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It is increasingly important for the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement effective information systems policies and strategies, as future battles will be decided as much in "cyberspace" as in physical space. The use of effective computer programming languages and more broadly, of software engineering technology and policy designed for optimal support of DOD requirements is key to DOD's strategy of achieving information dominance for warfighting. For the past two decades, DOD has used programming language policy as a vehicle for obtaining cost-effective, high-performance information systems. However, the process of software development has changed considerably during this period, as has the computer industry itself. These changes have altered the environment in which DOD develops and produces information systems.

It is in this context that Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence) Emmett Paige, Jr., requested that the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) review DOD's current programming language policy. Convened by CSTB, the Committee on the Past and Present Contexts for the Use of Ada in the Department of Defense was asked to:

1. Review DOD's original (mid-1970s) goals and strategy for the Ada program;
2. Compare and contrast the past and present environments for DOD software development; and
3. Consider alternatives and propose a refined set of goals, objectives, and approaches better suited to meeting DOD's software needs in the face of ongoing technological change.

Although the committee focused on programming language issues, it also considered them in the context of software architectures, components, and life-cycle processes, consistent with the realization that successful software engineering strategy involves several elements that are at least as important as the programming language component.

Throughout its deliberations, the committee was sensitive to the fact that the issues surrounding Ada and DOD programming language policy have been the source of vigorous debate among DOD

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