The Director of the Department of Defense Command and Control Research Program (DoD CCRP) welcomes you to the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium. Sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (ASD/C3I) and hosted this year by the United States Naval War College, the 1999 CCRTS is the direct product of initiatives developed under the Office of Naval Research and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over twenty years ago.

The theme for the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium is Change and Continuity in the Future of Command and Control. A rule of thumb for information technology, namely, that capability, memory, and speed doubles every 18 months, implies that the only constancy for C2 technologies, doctrine, tactics, and organizations may very well be the idea that change will inevitably occur in a continuous manner over time. Conference attendees and participants are asked to identify and discuss both the technologically dependent and technologically independent trends within the command and control environment for both the near-term and over our planning horizon.

To enable the broadest range of expert opinion and views, senior members of the government, military, commercial and academic C2 research communities are here to share their vision, insights, and concerns. By synthesizing the expertise of these communities, the CCRP hopes to gain significant insights into the operational, developmental, and technical aspects of command and control Systems.

The presentations once again are being published prior to the start of the Symposium to help attendees make the difficult choices of which session to attend and to make them better prepared to engage presenters in meaningful dialogue. We are looking forward to the presentations and hope you will take an active part in making the Symposium a successful endeavor. We also hope that you will consider participating at one or both of our upcoming events, the 5^th International Symposium on Command & Control Research & Technology Symposium tentatively scheduled in Sydney, Australia (Autumn, 2000), or the 2000 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium.