The Army’s battlefield intelligence processor is difficult to operate, suffers system failures, and sometimes impedes the flow of intelligence information, according to a June Government Accountability Office report obtained by the Washington Times.
The GAO examined the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) and found several problems. Additionally, the Pentagon’s top tester gave the system a failing grade last year.
But the Army says the system is a great step forward in collecting multiple pieces of intelligence for analysts to retrieve to better understand the enemy — in this case, insurgents in Afghanistan or Islamic terrorists.
The June "official use only" report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Times, is being released as Congress writes next year’s defense budget. There are moves afoot, primarily by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, to limit funding and force the Army to consider commercially available products.
The GAO tested a commercially available product called Palantir and found that it was often preferred by soldiers.
However, Army Maj. Gen. Harold Greene told Fox News that Palantir only performs 8-10 percent of the functions DCGS does.
The GAO said common ground system developers have "made considerable progress" in developing one data standard so information can be shared among analysts in different military branches.
But the Pentagon has yet to develop a plan stating what metrics it wants the system to achieve. Without it, the GAO said, the Pentagon is unable to determine whether the system has improved the ability of analysts to carry out their tasks.