the adl initiative traces its antecedents to the early 1990s, when congress authorized and appropriated funds for the national guard to build prototype electronic classrooms and learning networks to increase personnel's access to learning opportunities. by the mid-1990s, dod realized the need for a more coordinated approach, and the "1996 quadrennial defense review" formalized this by directing development of a department-wide strategy for modernizing technology-based education and training. this strategy became the original adl initiative, and in 1998, the deputy secretary of defense directed the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness (usd(p&r), in collaboration with the services, joint staff, under secretaries of defense for acquisition and technology and the comptroller), to lead adl. the deputy secretary of defense also directed the usd(p&r) to produce the department-wide policy for advanced distributed learning, develop a corresponding “master plan” to carry out the policy, and to ensure sufficient programs and resources were available for the associated implementation (see the 1999 adl strategic plan in appendix 1 for more details).