Navy to form directorate to manage info, cyber and space capabilities

The Navy plans to form a directorate next year that would oversee its information, cyber and space capabilities, a top naval officer wrote in a paper released on Wednesday.

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, wrote in his annual guidance paper for the service that a three-star admiral would run the new Information Dominance Directorate, which will combine functions managed by the director of Naval Intelligence, currently Vice Adm. David Dorsett, and the deputy chief of naval operations for communication networks, a position held by Vice Adm. Harry Harris Jr. A Navy spokeswoman said the service has not identified who will run the new directorate.

The Navy also will stand up the Fleet Cyber Command to coordinate global network operations, Roughead said. The Information Dominance Directorate and the Fleet Cyber Command will allow the Navy to better staff, train and equip forces for cyber and information operations, he said.

Retired Navy Capt. Mike Lambert, who spent much of his career as a cryptologist, said the new directorate will provide a bigger role for Navy cryptologists in cyber operations because their command, the Naval Security Group, was folded into the Naval Network Warfare Command in 2005.

Lambert, who writes the blog The Real Navy, said cryptologists have the skills that make them the "grunts" of cyber operations. The new structure will "improve things organizationally and operationally for the intelligence officers and information professionals," he added.

Bernie Skoch, an analyst with Suss Consulting, said it made sense to combine intelligence and information technology support, especially for the Navy, which unlike the other services has essentially one global network to operate and defend, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. The Navy plans to replace NMCI in 2011 with the Next-Generation Enterprise Network.

Working with EDS, the NMCI contractor, to develop a continuity of service agreement for the transition is another priority for the Navy next year, Roughead said. EDS has had operational control of NMCI since 2000, when it was awarded the NMCI contract. Roughead wants the Navy to have greater control of the Next-Generation Network.

Skoch said he interpreted that statement to mean the Navy wants operational control of the new network rather than technical control, which contractors can manage.