The Navy’s Information Dominance Corps (IDC) is made up of nearly 55,000 officer, enlisted and civilian professionals, bringing together the knowledge, talents and skills of five distinct but increasingly interdependent communities - Information Professional (IP), Information Warfare (IW), Intelligence, Meteorology/Oceanography (METOC) and Space. These professionals continuously engage in a wide variety of joint and naval missions, ranging from traditional fleet and expeditionary combat operations, to national intelligence and command and control support, as well as cyber warfare and the emerging art of electromagnetic maneuver warfare or EMW. As the communities evolve from semi-autonomous “guilds” to an inter-disciplinary corps of warfare practitioners, the experience of their leaders must necessarily broaden to ensure both the relevance and effectiveness of Information Dominance as a Navy warfare area. Cross-detailing IDC leaders is the principal means of broadening their exposure, experience and effectiveness, and the Navy has implemented a strategy just for this purpose.
The IDC constitutes a new breed of modern-day warfighters who, in partnership with their traditional kinetic and platform-centric counterparts, deliver capabilities and non-kinetic effects which are characterized as predictive Battlespace Awareness, Assured Command and Control, and Integrated Fires. Achieving these capabilities and optimizing their effects, however, necessitates a seamless synergy among the IDC’s constituent communities. While each of the IDC’s component communities remain focused on developing and retaining the highest possible level of expertise intrinsic to their disciplines (i.e., intelligence, METOC, networks, etc.), the larger objective of the IDC as a whole is to produce leaders who are cognizant of the Corp’s power, and can bring the knowledge and resources of Information Dominance to the fight. To build this set of leaders, the IDC is pursuing a strategy of cross-detailing officers within the IDC billet structure.
Under this strategy, senior leaders – officers predominantly, but enlisted and civilians are eligible in certain circumstances – from one of the IDC’s constituent communities or designators is assigned to a leadership billet in a different IDC community. For example, an Intelligence officer may be assigned to a traditional IP officer billet, or an IP officer may be ordered to an IW officer position. Cross-detailed individuals are placed based on their demonstrated leadership skills, operational experience, and potential for growth as IDC leaders. The practice is akin to the assignment of air wing commanders whose selection is based principally on their leadership ability and operational expertise, and not exclusively on their aviation platform community of origin (e.g., strike fighter, electronic warfare, helo aviation, logistics, maritime patrol, etc.). Like the air wing example, cross-detailing within the IDC refines leadership skills, enhances the leader’s familiarity with community tradecraft, and broadens his or her overall understanding of the inter-disciplinary warfighting value that Information Dominance delivers.
"Our goal is to make sure we get the right officer into the right leadership opportunity, regardless of his or her source community. This matches our desire to transition from a multi-disciplinary force to an inter-disciplinary corps that can deliver the full range of ID capabilities to the fight," according to Vice Adm. Ted N. “Twig” Branch, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance (N2/N6) and the leader of the IDC. In a recent Information Dominance leadership symposium, Vice Adm. Branch also underscored the need to preserve and protect the deep technical expertise and specialized knowledge of the IDC’s component communities. Responding to concerns that cross-detailing could lead to a “homogenization” of traditional IDC specialists, he explained that the Corps’ “technical health is critical to the Navy and to Information Dominance as a warfare area. It will not be sacrificed.” On the contrary, his overarching goal is an IDC replete with both “depth of expertise and breadth of experience.”
“What cross-detailing really affords us is the mechanism to expand our knowledge base and consequently achieve a more thorough understanding of IDC capabilities,” said Capt. John Watkins, Commanding Officer, Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Texas. According to Watkins, an IP officer in an IW outfit, commanding successfully in the IDC is more about exercising and developing solid leadership ability than relying on one’s specialization within a particular constituent community.
“An IDC officer who has made the effort to expose him or herself to cross-pollination within the IDC understands what each IDC skill set brings to the equation in delivering warfighting capabilities,” said Watkins.
There is a corollary effect as well. With the primary focus on leadership, cross-detailing allows Information Dominance commands to benefit from the technical and operational perspectives of other community leaders and their respective disciplines. The infusion of the leader’s knowledge, skills and abilities in many cases broadens the command’s operational view and frequently enhances its mission effectiveness.
“In my opinion, the Navy benefits immensely from cross-detailed officers as such officers are inherently more assignable across the broad array of the ID job set,” said Watkins.
“Cross detailing is helpful because it allows a better understanding of the multiple areas of the IDC,” said Capt. Kelly A. Aeschbach, an Intelligence Officer, Commanding Officer of Naval Computer Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic, historically an IP command. “This provides the Navy with decision superiority for the warfighter.” “The fact that it is something outside my normal job as an Intelligence Officer will only help me gain more experience in my Navy career.” Aeschbach is thankful for the opportunity to step outside her comfort zone and volunteered for the cross-detailing assignment.
For the Navy’s most senior IDC leaders, cross-detailing creates an advantage for the Navy and the Joint community because it generates more informed leadership for the future of Information Dominance. In complex operational environments that increasingly leverage the information domain, qualified IDC leaders with expansive knowledge of the Navy’s Information Dominance capabilities will be best equipped to enable warfighting success.
Capt. James Mills, an IP Officer, is the prospective commanding officer of NIOC Hawaii, another IW command position. Mills’ IP background, however, is ideally suited to the command’s operations relative to the development of DoD’s Cyber Mission Force, the Navy’s pivot to the Pacific theater, and the rapid advances in information technology that are changing the dynamics of Naval warfare. His unique operational and technical experience includes several tours in the Pacific Fleet and extensive education in electrical engineering and computer science. He was one of CNO’s first Cyber Fellows, with significant experience in cyber defense and operations dating back to 1997’s Eligible Receiver – DoD’s first large scale evaluation of the impacts of cyber warfare on DoD and national infrastructure. Given the IDC cross-detailing approach, NIOC Hawaii stands to benefit heavily from his professional experience and knowledge.
Mills points out, “Cross-detailing allows us to tackle the complex problems faced by IDC commands from a multi-discipline approach. Through cross-detailing, the IDC will create a cadre of leaders able to build strategies and plans with the benefit of the ‘whole of the IDC’ as opposed to just relying on a single specialty.”
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) David R. Finley Jr.., U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet Public Affairs contributed to this article.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
FCC/10th Fleet – http://www.fcc.navy.mil/