Army Digital Systems Complexity

This monograph examines the complexity of the Army's current digital systems. Currently the Army has an ever growing number of digital systems. These digital systems are supposedly designed to increase our Soldiers' efficiency and ability to command and control in a complex combat environment. The opposite can be argued in this paper. Designing a method for establishing the needed changes in the digital systems architecture for the Army is complex. The requirements articulated by the Army and the branches within the Army are not holistic in nature. The organizations that make the decisions and develop requirements for the digital systems are numerous and have competing ideas of what the digital solution should look like in the 21st century. The procurement and acquisition process is the underlying foundation by which we develop and purchase these digital systems. This procurement and acquisition process is a bloated and an outdated bureaucratic remnant of the industrial era. In order to gain the best that the digital era has to offer we must design a new and more resilient procurement and acquisition process The U.S. Congress has a significant responsibility to pass laws and make worthwhile reforms in our acquisition system. The solution for designing and procuring digital systems in the 21st century should be codified through the Congress and understood by the American people.