Touting the need for change, military jointness and decentralization, two-time former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld covered familiar ground Jan. 23 during a network centric warfare conference.

"The leading edge of transformation can be a very turbulent spot," Rumsfeld said at the conference, sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA).

"The leading edge of transformation can be a very turbulent spot," Rumsfeld said. "With skilled and determined enemies, free nations cannot afford to stick with approaches and institutions from a time now gone. Complacency [and] acquiescence to opponents of change will only make those challenges more formidable."

Rumsfeld said that leadership will have to "accept and plan for uncertainty, expect surprise," and plan accordingly. "The U.S. military must be more joint, more decentralized, more networked, and better arranged to share information" across departments, agencies and coalition partners and allies.

His primary complaint focused on what he called a "fragmented, insular" government, "characterized by too much bureaucratic inertia." The military, Rumsfeld said, has moved "in fits and starts" toward becoming a successful joint force - due in large part to the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act. "The challenges of the 21st century are of a consequence and complexity that require that all national security institutions, not just the military, need to be reoriented, refashioned and reformed for the information age," Rumsfeld added. "The federal government needs...an ambitious transformation."

Rumsfeld also hammered the media for not covering more positive stories in Iraq. "The private media doesn't get up in the morning and say, 'What can we do to promote the values...of this country?'" he said. "They get up in the morning and say, 'What can we do to make money?'" Rumsfeld suggested a 21st century agency for global communication, which he has mentioned before, that would go a long way toward fighting the propaganda war in the Middle East.