Establishing the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations

for Information Dominance

 

 

The Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Gary Roughead, recently directed a dramatic realignment of the OPNAV staff.  According to the CNO, “We require a whole-warfighting approach to better integrate and innovate on the OPNAV staff and ensure warfighting dominance across the full spectrum of operations in all domains, to include cyberspace.”

 

To enable that approach, the CNO directed the creation of a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Information Dominance.  This new organization will be comprised of elements of OPNAV N2, OPNAV N6, and OPNAV N8.

This new DCNO will have responsibility for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, information warfare, electronic warfare, information technology, communications, networks, space, oceanography and meteorology.  In addition to existing N2 and N6 programs, the CNO has directed the transfer to N2/N6 of such information-centric programs as the E-2 Hawkeye and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye; EP-3 Aries II and EP-3 Replacement; ALQ-99 Growler pod and the Next Generation Jammer; SLQ-32 and SEWIP; SURTASS, Surveillance Towed Array and Fixed Surveillance; Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod, and all Navy unmanned systems, such as RQ-4 Global Hawk, RQ-7 Shadow, and MQ-8 Fire Scout.  The reorganization will be executed with zero growth in the OPNAV Staff.

 

The intent of this alignment is for the Navy to achieve unprecedented agility and innovation in the development and integration of its information capabilities and to firmly establish information as a main battery of the U.S. Navy's 21st century arsenal.  The long-term vision is for the Navy is:

N2/N6 will be led by a 3-star Director and a senior SES deputy.  The N2/N6 Director will also serve as Director of Naval Intelligence.  N2/N6 will be organized around two hubs:  Corporate Functions and Business Sectors. 

 

The Corporate Functions hub will include Corporate Services and Security; Total Force Management; Governance and Compliance; and Intelligence Analysis, Collections and Operations.  This latter branch will include many of the traditional Naval Intelligence staff functions such as CNO-IP, Foreign Liaison, and International Programs.  Ms. Melissa Drisko, the current N2B will be dual-hatted as both Corporate Director and Director, Intelligence Analysis, Collections and Operations.  She will also continue to serve as Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence.

 

The Business Sectors hub will include Knowledge of the Environment (Oceanographer of the Navy); Knowledge Dominance (tools and applications); Cyber, Sensors, and Electronic Warfare; ISR Capabilities; and Net-Centric Capabilities (Networks, Strategic and Tactical Communications).  RADM Kendall Card will lead this hub and serve concurrently as Director of Concepts, Strategies, and Integration.  This division will be responsible for developing the strategic concepts that yield an overarching Information Strategy and supporting strategies. 

 

These strategies will guide our architecture development and shape the Navy’s array of sensors, networks, and TPED, as well as drive our platform selection.  If Navy is truly going to do something different in the Information Domain, it must create the structure and processes to ensure our information and sensor requirements drive platform selection and design, and not the other way around, as has been the case in the past.

 

When we properly equip our force so that every platform is a sensor, and every sensor is networked, we can unleash the power of the network and use that power to, in the CNO’s words, “Get the right information, to the right person, at the right time, to be able to do the right thing.” 

 

We’ve had tremendous success in the last few years with integrating information and intelligence with operations, particularly in support of Special Operations.  But, we have not gone far enough.  This reorganization is designed to align Navy’s capabilities, using information as the core of our warfighting capabilities.