Agents for Net-Centric Warfare and Time Critical Targets

“Terrorists don’t think and move the way armies do. In Afghanistan they learned to hide when they suspected American Bombers were targeting them. To defeat groups like alQaeda, you have to attack as soon as you find them. With speed you can deny sanctuary to terrorists. In Afghanistan the Pentagon was able to reduce that time (the kill chain) to less than 10 minutes. But in those several minutes...at Tora Bora al-Qaeda fighters were able to escape due to delays in striking targets. In the future U.S. forces will have to locate targets and drop bombs in the time it takes to watch a couple of TV commercials. But speed has to be balanced with reliability (and accuracy), as at least a half-dozen accidental attacks on Afghan civilians and U.S. troops showed.” From a recent article in USA Today (“Afghanistan’s Lessons Shaping New Military”, Oct. 8, 2002).