In a combined retirement and change of command ceremony, Rear Adm. David (“Gordon”) Russell ended a thirty-plus year career as the first commander of the Navy’s Information Dominance Corps (IDC) Reserve Command, giving the helm to Rear Adm. Daniel MacDonnell in a ceremony overseen by the chief of the Navy Reserve, Vice Adm. Robin Braun. More than 175 people attended the Nov. 15 event, held in a hangar just outside the IDC Reserve Command headquarters on Naval Air Station Fort Worth, Tex.
Russell, a Colorado native, was instrumental in helping bring the information-related communities of intelligence, information warfare, meteorology/oceanography, information professional and the space cadre together under the IDC umbrella, forming what the Navy calls a Type Command or “TYCOM,” focusing on manning, training and equipping the Sailors and their commands that rely on information skills and capabilities. The IDC Reserve Command comprises more than 10 percent of the Navy’s entire reserve component — nearly 6800 people, spread out among 124 separate units, administered through six IDC regional commands.
The incoming commander, Rear Adm. Dan MacDonnell, had been serving as the reserve deputy commander of the U.S. 10th Fleet. Unlike Russell who spent much of his career in the intelligence community, the Boston-based MacDonnell is designated an information warfare officer — formerly known as a cryptologist.
The Navy is promoting Information Dominance as its newest warfighting pillar, citing the importance of both information systems and Sailors trained in information-related skill sets as key to achieving dominance in the information domain.