U.S. Military on Discovery Voyage in Information Realm
The U.S. military services may take slightly different paths to achieving information advantage but will likely reach their desired destinations, according to Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, USA, commander, U.S. Army Cyber Command.
Gen. Fogarty made the comments during a morning keynote presentation on the second day of AFCEA’s TechNet Augusta conference in Augusta, Georgia.
LTG Stephen Fogarty, USA, commander, @ARCYBER: The foundation of multi-domain operations and all-domain operations is the network driven by intelligence.#AFCEATechNe
— George Seffers (pronounced See furs) (@gseffers) August 18, 2021
Asked about the Army’s apparent reluctance to officially name information as a warfighting function, Gen. Fogarty said the decision is under review and that he doesn’t “know where we’re going to end up.”
But he predicted the Army will meet its goals all the same. “From our perspective, that hasn’t stopped us from moving forward. We really understand, I think, what the task is and the path to get there, so regardless of the naming conventions, we’re moving out with a purpose to the right aim point,” he said.
He acknowledged that “every service has taken a slightly different approach” and lauded the leadership shown by the Marine Corps and the creation of the 16th Air Expeditionary Task Force, which is responsible for information warfare within the Air Force. “I think everybody is still on a little bit of a discovery voyage, but that’s okay,” he said, expressing confidence that “we’re going to get to where we need to be probably sooner rather than later.”
LTG Stephen Fogarty, USA, commander, U.S. Army Cyber Command, @ARCYBER: What we really want to do is enable our commanders with the coin of the realm--decision dominance.#AFCEATechNet
— George Seffers (pronounced See furs) (@gseffers) August 18, 2021
Teamwork will make the difference, he indicated. “This is a team working with industry, with academia, with our partners. That’s going to be key to shortening that time window,” the commander offered. “We’re not just bringing one of the tribes to the party. We’re bringing them all. That’s absolutely the requirement for this at the end of the day. Not one of the tribes can do this by themselves.”