[Infowarrior] - Navy reorganizes staff to focus on cyber

[Richard Forno]

Navy reorganizes staff to focus on cyber
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 2, 2009 17:31:07 EDT
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/07/navy_dn_cybercom_070209w/

A new Navy staff reorganization is expected to beef up the service’s  
ability to defend its computer and communications networks, as well as  
exploit and attack an enemy’s systems, by combining intelligence and  
information technology operations under a new Fleet Cyber Command.

“There was a realization over the past several months that the Navy  
has to be better positioned to face the information age,” said one  
service official familiar with the plan. “So many things need to be  
networked. You need to have more of a holistic view that includes  
communications, sensors, networks, intelligence and computer networks.  
These things can’t be done in stovepipes.”

The moves are outlined in a June 26 internal memo from Adm. Gary  
Roughead, the chief of naval operations (CNO), to Vice Adm. Jack  
Dorsett, the director of naval intelligence, known as N2. The memo, a  
copy of which was obtained by Navy Times, directs the N2 office to be  
combined with the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Communications  
Networks (N6) and other, unnamed entities into a single organization,  
DCNO N2/6.

N2 and N6 currently are each headed by a vice admiral. The memo did  
not specify whether both three-stars will remain in the new  
organization, and noted that flag billet guidance would be provided  
separately.

Execution of the new, integrated organization is to begin Oct. 1 and  
be complete by Dec. 18.

In the memo, Roughead also directed the transition of the Navy Staff  
Quadrennial Defense Review team now headed by Rear Adm. Bill Burke to  
a new Naval Warfare Assessment (N00X) team. That organization is to  
“assess existing and proposed Navy programs and address desired  
warfighting and operational capabilities,” Roughead said in the memo.

Responsibilities of N00X will include identifying gaps and  
shortcomings in war-fighting capability; making recommendations to the  
CNO on how the Navy should allocate risk; monitoring, evaluating and  
assessing “the Navy program”; and conducting other assessments as  
directed by the CNO.

The memo stipulates that the moves are “zero sum,” with no growth of  
staff personnel.

While creation of the new FLTCYBERCOM mirrors the establishment Oct. 1  
of the Pentagon’s U.S. Cyber Command, “the memo is a culmination of  
two years of discussion,” the Navy official said.

Another source noted that a survey of cyber warfare last year by the  
CNO’s staff caused a significant amount of concern. “They realized the  
Navy is a sieve,” the source said. “Lots of people can get into our  
networks.”

Over-reliance on computer networks, the source said, could be “the  
proverbial technological glass jaw.”