THE CHARTER

Section 262 of the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 directed the Secretary of Defense to request that the National Research Council conduct a review of current and planned service and defense-wide programs for command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) with a special focus on cross-service and inter-service issues. (For purposes of this report, C4I systems include systems designed to support a commander's exercise of command and control across the range of military operations and to generate information and knowledge about an adversary and friendly forces.)