Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare Vice Adm. Ted N. “Twig” Branch issued NAVADMIN 023/16 Feb. 2, 2016, which renames the 52,000 member-strong Information Dominance Corps, the Information Warfare Community.
Admiral Branch wrote, “This redesignation reflects the rising influence of global information systems and the increasing rate of technological creation and adoption, as reflected in the Chief of Naval Operations’ A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority.
Branch advised that the transition aligns “information warfare as a predominant warfare area.”
According to the NAVADMIN, the name change highlights three fundamental capabilities which form the mission of the Information Warfare Community: providing sufficient overmatch in command and control, understanding the battlespace and adversaries, and projecting power through and across all domains.
OPNAV N2N6, in conjunction with key Fleet stakeholders, is developing a plan to accomplish the many actions required to reflect the name change (to include, but not limited to, updating command names and relevant OPNAV instructions and manuals). Details of this plan will be communicated over the coming months.
Designators and ratings within the new Information Warfare Community will remain unchanged. However, the community of officers with the 181X/681X/781X designators will be renamed and communicated via separate correspondence, Branch wrote.