Citation[]
General Accounting Office, Information Technology: The World Wide Military Command and Control System - Major Changes Needed in Its Automated Data Processing Management and Direction (LCD-80-22) (Dec. 14, 1979) (full-text).
Overview[]
The GAO analyzed the development of the DoD's World Wide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) (pronounced WIMEX). WWMCCS is intended to provide the National Command Authorities (the President and the Secretary of Defense) a capability to:
- receive warning and intelligence information,
- apply the resources of the military departments,
- assign military missions, and
- provide direction to the Unified and Specified Commands.
The GAO concluded that the objectives of the WWMCCS ADP program had not yet been achieved, although about $1 billion had been spent since the start of the current program in 1966. The management structure was so complex and fragmented that no one organization or individual had a complete overview of the program or the centralized responsibility for its funding, budgeting, and management. As a result, the WWMCCS ADP program was not responsive to national or local level requirements, was not reliable, lacked economical and effective growth potential, could not transfer data and information efficiently, made it extremely difficult and costly to exploit ADP technology, impaired each command's operational backup capability, and encouraged independent and decentralized software development efforts.