WRITER PROFILE
MGen (ret) John Leech, CMM, CD was the first DND Chief Information Officer. He retired in 1997 after almost 37 years in the Canadian Forces. Commissioned in RC Signals, he served at unit, formation and headquarters levels in Canadian, US, UK, and UN Forces, and at NATO HQ, in communications (electronics, operations and personnel policy) positions. A graduate of RMC, Canadian Land Forces Command & Staff College and the National Defence College, he commanded the HQ & Signal Sqn of 5ieme Brigade and CF Communication Command. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of Military Merit in 1994. Until very recently, MGen Leech was the General Manager of AFCEA Canada.
Articles by this writer
The maritime environment is well known for its inherent dangers, quite apart from those always present in naval operations. Small wonder, then, that “those in peril on the sea” are right out there in the use and development of unmanned vehicles to help accomplish the mission.
Last Fall, the Canadian Chief of the Air Staff, in an outline of the future vision for Air Force transformation, announced that the need for high-quality real-time intelligence will lead the Air Force into an unprecedented focus on multi-sensor-equipped, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Addressing the newest challenges and priorities of information management, Dan Ross helps to maximize IM capabilities in a diverse job with a broad scope and critical customers.
The military uses of unmanned (uninhabited!) vehicles have increased dramatically in the last few years.
FrontLine had the opportunity to chat with the Commandant about the Atlantic Littoral ISR Experiment (ALIX), the largest major undertaking in the ongoing CFEC program.
The Canadian Forces responds to the changing security environment.
Thanks to the timely work of a new association called UVS Canada and their first major conference, "Momentum 2003," held recently in Ottawa, there is now a focus and a platform for the kind of collaboration necessary to start exploring this potential.
