AGILE ENGINEERING IN SUPPORT OF THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR (GWOT)

                                Dr. R. Cherinka
                             The MITRE Corporation


                                  ABSTRACT

Net-Centric  Solutions,  as  enabled  through  distributed  service-oriented
architectures, will have a significant effect on the way  the  DoD  acquires
capabilities, thereby requiring new ways  to  address  the  development  and
integration of complex enterprises.  One approach, based on commercial  best
practices, entails establishing an environment  and  set  of  processes  for
users and developers to work together in the development and  maturation  of
capabilities as they transform from innovation to  fielded  capability.   In
this paper, we discuss an approach that  USSOCOM  and  MITRE  are  using  to
evaluate and mature capabilities that support the Global War on Terror.   It
is based on using a distributed innovation lab  environment  in  conjunction
with a series of  warfighter  workshops  focused  on  themes  and  challenge
problems identified by USSOCOM.   The  workshops  are  designed  to  provide
hands-on  warfighter  immersion  into  emerging  processes,   concepts   and
capabilities combined with facilitated discussions to develop and/or  refine
CONOPS and Tactics, Techniques and Procedures.  We  highlight  some  of  the
capabilities provided, techniques  used,  challenges  faced,  and  how  this
approach impacted the user.  Finally, we discuss our future plans to  extend
this approach to other customers and locations  in  order  to  fully  assess
GWOT missions across a net-centric enterprise.

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Biography


Dr. Robert Cherinka is a Senior Principal Information Systems Engineer for
the MITRE Corporation, located in Tampa, Fl.  His expertise is in software
and process engineering, with a focus toward XML-based web service and
semantic web technologies.  Bob is currently a Department Head for
Interoperability and Site Technology, leading a distributed team of IT
professionals located at 7 MITRE locations in developing and applying
emerging technologies that enable network-centric interoperability across
several major US Government domains including Air Operations, Special
Operations, Combat Support, Space and Strategic Command and Control, and
Homeland Security.

Prior to becoming a department head, Bob was the Chief Engineer for the Air
and Space Operations Center Weapon System at Langley Air Base, Hampton, VA,
where he was responsible for the technical leadership for standardizing and
modernizing the Air Operations Center toward network-centric operations.
Bob was also the principal investigator for MITRE's Joint BattleSpace
Infosphere and policy-based computing research initiatives.  Prior to
joining MITRE in 1993, he was an Officer performing software engineering
duties in the United States Air Force at the Air Combat Command Computer
Support Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia.

In 2000, Dr. Cherinka earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Old Dominion
University, Norfolk, Virginia, leading research in static analysis and
testing techniques for component-based systems.  In addition, he earned a
M.S. in computer science in 1991 from Old Dominion University, as well as a
B.S. in computer science in 1987 from the University of Pittsburgh.  He has
published numerous papers and conference presentations in the areas of
software and process engineering, service-oriented architectures,
enterprise IT infrastructures, information management, and On-Demand
computing.  He is a member of the IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, and ACM.