John J. Garstka, Office of Force Transformation

Assistant Director, Concepts and Operations
Office of Force Transformation
Office of the Secretary of Defense

Mr. Garstka is the Assistant Director, Concepts and Operations, Office of Force Transformation (OFT) and a recognized thought leader in the area of Network Centric Warfare (NCW). In his current capacity he leads OFT initiatives in the areas of NCW Implementation and Education for Transformation.

Mr. Garstka is a recognized international speaker and has delivered the Network Centric Warfare message to military and commercial audiences worldwide. In addition, he has lectured at Harvard University, Georgetown University, the University of California at Irvine, University of Maryland, the National Defense University, the Army War College, the Air War College, the Naval War College, the Naval Postgraduate School and the US Naval Academy.

Prior to joining the Office of Force Transformation, Mr. Garstka was the Chief Technology Officer in the Joint Staff. Directorate for Command, Control, Computer and Communications (C4) Systems. In this capacity he played a key role in the development and conceptualization of network-centric warfare and was the Joint Staff lead for the Department of Defense’s Report to Congress on Network Centric Warfare.

Prior to joining the Joint Staff, Mr. Garstka was a Senior Systems Engineer with Cambridge Research Associates, where he had responsibility for leading consulting engagements with commercial and government customers.

Before joining Cambridge, Mr. Garstka served as an officer in the United States Air Force (USAF) for ten years, with assignments on the Air Staff and at USAF Space and Missile Center

Mr. Garstka is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1983. He also holds a Master of Science Degree in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University, where he studied as a Hertz Fellow.

Publications and reports he has authored or co-authored include:

Network Centric Warfare: Developing and Leveraging Information Superiority, by Alberts, Garstka, and Stein, CCRP Press, 1999. This book has been reprinted by leading IT companies and translated into three languages. Online at www.dodccrp.org

Understanding Information Age Warfare, by Alberts, Garstka, Hayes, and Signori, CCRP Press, 2001. Online at www.dodccrp.org

“Network Centric Warfare: It’s Origin and Future” which appeared in Proceedings of the Naval Institute in January of 1998.

“Network Centric Warfare: An Overview of Emerging Theory,” which appeared in PHALANX in December of 2000.

DoD Report to Congress on Network Centric Warfare, July 2001. Online at www.dodccrp.org