How much of an increase in mission effectiveness does the Link 16 communications system provide in prosecuting air-to-air combat and how can the observed increase in actual performance be attributed to the advantage of network-centric operations?

The challenge of securing U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) information systems has grown significantly. A new approach to information assurance certification and accreditation (IA C&A) is needed to effectively extend the IA C&A process to aggregations of systems and improve their security. An examination of current policy shows that a number of changes could enable the IA C&A of aggregations of DoD information systems on a common platform.

This report presents an approach and framework for determining what parties have authority to issue interoperability policy, the legal and policy origins and implementation paths of the authority, and the extent of the authority. The approach includes rigorous analysis by researchers to identify pertinent authorities in federal law and a means to facilitate discovery of roles and responsibilities in Department of Defense and Service policies.