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 Newsmaker Profile: Marine Corps Col. Medio Monti
Responsible for joint systems integration, U.S. Joint Forces Command plays an important role in placing joint command and control capabilities into the hands of the warfighter. Recently, Marine Corps Col. Medio Monti, who oversees this effort as the commander of the Joint Systems Integration Command or JSIC, discussed his goals and expectations, the progress made by his team, and what lies ahead.
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By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(SUFFOLK, Va. – Sept. 9, 2008) – Command and control (C2) capabilities and technologies allow commanders to make better decisions. When they arrive in theater, it is critical that they are interoperable among the services so that everyone is on the same page.
The men and women of U.S. Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) Joint Systems Integration Command (JSIC) listen to the warfighter on how to do that better, make the improvements, and finally, work with program managers to get the fixes to these joint C2 systems in the hands of the warfighter.
JSIC's responsibilities include resolving C2 interoperability issues, evaluating existing and emerging C2 capabilities, and rapidly integrating technology solutions to support the joint warfighter.
JSIC Commander Marine Corps Col. Medio Monti leads these efforts and he recently took the time to discuss the goals and expectations of JSIC and where he thinks joint systems integration will head in the future.
Q: When you took command in August 2007, what were your expectations and goals with JSIC?
A: Not being familiar with the JSIC mission and coming directly from the Fleet Marine Force, my impression was that most of the folks who were in the field at the time were very much focused on real world missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because we were so immersed and entrenched in this close fight, there had to be some organization within the Department of Defense that would look at the long-term view of what’s happening in command and control.
In an organization like JSIC, we can help solve problems that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are having in the field, but more importantly, also look at the vision of what we’re going to be doing in the future.
The truth is we, USJFCOM, are looking at the future of warfighting. The enemy knows he can’t take us on using conventional means, so a future irregular fight becomes a real possibility. We have to think about how we fight these irregular conflicts. JSIC is positioned very well to be a part of that solution.
That’s kind of exciting for me. I’m a command and control systems guy. That’s what I do. My background is computer systems, so being able to come into a job where they said, ‘we need a computer systems guy,’ it was a good fit. After being here a year, I’ve been able to add value, take my experience and inject it into an environment which solves problems and finds solutions.
Q: What are some ways JSIC impacts the warfighter?
A: We have four core missions right now. One is that we do interoperability demonstrations, like [the Joint Systems Baseline Assessment], in order to solve interoperability problems and find solutions in the current legacy systems. We continue to do, when required, warfighter utility assessments.
Consider JSIC like the Consumer Reports of the joint C2 systems world. We look at systems and we ask the question, ‘So what? What’s the warfighter think of this system?’ We know the program manager delivered the system. We know the services bought it. But once it goes to the field, what do the warfighters think of it? Is it meeting their needs? If it’s not, then we need to help resolve that. That’s the second part of it.
The third part of it is that we are in direct support of the joint capability developer, the J8. We support his efforts as the C2 portfolio manager and we develop processes and tools and we do analysis for him to help him manage that portfolio for the Department of Defense.
Lastly, we are looking at future technology as a way to enable the warfighter. We use the words ‘net-enabled.’ Those future technologies include enterprise services, such as Net-Enabled Command Capability. We are very closely involved with a community of interest that is trying to bring Net-Enabled Command Capability as a warfighter capability for the department. We have structured ourselves in order to support the J8’s efforts in both Net-Enabled Command Capability , the capability portfolio management, and our other core competencies of warfighter utility assessments and interoperability demonstrations to solve C2 interoperability problems.
That’s the core of what we look at.
Q: What are some things JSIC does that people might not know about?
A: I also have a group of folks who look at emerging technologies, which is kind of a neat capability. There are other organizations that have similar kinds of capabilities, but my people are unique in that we don’t deliver solutions to the warfighter, but we’ll look at a whole range of technologies to see if some of these technologies can help enable us in solving legacy command and control interoperability problems.
We’re working with the Command, Control, Communications, and Computer Systems Directorate on the Global Broadcast System. We’re working with the Joint Special Operations Command in trying to push information out to the edge, meaning the warfighters in the field using commercial wireless technology. We’re helping them solve those problems using innovative solutions. We’ve had a long standing relationship with JSOC; we continue to work with their technology folks to develop solutions. That’s a relationship we’ll continue to grow.
