E-readers bring savings to USTRANSCOM

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – It’s only a matter of time before paper and ink join typewriters, floppy disks and vinyl records as answers to trivia game questions.

The popular Kindles, Nooks, tablets, smart phones and the like make the personal access display devices (PADDs), used in Star Trek episodes and films look like stone tablets, in comparison.

So, it’s only natural that electronic read-books, or e-readers, eventually replace paper-and-ink-books in our lives.

With this in mind, the Intelligence directorate at U.S. Transportation Command has introduced electronic tablets similar to iPads or Kindles, to replace the paper process for daily use. 

According to Master Sgt. Matthew Parr, USTRANSCOM Intelligence directorate, the devices were the first operational tablets in the Intelligence Community.

“They are the daily intelligence products we deliver to all the USTRANSCOM directorates that provide an overview of current and emerging events for leadership awareness,” Parr said. “Last year we began a pilot project to transition our classified intelligence read-books from paper books to electronic tablets.” 

“We have since implemented the transition with a great deal of support and assistance from General Fraser (Gen. William M. Fraser III, commander USTRANSCOM),” Parr continued, “as well as kudos from the JCS/J2 (Joint Chiefs of Staff-Director of Intelligence Defense Intelligence Agencies) and DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) Director Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, for our innovation and forward leaning on this new Intelligence Community practice.”

The e-readers not only keep USTRANSCOM leaders up to date, they help save time and money.

“We stopped printing paper books at $36,000 per year,” Parr said, “and the new process takes less than one hour as opposed to the 4.5 hours it took for the old process.   The tablets and our processes have been adopted by five other COCOMS with an annual DOD savings of roughly $1.3 million.”

                                                            - USTRANSCOM -