The Army is taking a painfully slow approach in letting its soldiers use networking technology on the battlefield, according to an article in the National Defense magazine.

A case in point is the Army's "land warrior" communications system that connects a small group of soldiers into a command-and-control network. The advanced system shows the location of a soldier on a digital eyepiece that the troops can use without voice communication. It sounds like a great tool that avoids tipping off the enemy that U.S. soldiers are nearby.

However, soldiers are required to have a secret clearance to be able to operate it. So soldiers must obtain waivers to access the information and other data like it. It's not an easy road to get these clearances either.

It's not practical for every soldier and marine to have a security clearance to tap into databases they use in day-to-day operations, says Brig. Gen. Peter N. Fuller, the Army's program executive officer for soldier equipment. He says that the restrictions are "killing us" because they impede Army efforts to deploy wireless systems, and much more.

The Army and Marine Corps are working on changing the policy with the assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration. The magazine reports that the issue was raised recently at an industry gathering where an Army general complained that DoD is still "governed by Cold War policies" that deny soldiers access to information.

For more on the Army's self-imposed technology woes:
- see this National Defense Magazine article

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