With representatives from the fleet, combat support agencies, joint staff, combatant commands, systems commands, the Naval Reserve and OPNAV, ID leaders met in Potomac, Maryland, June 3 and 4.
Hosted by the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Information Dominance, Vice Adm. Ted Branch, the symposium included 120 flag officers, senior civilian executives, Navy captains and master chief petty officers. The participants reflected each of the core Information Dominance Corps (IDC) constituencies, including the Space Cadre.
In the first major conference of IDC leaders in over four years, DCNO focused the agenda on achieving a common understanding of the Navy’s priorities, challenges and programmatic efforts relative to ID. He emphasized the need to align these priorities and efforts to the ID Strategy and its pillars – Assured C2, Battlespace Awareness, and Integrated Fires – especially given the ID Type Commander’s upcoming stand-up in October 2014 and its role as the provider of trained and ready ID forces for the Navy.
The DCNO kicked off the symposium with a highly interactive discussion on the state of ID in the Navy, its perception across the IDC, and its acceptance as a credible warfighting discipline within the fleet. This was followed by focused presentations on current/anticipated budget challenges, an update on the ID TYCOM, and separate panel sessions of the IDC flag leaders, the IDC leading master chiefs, and civilian community leaders.
Then-VCNO, Adm. Mark Ferguson’s keynote address compared the emergence of ID with the advent of Naval Aviation in the early 20th century, and underscored the IDC’s indispensability in meeting 21st century challenges. In his words, “No one else in the Navy can do this but you. We need you now more than ever.”
DCNO’s Guidance
The Symposium culminated with DCNO’s Guidance to the leaders:
- Spread the word about what we're doing and where we're going.
- Leverage the new ID TYCOM. It’s the voice of the fleet and our advocate for man, train and equip issues.
- Demonstrate the principle and value of ID within the IDC and to other warfare communities.
- The ID strategy remains valid; execute the pillars and priorities.
- “Information Technology has never been sexy and never more important than the next bomb or platform... until now. Take the Navy into the information age of warfare.”
Key Takeaways from the DCNO
- Information Dominance is a credible, proven warfighting discipline, increasingly accepted by other warfare practitioners.
- The IDC is indispensable to the Navy’s successful implementation and execution of Information Dominance.
- The TYCOM is central to the delivery of ready forces to the fleet. Enabling the TYCOM enables Information Dominance.
FOR MORE NAVY INFORMATION DOMINANCE NEWS and to download Navy Cyber and Information Dominance Strategies
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