PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- Twenty-four senior Reserve information warfare (IW) officers wrapped up a three-day leadership symposium Aug. 30 at the Center for Information Dominance (CID) in Pensacola.
Hosted by Rear Adm. Daniel J. MacDonnell, commander, Information Dominance Corps Reserve Command (IDCRC), the meeting brought together captains and senior commanders to talk about a variety of issues affecting both officers and enlisted personnel within the Reserve IW community, and their place within the broader Information Dominance Corps (IDC).
The IDC was stood up in 2009, while the IDCRC was established as a new type command in 2012 for all Reserve personnel within the IW, intelligence, information professional, space, and oceanography and meteorology communities.
"Although it is critical and expected for senior officers in the IDC to think and act holistically as members of the Information Dominance Corps, each IDC community brings a different culture, optic and approach to doing business and solving problems," said MacDonnell. "Our strength is founded upon the individuality and diversity of each community like IW, which IDCRC leverages to ensure that we are able to man, train and equip the Reserve personnel necessary to sustain the Navy's three core Information Dominance capabilities: Assuring command and control, Maintaining battlespace awareness and Integrating kinetic and non-kinetic fires."
The participants, who hailed from Navy Information Operations Commands (NIOC), IDC regional commands and other IDC units and embedded billets across the country, spent the weekend grappling with a wide range of issues impacting IW personnel and their ability to support the Navy and the IDC's missions.
The symposium was the first gathering in years to include every Reserve captain from the IW community, many of whom had served with each other previously, building deep ties and bringing deep expertise that was reflected in the complexity and nuance of the various discussions.
Topics covered in panels, working groups and presentations included clarifying IDC career milestones and progressions, realigning billets to better match mission requirements and align with geographic locations, reallocating funding to meet evolving requirements, promoting mentorship opportunities, and improving the process for IW Sailors to complete all necessary IW and IDC training and qualifications in a timely manner.
On the second day of the symposium, MacDonnell was joined by the other two Reserve IDC flag officers, Rear Adm. Gene Price, deputy commander of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet, and Rear Adm. Linnea Sommer-Weddington, the director of Assured Command and Control Information Dominance (OPNAV N2/N6F1).
Price spoke about the numerous operational cyber threats that the Navy is countering - the IDC is adding nearly 300 cyber billets in the next four years to support such efforts - but also reflected on how he is beginning to see a change in how Sailors from the unique IDC communities view each other at Fleet Cyber Command.
"We do so many similar things across the IDC designators that I see a lot of overlap today. We are becoming more inclusive, more integrated and more collaborative, even in just the last year," noted Price. "The junior officers on my staff have a new mindset; they don't have the same divisions and preconceptions about their communities. They understand that while they may have different specialties, they all serve as part of the IDC."
Sommer-Weddington provided insight into FY16 priorities and recent leadership changes from her position within the Pentagon, where OPNAV N2/N6 currently manages a budget of over $13 billion annually to enable Information Dominance priorities throughout the Navy.
The Center for Information Dominance based at Corry Station in Pensacola, Florida, is the Navy's learning center that leads, manages and delivers Navy and joint forces training in information operations, information warfare, information technology, cryptology and intelligence. During the meeting, CID staff briefed attendees on the status of its training programs for IDC Reservists and also provided a tour of the center's Joint Cyber Analysis Course.
"It is important for each community's leaders within the IDC to gather on a regular basis, with the support and participation of the flag officers," MacDonnell said. "These discussions, which are driven by perspectives and personalities shaped through the collective experience of hundreds of years of service, are critical for the future of the IDC."
For more information on the Center for Information Dominance, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ceninfodom/; www.facebook.com/CenterForInformationDominance/; and http://twitter.com/CenterInfoDom/.
For more news from Center for Information Dominance, visit www.navy.mil/local/cid/.