Civil infrastructure dependency-the military `Achilles Heel´ or another facet of normal operations in the 21st century

We focus on the impact and dependencies of the military on commercial products (COTS), carriers, networks and facilities to provide integral support to military functions, as opposed to a reliance on bespoke military systems. Whilst this appears to offer greater flexibility and better value for money, meeting the modern challenges of rapid global deployments in support of coalition operations, such systems are, however, almost always outside defence direct control. By their very nature, if they are damaged or degraded, dependent military capability will also suffer. What was once an infrastructure controlled within a nation-state is now part of the global `ambient network´ and a Global Information Infrastructure. What are the challenges that must be met and managed by both the military and the citizen?