Moving Along

Officials conducting a capabilities-based assessment of the military's forensics capabilities will soon wrap up the functional needs analysis of the drill, we're told. Next up, starting in June, will be a functional solutions analysis, which will have officials thinking about concrete solutions to the many capability gaps found during the FNA.

The goal is to formulate a Defense Department-wide program with centralized oversight of the relatively new area of battlefield forensics. Counterinsurgency operations amid the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the need for law-enforcement-style capabilities to solve what officials consider crimes, including suicide attacks and attacks with improvised explosive devices.

The Army's Training and Doctrine Command is leading the CBA. The drill is part of the Joint Capabilities Integration Development System, a highly scripted process designed to ensure new capabilities can be used across the services.