Navy's Fleet Cyber Command 'right action at the right time'

Editor’s Note: The evolution of C4ISR initiatives was affected by a variety of decisions this year. At the same time, efforts to improve upon the technologies that support the warfighter, including command, control, communications and computers and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems, gained new urgency.

Defense Systems asked a number of senior military officers and Pentagon personnel to answer the question: What was the most important C4ISR development of the past year and why as part of a broader year-end assessment on C4ISR developments. Following is the response from Vice Adm. H. Denby Starling II, commander of the Naval Network Warfare Command.

“Across the spectrum throughout the past year, I believe we have made changes that will dramatically and positively impact our C4ISR capabilities, not just in the Navy but also as a nation. The establishment of U.S. Cyber Command demonstrates the commitment and emphasis [the Defense Department] places on cyber. The stand-up of the services' supporting organizations, like Navy's Fleet Cyber Command, is the right action at the right time. This will allow us to be much more agile, to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of vital information, make it more secure and provide it to our warfighters so that they can make decisions faster and better than any adversary."

“We in the Navy view information and our networks as weapons systems and a core warfighting capability. The Navy must dominate the information sphere, much as we have dominated the maritime sphere, and deliver decision superiority to our warfare commanders. We believe that the opening rounds of the next war will likely be in cyberspace, and, in fact, may have already been fired. It is vitally important that we organize, train and resource a credible Navy Cyber Force and develop leap-ahead interoperable and resilient capabilities in cyberspace to successfully counter and defeat a determined, asymmetric threat."