Q: How does JSIC prepare the warfighter in an age of irregular warfare?
A: What we’re doing is identifying systems that, although they might be adequate in a conventional fight, are not meeting a nominal standard in an irregular fight.
One of the things that JSBA looked at involved joint targeting. What we found was that some of the joint targeting systems, although they’re very accurate when you’re talking about conventional warfighting, they’re not accurate when it comes to tracking irregular targets.
So we’re trying to look at ways that we can assist at adapting systems to the irregular fighter. JSBA looks at intelligence systems, so that was one of the things we looked at.
Q: Speaking of JSBA 08, what is your assessment on how things went?
A: Some of the things we looked at were assessing interoperability among systems, databases and services supporting joint targeting in a net centric environment. We had a number of problems, issues and findings that we identified, we’re still writing up the details.
We assessed interoperability in the battle space awareness arena, C2 systems like Global Command and Control System and Net-Enabled Command Capability, shared situational awareness in a net centric environment.
Our technical and operational assessments observed gains in C2 capability interoperability and also identified issues that would improve operational effectiveness.
Our third objective was assessing our operability collection management systems, services and joint C2 system databases. We helped improve some of the web services between PRISM, a collection management system and the Joint Targeting Toolbox.
The Joint Staff J2 was extremely happy with the products we produced in the overall conduct of the experiment. With those folks being the sponsor, those are the people that we have to make happy and they love JSIC. That worked out really well for us.
We’re excited to do the work because it is our core competency; it’s the kind of work that we do. To have the J2 look at us to be their central point of doing these interoperability demonstrations and assessments is really great work for JSIC and it’s going to keep us in business for a long time.
Q: Where do you see all of these efforts headed in the future?
A: I see us remaining involved in the evolution of Net-Enabled Command Capability and helping develop tools to assist the joint capability developer in accomplishing his mission.
We are continuing to engage in the COCOMs. For instance, I’m headed down to CENTCOM at the end of the month and I’m going to meet with the J6 down there. We directly engage the combatant commanders to try and ensure that we are meeting their mission needs. There’s nothing better than going directly to the general and asking, ‘How can I help you solve interoperability problems? What’s on the top of your list right now?’
CENTCOM is interested in solving collaboration challenges. We’re helping them look at some software solutions to standardize the collaboration tool that they use in the field. That project is working right now using a specific commercial software package to be used at command posts in the future. We’re trying to assist them in looking at those products using our labs.
Additionally down the road, we are going to dedicate a large part of our facility for CWID 09. We’re engaging with all of the organizations around USJFCOM that are going to be participants in Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) 09 and I’m actually reconfiguring my entire lower level lab to support CWID 09. Right now, we’re engaging with the rest of the CWID community to formalize JSIC’s assessment role. That’s going to be a big deal for us next spring.
Q: What are you most proud of since you’ve been here?
A: I am most proud of being the Marine leader who can inject himself into the joint environment, which is composed of military, government civilians and contractors and to be an effective leader and perform as a cohesive team.
Honestly, I’m a technical guy, but it’s not as important to me as being the [commanding officer] of JSIC. Being a Marine leader is more important to me than all of this technical stuff. It’s how the organization functions. When you sit where I sit, you can tell that people are motivated. They like what they do. They like where they work. They produce graduate level products.
After being here a year, everything that we’ve touched, we get nothing but good accolades and positive feedback from every project we’ve worked with here. That, for me as a commander, is very satisfying. It’s very rewarding. I’m excited.
When you’re the commander, the reward you get is seeing your team come together and work together as a team. Then being recognized as a professional organization, not only within USJFCOM, but within the Department of Defense. When we receive the respect that organizations like CENTCOM J6, like TRANSCOM, like Joint Staff J2, our own J8, J6, give when they say, ‘we want JSIC on our team.’ That means a lot to us and to me personally as the commander.
Q: What is the key theme you want people to take away with them when it comes to USJFCOM’s role in joint systems integration?
A: The one key takeaway is that I’m here to solve problems for the warfighter. I’m resourced to do it, meaning you don’t have to pay anything for JSIC’s services. If you have a problem with interoperability in a C2 system, all you’ve got to do is ask. We’re funded and resourced to help you solve your problems.
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