Finding the Enemy on the Data-Swept Battlefield of 2035

Allen discusses the search of enemy on the data-swept battlefield of 2035. To find the enemy today, armed forces point information collection assets, which may identify anything from a visual signature to a unique radio frequency, in the direction they think the enemy is until they find the enemy's location. Such model is outdated because cyberspace's growth into a global control network that connects devices has created a new, data-swept battlefield, covered by billions of networked devices that are constantly sharing information and can be exploited to find the enemy more efficiently. By 2035, armed forces on the data-swept battlefield will typically find the enemy by exploiting data in cyberspace and in the broader information environment rather than by monitoring enemy forces directly with their own information collection assets. Put more plainly, the enemy is going to broadcast where it is, or third parties are going to broadcast where the enemy is, as often as armed forces are going to point a camera or antenna at the enemy to find it. Armed forces will constantly query a wide variety of databases of both publicly available and sensitively acquired cyberspace information for indicators of where the enemy is located.