Defense ARJ executive editor.

Welcome to the Defense Acquisition Review Journal (ARJ) theme edition on transformation. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the need to transform many governmental functions of the United States has become more and more apparent. With every act of terror in the world, such as the recent attacks against the London transportation system, the transformation initiative within the Department of Defense (DoD) seeks new methods of meeting the increased challenges of national security in the 21st century. First and foremost, transformation is an evolving process without a definitive endpoint. The goal of this initiative is to create opportunities to ensure sustainment of the American competitive advantage in warfare. By necessity, transformation within the Department must deal with more than just military technology, weapons, and tactics. It must also consider changes in concepts, processes, and organizations. Since much of the ongoing transformational process is cultural, people at all levels in the Department need to understand, accept, and embrace these changes.

Our featured author for this edition is Allen Friar. His article, "Why Training for Service Contract Management is Mission Essential," discusses the importance of service contracts, including battlefield contracts, which provide essential services and act as force multipliers for forward-deployed units. Friar emphasizes that transformations in contracting procedures and acquisition leadership are essential and makes some practical suggestions for effective contract administration.

The following article, "Modularity: An Application of General Systems Theory to Military Force Development," by Dr. Melissa Schilling and COL Christopher Paparone, U.S. Army, studies the impact of modularity in our defense forces at the organizational, technical, and operational levels. Modularity is an integral part of our force design and plays a huge role in conducting complex, integrated military operations.

Tom Edison's article, "Social Networking Analysis: One of the First Steps in NetCentric Operations," examines the importance of social networking on transformation and net-centric operations. This article reviews several key concepts and theories of network analysis and offers examples of how this management tool can enhance DoD transformation to net-centric operations.

The next article, "Development and Analysis of Integrated C4ISR Architectures," by Kristin Giammarco, Michael Carlomusto, and J. D. Lock proposes methodologies for development and utilization of integrated architecture products designed for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems-of-systems engineering analysis. Our military commanders are placing increased emphasis on doctrinally correct, consistent, and all-inclusive operational, system, and technical views based on the DoD Architecture Framework. The attainment of robust and timely architecture views will enable better acquisition decisions as armed services undergo transformation.

The following article, "Innovative Procurement Strategies," by David Eiband highlights the execution of two innovative procurement experiments that met defined goals in research, development, test, and evaluation of procurement strategies. These experiments may lead to fiscal methods, which increase savings, operate more efficiently, and produce higher quality products.

The final article, "Toward Centralized Control of Defense Acquisition Programs," by John Dillard challenges the new acquisition framework, which may have brought pervasive turbulence to defense acquisition policy implementation. The author asserts that although current policy is designed to support flexibility and innovation, in reality, it adds complexity and confusion. According to Dillard, the current framework is not compatible with the goals it is trying to achieve.

Hopefully, we have incorporated information of interest to you as the reader of our transformation theme edition. Perhaps one of our next two editions, "Systems Engineering Best Practices and Lessons Learned," (December 2005-March 2006) and "Technology Transition and Implications" (February 2006) will fall within your area of interest or those of your colleagues. If you are doing research in these areas and would like to submit an article, please contact the Managing Editor at [e-mail]. Similarly, if you are interested in being an article reviewer in any of those areas, we would like to hear from you.

Dr. Paul A. Alfieri

Executive Editor

Defense ARJ

A NOTE FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

Since Dr. Beryl Harman's retirement from the Defence Acquisition University (DAU) in April, 2005, a new executive editor for the Defence ARJ has been named. As of August 1, 2005, Dr. Paul Alfieri has taken over as the Director of Research at DAU, as well as chairman and executive editor of the Defence ARJ. Dr. Alfieri is anxious to maintain the momentum that Harman created and to continue the concept of theme editions featuring topics relevant to the Department of Defence Acquisition, Technology and Logistics community. Dr. Alfieri is looking forward to working with a strong team of authors and article reviewers in the future.