communicate with those who do not
speak your language.
Visitor translations
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Strong Angel Topic Areas

• Translation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cultural awareness
• Information management

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Distributed collaboration
Distributed collaboration inside CENTCOM won the
war Statement from CENTCOM and the Army
Lessons Learned Lab Quoted by an OSD official,
11 July 03

• Secure file encryption at 192-bit threshold
• Voice-Over-Internet (encrypted)
• Bandwidth optimized
• Alerting cues
• Import-Export as XML with any database
• Web download for free if needed
• Transparent all organizations
• Adaptive architecture (instantly flexible)
• Distance learning (and teaching)
• Remote presentations

• Reference library of pubs and docs
• Logistics delivery calendar
• Instant Messaging (encrypted)
• Secure chat (encrypted)
• Annotated maps
• Annotated satellite photos
• Whos available, instantly
• Immediate feedback on comms
• Sends only binary changes
• Peer-to-peer, so no ownership

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Emergency Communications
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• TESTED
• Discussion, Calendar, Instant Messages, Files
• Video files from VSee (.wmv)
• Arabic and English translations (.mp3)
• Babylon Chat
• Toucan Navigate locations
• Forms submissions, templates, and updates
• Assessment Forms, Request Forms, etc.

Pony Express Mobile 802.11b cloud giving the
disconnected synchrony through commercial tools
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VSee
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• Rumor reporting
• Incident reporting
• Medical Status Reports
• Medical Joining Reports
• Logistics delivery schedules
• Maps and annotated images
• Casualty evacuation requests
• Briefing documents and presentations
• Refugee tracking on UNHCR standards
• Field requests for humanitarian assistance
• Contact rolodex with GIS location mapping
• Library of important publications and agreements

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• ToucanNavigate interactive Groove GIS tool.
• Brings collaborative GIS to the edge of the
  network
• Provides coordination and decision support
• Contains geospatial layers in standard GIS file
  formats
• May add objects, layers and metadata directly to
  maps
• May also track movements using standard GPS

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Library
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Information feeds Automated push from a request
(pull)
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ToucanNavigate
KGVAD-1
Lightweight and collaborative GIS Using standard
file formats With GPS integration, co-navigation,
and movement tracking
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Browser-based Groove collaboration tool
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Police Blotter
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• No military in the design
• No staff
• No training logistics
• No authority
• No funding
• No communications
• No civ-mil network
• And yet no other option.

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Plone to Zope to Groove to Zope to Plone
Open-source collaborative website
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Contacts with GIS mapping
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Strong Angel Topic Areas

• Translation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cultural awareness
• Information management

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Done.
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Comms in Iraq
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1
X
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1. UHF 2. VHF 3. HF 4. SATPHONE X. PA system
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Bring superb and open comms
use them daily across all boundaries
teach them to everyone and leave them behind.
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Do daily work over those shared comms so you
ensure they work properly
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Establishing community usefulness quickly
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Hardware resilience
Bring hardware suited to both the environment and
the tasks.
Panasonic Toughbook CF-73
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Remote surveillance
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FotoNotes Annotation on-screen
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Interactive tele-journalism in the field
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Strong Angel Topic Areas

• Translation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cultural awareness
• Information management

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Post-Conflict Reconstruction Indicators
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Strong Angel II The Onsite Team
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The task solutions were designed along lines
that reached
across competing organizations
and across civil-military boundaries
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Across cultures
and into the community.
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Donations to the local community
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MEGABEAM Rogue WiFi disturbance PACOM Joint Fr
equency Management Office And Melanie
Local community trust solved the problem not
technology.
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Flexible solar array
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Ethical consultation
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NATO contingent
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Re-stating the guiding principles

1. Disconnected operations are the rule, rather than
   the exception.
2. Agility is more valuable than planning.
3. Effectiveness depends on inclusiveness.
4. Trust only grows on neutral ground.
5. Open pipes and open eyes protect your data--not
   the network.
6. Expect to wage war and peace simultaneously.

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Questions?