PENSACOLA, Fla. – The commander of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet visited staff and students at the Center for Information Dominance (CID) June 12, 2013.
This is the second visit to CID by Vice Adm. Michael S. Rogers since he assumed command of Fleet Cyber Command and 10th Fleet in September 2011.
“I’m delighted to host Vice Adm. Rogers again,” CID Commanding Officer Capt. Susan Cerovsky said. “As our major stakeholder, it is absolutely critical we have these face-to-face meetings with the operational commander, because they allow us to gain a better understanding of training and priorities now and in the future.”
Fleet Cyber Command serves as the Navy component command to U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command, providing operational employment of the Navy’s cyber, network operations, information operations, cryptologic/signals intelligence and space forces; and Navy’s Service Cryptologic Component commander to the National Security Agency/Central Security Service.
Tenth Fleet is the operational arm of Fleet Cyber Command and executes its mission set through the same maritime warfighting organizations and mechanisms that the Navy uses in other warfighting domains.
Rogers said he is always thrilled to return to CID, where he began his career as a Navy cryptologist 26 years ago.
“It’s great to come back and remember things, comparing them to when I first got here,” Rogers said. “It’s also great to see how training continues to evolve as our challenges continue to change.”
The first step of that journey from a new accession Sailor to full-fledged cyber warrior begins at a CID schoolhouse.
CID 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.
“We have to be as operationally ready in the cyberspace area as we are in every other war fighting mission,” Rogers said. “Cyber readiness, like readiness in all war fighting areas, is a team effort – it takes all of our teammates across the Navy.”
CID provides training for approximately 24,000 members of the U.S. Armed Services and allied forces each year. With a staff of nearly 1,300 military, civilian and contracted staff members, CID oversees the development and administration of 226 courses at four commands, two detachments, and 16 learning sites throughout the United States and Japan.
Joining Rogers for part of the day was Rear Adm. Don Quinn, commander, Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), which is located at nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola. Rogers and Quinn ate lunch with joint service students who were enrolled in the Joint Cyber Analysis Course (JCAC).
“It’s always great to see young men and women in the early stages of their journey in uniform,” Rogers said. “You know as someone who has been in the Navy now for 32 years, it’s interesting to look back and think about myself when I started that journey as a 21-year-old ensign; it’s great to see these young men and women who are willing to serve something bigger than themselves.”
One of those students Rogers chatted with during lunch was Cryptologic Technician Networks Seaman Maxime Dugas-Davis, of Blacksburg, Va.
She said when she joined the Navy, she never expected to dine with a three-star admiral.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to meet with someone like Vice Adm. Rogers, who has so much experience in the Navy, and to have had such an engaging conversation with him,” Dugas-Davis said. “It was really awesome.”
Quinn said the most satisfying part of his job is meeting bright young Sailors like Dugas-Davis, who are going through training at one of the many NETC Learning Centers, like CID.
“It’s always a pleasure to meet with these outstanding young patriots who are at the beginning of their Navy career,” said Quinn. “The skills of our people form the foundation of our Navy’s combat readiness. Our training cultivates a culture that challenges the status quo and promotes unconventional solutions to complex problems. Quality training, like that provided at CID, is our Navy’s asymmetric advantage in combat.”
IT “A” school instructor Cryptologic Technician Collection 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare) Antonio L. Lucero, of Denver, Colo., said it was the highlight of his career to have lunch with the two flag officers.
“It is always a pleasure seeing the leaders of today’s Navy getting engaged with the junior Sailors,” Lucero said. “It was a great honor to have lunch with both Vice Adm. Rogers and Rear Adm. Quinn.”
“The fact that in initial Navy training here we have Air Force, Army, Marines and Coast Guard, that they get exposed to a broader part of the team from the very beginning; I think that’s a real positive,” Rogers said. “We must continue to develop an elite workforce that is recruited, trained and educated to better understand the cyber-environment, employ the latest technological advances, and deliver cyber war fighting capability anywhere around the world.”
“The bottom line is we continue to generate out of Pensacola trained, ready, motivated Sailors who want to get out, whether they are going to sea, whether they are going to one of our sites ashore around the world; this organization continues to produce motivated men and women who have the tools they need to roll up their sleeves and get out there and actually do it, and to keep learning,” Rogers added. “We’re very fortunate to have CID as a part of the Navy team. I feel energized every time I come down here.”
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For more information about CID, go to: https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ceninfodom/.
Gary Nichols is the CID public affairs officer.