Summarized by the Alliance for Fort Gordon
Published October 2, 2026
During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Army benefited from an enormous advantage in night-vision technology — an advantage captured in the phrase “we own the night.” Retired Maj. Gen. Jefforey Smith argues that commanders now need to bring a similar mindset to electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO), where the ability to sense, communicate, maneuver and survive in a contested spectrum increasingly determines battlefield advantage.

