In this project we propose to develop a holistic approach to managing multi-hop broadband systems with three intertwined components: a cognitive sensing infrastructure for sensing and situation awareness, a cognitive routing infrastructure for scheduling, admission control, cognitive routing and frequency management, and a waveform adaptation infrastructure for power control, waveform shaping, dynamic spectrum access as well as avoidance of interference and jammers. The project will develop a cognitive network infrastructure for situation awareness and waveform adaptation at the physical layer, and permeate its benefits to upper layers including medium access control and packet scheduling, admission control, joint routing and spectrum management, and mission-driven application layers. The cognition network will enable optimized network routing and management relative to user intents and wide-area net-centric sources, leading to mission-driven network optimization that enables covert communication, interference control, robust routing, and efficient random access.