Command and Control Research Program

The Command and Control Research Program (CCRP) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (NII) focuses upon (1) improving both the state of the art and the state of the practice of command and control (C2) and (2) enhancing DoD's understanding of the national security implications of the Information Age. It provides "Out of the Box" thinking and explores ways to help DoD take full advantage of Information Age opportunities. The CCRP bridges the operational and technical communities and enhances the body of knowledge and research infrastructure needed for future progress.

The CCRP pursues a broad program of research and analysis in command and control (C2) theory, doctrine, applications, systems, the implications of emerging technology, and C2 experimentation. It also develops new concepts for C2 in joint, combined, and coalition operations in the context of both traditional and non-traditional missions (OOTW). Additionally, the CCRP supports professional military education in the areas of C2, Information Superiority, network-centric operations, and related technologies. To complement its own program of research, the CCRP provides a clearinghouse and archive for other C2 research, publishes books and monographs, and sponsors workshops and symposia.

The CCRP program serves as a bridge among the operational, technical, analytical, and educational communities. It focuses on emerging requirements and mission areas where new concepts are needed. Combined and coalition operations constitute one of these areas. The evolution of Mission Capability Packages (MCPs) is the CCRP's approach to transforming new and promising concepts into real operational capabilities through the judicious blending of new C2 technologies and the essential elements of all related capabilities needed to field C2 mission capabilities.

Dr. David S. Alberts is currently the Director of Research for OASD (NII) / DoD CIO.

Conferences and Events
The CCRP sponsors a number of events each year. These symposia, workshops, and special meetings bring together the brightest and most innovative minds of the military, government, industry, and academia to share ideas, explore new concepts, and understand the implications of emerging technologies. They are designed to encourage the coalescence of a knowledgeable and energized command, control, and transformation community that is better able to meet the national security challenges of the 21st century. The challenges include not only those associated with warfighting but also the challenges of stabilization, homeland defense, peacekeeping, and the full range of disaster relief and humanitarian missions.

The largest CCRP events are the (International) Command and Control Research and Technology Symposia or (I)CCRTS. These events have been held in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

At each event, the attendees present hundreds of technical papers on diverse subjects related to command and control. Recurring subjects include Experimentation, Modeling and Simulation, Cognitive and Social Domain issues, Architectures, Metrics, Information Operations, New Technologies, Networks and Networking, Lessons Learned, Coalition Interoperability, and the Future of C2.

The CCRP website contains the complete papers and presentations from each conference.

FACT
The CCRP sponsors the Focus, Agility, and Convergence Team (FACT). FACT is a forum for bringing practitioners, theorists, and analysts together to progress in conceiving and developing new approaches to achieving the agility, focus and convergence needed to successfully prepare for and participate in complex endeavors across the spectrum of crisis to conflict. Presentation materials can be downloaded from the FACT webpage.

International C2 Journal
The International C2 Journal is an internationally directed and peer reviewed publication that presents articles written by authors from all over the world in many diverse fields of Command and Control such as systems, human factors, experimentation, and operations. The Journal features Special Issues consisting of carefully prepared papers all designed to address a single topic or theme. The Journal is overseen by an Editorial Board comprising representatives from many nations with Dr. David S. Alberts serving as Chairman.

Publications
The CCRP has been publishing works on military science, theory, and history since 1994 (at that time, the CCRP published through the National Defense University, or NDU). Most of these works may be downloaded in PDF format from the organization's website, www.dodccrp.org.

Recent works include:
 * The NATO NEC C2 Maturity Model (2010)
 * Planning: Complex Endeavors by David S. Alberts and Richard E. Hayes (2007)
 * The Logic of Warfighting Experiments by Richard Kass (2006)
 * Complexity, Networking, and Effects-Based Approaches to Operations by Edward Smith (2006)
 * Understanding Command and Control by David S. Alberts and Richard E. Hayes (2006)
 * Campaigns of Experimentation by David S. Alberts and Richard E. Hayes (2005)
 * The Agile Organization by Simon Reay Atkinson and James Moffat (2005)

Other prominent titles include:
 * Power to the Edge by David S. Alberts and Richard E. Hayes (2003)
 * Complexity Theory and Network Centric Warfare by James Moffat (2003)
 * Lessons from Kosovo by Larry Wentz (2002)
 * The NATO Code of Best Practice for C2 Assessment (2002)
 * Understanding Information Age Warfare by Alberts, Garstka, Hayes, and Signori (2001)
 * Network Centric Warfare by Alberts, Garstka, and Stein (1999)
 * Shock and Awe by Ullman, Wade, et al. (1996)