PHOTO: Daniel Sudnick Collection

Daniel R. Sudnick

IEEE Member Daniel R. Sudnick served in Iraq following the end of the military phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the beginning of the reconstruction phase of overall operations. His tour as Senior Advisor for Communications at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), in Baghdad, was to direct the authority's reconstruction efforts and its multinational investments in the telecommunications infrastructure. He oversaw the formation and launch of the Iraqi Ministry of Communications (MOC) and a nascent, independent regulatory body, the Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission.

Under authority of the CPA, Sudnick tackled the problems of restoring landline telecommunications networks, developing new wireless and cell-based telephony and IT services, establishing rules for frequency spectrum for civilian and military purposes, and even reestablishing the nation's postal system. His ministry issued over 120 radio and television licenses. Where only one monopoly telephone company existed before the war, six licensed operators now exist. Since January 2004, the mobile cellphone operators have added nearly 700 000 new subscribers at a rate of 15 000 new subscribers per week. There are now about five times more phone subscribers in Iraq as there were before the war, as Executive Editor Glenn Zorpette points out in this month's feature "Iraq Goes Wireless".

With the imminent stand-down of the CPA looming, Sudnick resigned his position in spring 2004 to resume his private sector career. Sudnick's former colleagues remained as advisors to the new Iraqi government and continued numerous reconstruction projects, including upgrades of the country's transmission network for multi-carrier use. The team has also begun the construction of metropolitan broadband wireless networks, is propelling the link-up of Iraq's nationwide fiber-optic network with international undersea cable operators, and is driving the design and deployment of a comprehensive land mobile radio network for first responders And Iraq's 230-plus post offices have been restored and now ship over 2 million pieces of mail a day.

Sudnick has Ph.D. degrees in physics and physical chemistry from Pennsylvania State University. He completed senior executive programs in public policy at Harvard University, in national security at the National Defense University, and in finance at Rutgers University. He is a retired captain in the United States Naval Reserve. He and his family reside in Churchton, Md., and in Lake Oswego, Ore.

He recently answered questions about his experiences in Iraq for Spectrum Online.

Spectrum: From observation and dialog during your service in Iraq, how would you describe the nation, in general, as a technological society in the modern era?

Sudnick: With few exceptions, Iraqis aspire to transform their country to one with a strong technological foundation, yet one that co-exists within their strong and culturally diverse heritage.

Many Iraqis in middle to senior management positions were frequently educated abroad, typically in European countries. They acquired language proficiency, technical foundations and industrial experiences that were then relevant. Unfortunately, many of these same senior officials suffered isolation from modern technology developments that have occurred over the past 25 years. Consequently, senior Iraqi decision makers at the various ministries have not maintained currency in their technological awareness and skills. Similarly, many senior officials remain out of touch with business practices within their respective industries. I witnessed this not only in telecommunications but also in banking, transportation, and energy.

When the CPA purged the ministries of officials possessing senior Baath party ranks, institutional knowledge went with them. Running the government with a newly promoted team of middle managers amplified these disconnects.

Younger Iraqis are consumer-oriented. TVs, DVDs, and similar consumer electronics abound. Cellphones have flooded the country. SMS text messaging has become a big hit.

The educational system, however, remains woefully inadequate for training future engineers and managers. And without a functioning economy, little capital remains to reinvest in R&D projects.

Recognizing these deficiencies in developing human capital, we coined the expression "adopt a ministry." By this, we meant let's find some spare funds to fund R&D and budding entrepreneurs. We began to succeed with moving many under-employed technical workers in the Ministry of Science and Technology to newly funded IT projects. One project was with the University of Texas.

Spectrum: Concerning your specific portfolio, as Zorpette notes in his article, Iraqis today are using nearly 5 million telephones, most of these are cellphones. That's about five times more phones than (the landline phones) they used prior to the 2003 war. In your opinion, what are the salient factors explaining this dramatic improvement in telecommunications infrastructure?