The Director of the U. S. Department of Defense Command and Control Research Program welcomes you to the 10th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium.

The 10th ICCRTS marks a major milestone in the development, growth, and evolution of our community. The intense interest in Transformation, with a corresponding increased interest in Command and Control, comes at a time when we are discovering that our traditional approaches to Command and Control need to be re-examined in light of a changing mission environment and the opportunities afforded by Information Age concepts and technologies. Our theme this year, The Future of Command… Control… points us in the right direction-to consider new possibilities, particularly those outside of our comfort zones. We should, however, take a moment to reflect upon the increased level of interest, understanding, and broadening of our community. Over the past years, we have seen an increase in interoperability, not only technical interoperability, but interoperability in the information, cognitive, and social domains. We have seen both a need for, and an increased interest in, the co-evolution of mission capability packages, requiring that we include a greater variety of people and organizations in our conversations. In addition, we see a need for, and hence have an increased interest in, civil-military operations that greatly extend the set of mission participants so that interoperability is no longer a simple Joint problem, but a coalition problem, including government agencies, private volunteer organizations, and a variety of nongovernmental organizations.

The plenary and technical sessions are designed to reflect a broad range of ideas and prospects. In addition to individual presentations, we have several panels planned for the plenary to provide an opportunity to hear about a variety of experiences. These sessions will continue to speak to common concerns within the context of Information Age challenges and technologies. The presentations are once again available online prior to the start of the Symposium, to provide participants an opportunity to choose sessions to attend, and to assist in their preparation to engage presenters in dialogue. We look forward to your active participation in making the Symposium a success.

We also hope you will consider participation in next year's CCRTS scheduled for June 2006, and the 11th ICCRTS scheduled for fall 2006. Watch the CCRP Web site for updated information.

Dr David S. Alberts
Director of Research OASD (NII)