25th Air Force A6 Speaks to Chapter

Col. Michael Cote, USAF, opened the chapter's May luncheon by detailing his two jobs in the U.S. Air Force. He is the 25th Air Force A6 where he helps Maj. Gen. Mary F. O'Brien, USAF, commander, 25th Air Force, with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and cyber support. Col. Cote is also the 625th Air Communications Squadron (ACOMS) commander where he is in charge of a unit responsible for cyber operations defense happening in the 25th Air Force. The mission of the 25th Air Force is to execute worldwide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to protect and defend the United States and its global interests. Col. Cote shared the vast footprint the 25th Air Force has in cyberspace, which consists of more than 3,100 cyber personnel in 116 units. The majority of those units supports ISR, with only a small number contributing to traditional communication support. Col. Cote outlined his priorities as A6 to include the integration of five Mission Defense Teams, improve risk management, implementation of thin/thick clients to move away from desktops, set up more of an enclave to minimize security vulnerability and the alignment of the 24th and 25th Air Forces. He stated that he "can't give any promises about the future of the 24th Air Force," but there is a lot of positive upsides to the 24th eventually coming under the 25th Air Force from a big picture standpoint. Col. Cote explained the difference of the 625th Air Communications Squadron from other ACOMS. The 625th ACOMS does not support an operations center but instead they are the core service provider for the Air Force's Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS), Intelligence Communication Information Systems Security and the 25th Air Force Headquarters. Insider threat gets a lot of attention, and the 625th acts as the referral authority and takes action on the things they find with their Insider Threat program by referring those to the appropriate authorities. For example, if it's criminal then the threat is referred to the Office of Special Investigations. Besides insider threat, the other priorities of the 625th include Win 10 Implementation, command and control of JWICS, developing standard operating procedures and fielding new capabilities for enterprise management.

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