Ownership – Take it!

Seth Godin offers some decent advice on his blog. A few days ago, he suggested that “If you can’t put your name on it (‘it’ being whatever product you might have to offer), don’t ship it.”

Knowing that your name is on it (and you own it) is one of the simplest ways to ensure its quality and responsiveness.

He goes on to say that many people choose to work for big organizations precisely so they can avoid signing/doing much of anything. They are afraid to own it – an opinion, an idea, a project, a document, a project or anything else, for that matter.

They don’t want and are unwilling to accept responsibility – especially for their own thoughts and actions. These are the folks that use the excuse of requiring perfection before they can sign something out of the command.

Jack is back !!

Aug. 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today that it has appointed Jack Dorsett as vice president of Cybersecurity/C4, effective immediately. Dorsett will report to Sid Ashworth, corporate vice president, Government Relations.

In this role, Dorsett leads the Cybersecurity/C4 portfolio in Government Relations. He and his team contribute to the development and execution of the cybersecurity and C4 elements of Northrop Grumman’s strategic business plan. Dorsett manages corporate-wide interfaces with key officials of the U.S. Government’s executive branch; non-government officials; members of Congress; and congressional staff members to ensure clear and consistent messages are delivered in support of ongoing programs, marketing efforts and future corporate business ventures/programs in the cybersecurity and C4 arena.

“We are delighted to have Jack Dorsett join our Government Relations leadership team,” Ashworth said. “His extensive experience as U.S. Navy Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance and Director of Naval Intelligence combined with his expertise in complex government intelligence and information systems and organizations will serve him well in his new role with the company.”

Hat tip to Joseph Raetano on LinkedIn.

What the SECDEF fears

“Men and women in the prime of their professional lives, who may have been responsible for the lives of scores or hundreds of troops, or millions of dollars in assistance, or engaging in reconciling warring tribes . . . they may find themselves in a cube all day reformatting power point slides, preparing quarterly training briefs, or assigned an ever-expanding array of clerical duties. The consequences of this terrify me.”

Former SECDEF Robert M. Gates

More of Jeff Bacon’s BROADSIDE humor HERE.

Go Deep

More from my fellow blogger, Seth Godin…The Information Dominance Corps mission area is a fairly broad slice of the pie.

Seth suggests – As the deluge of information grows and choices continue to widen (there’s no way you could even attempt to cover the breadth of knowledge about the Information Dominance Corps from scratch today), it’s easy to forget the benefits of acquiring this sort of (mostly) complete understanding in a particular field. I’m not even sure it matters which field you pick. (I would pick Information Warfare, myself.)

Expertise is a posture as much as it is a volume of knowledge. Read every single professional journal, briefing and other document you can get your hands on in your field–there are countless ways to GO DEEP instead of merely paying lip service to the current flavor of the moment.

Navy

Motivating Sailors can be a formidable leadership challenge. To be effective, our Navy requires cohesiveness, a sense of community. Liberalizing the Navy does not help our Sailors or our Navy.

The Navy needs a unique set of values to be effective. These include Honor, Courage, Commitment – discipline, obedience, integrity, a high order of technical excellence in military skills, and dedication to a well-defined purpose—defense of the country.

No one need remind us that the mission of the Navy remains “Conduct sustained combat operations at sea.”

Captain David Bondura assumes command of Navy Information Operations Command Texas

At a ceremony rich in Naval tradition, today, Friday 29 July 2011, Captain David Bondura relieved Captain Greg Haws as Commanding Officer of Navy Information Operations Command Texas. Captain Greg Haws retired from active Naval service. The NIOC Texas website is available HERE.

Congratulations Captain Bondura. Fair winds and following seas Captain Haws.

Super post here entitled “Cookie Cutter Leadership” by a thoughtful young Ensign who is a member of the NIOC Texas wardroom.

OPNAV N2N6 – FCC/C10F Staff Synchronization

On Tuesday, 26 July 2011, VADM Kendall L. Card (DCNO for Information Dominance (ID)/Director, Naval Intelligence (DNI)) and a large group of his staff (from O8 to O3) met with VADM Barry McCullough (Commander, Fleet Cyber Command/TENTH Fleet and his staff on the Ft Meade, Maryland complex for Staff/Fleet Synchronization discussions.

The staffs exchanged presentations on mission, organization, manning, training, programming and collaboration efforts across the Navy. This all day session was the first of its kind (lengthy, large scale, on-site, face to face) between the two staffs at this level (O9-O9) which included such large numbers of other department heads and staff action officers. VADM Kendall Card assumed his duties as DCNO for ID/DNI just last month.

After the formal session, staff action officers from both staffs met off-line with their counterparts to continue the dialog. The two staffs agreed that this large scale face to face discussion was very useful in synchronizing staff efforts. Expect to see more of these in the future.

Informal synchronization across the Information Dominance Corps has been going on for two years now. It’s nice to see the staffs come together formally to collaborate, coordinate and synchronize their important efforts.

Rear Admiral Metts delivers KEYNOTE address to University of the District of Columbia SYMPOSIUM on CYBER SECURITY

Our information warfare officer Flags are actively involved in telling the Navy story and soliciting high quality college graduates to serve our country as naval officers in the Information Dominance Corps.

Rear Admiral Will Metts, as the Director of Intelligence (J2) for U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland was cited in HISPANIC Engineer Magazine – Spring 2011 for his KEYNOTE address at the University of the District of Columbia SYMPOSIUM on CYBER SECURITY.

Some of the key points of his address:

THE GENERATIONAL CONVERGENCE OF THE CYBER DOMAIN HAS MODIFIED OUR LIVES AND THE WAYS WE COMMUNICATE, IN A MATTER OF TWO DECADES.
CYBER SECURITY IS A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE.
THREATS TO OUR NETWORKS AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE COME FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES INCLUDING FOREIGN ACTORS, TERRORISTS, CRIMINAL GROUPS, AND HACKERS.
THE COST IN 2008 WAS OVER ONE TRILLION DOLLARS SPENT ON REPAIR COSTS AND LOSS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
STARTING TO SEE THESE ATTACKS MOVE FROM NETWORK EXPLOITATION AND DISRUPTION OF NETWORK FUNCTIONS, SUCH AS DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS, TO POSSIBLE DESTRUCTION.
OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, THE FREQUENCY AND SOPHISTICATION OF INTRUSIONS INTO U.S. MILITARY NETWORKS HAVE INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY.
EVERY DAY, U.S. MILITARY AND CIVILIAN NETWORKS ARE PROBED THOUSANDS OF TIMES AND SCANNED MILLIONS OF TIMES.
THE 2008 INTRUSION THAT LED TO OPERATION BUCKSHOT YANKEE WAS NOT THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL PENETRATION. ADVERSARIES HAVE ACQUIRED THOUSANDS OF FILES FROM U.S. NETWORKS AND FROM THE NETWORKS OF U.S. ALLIES AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS, INCLUDING WEAPONS BLUEPRINTS, OPERATIONAL PLANS, AND SURVEILLANCE DATA.
IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE THREATS WITHIN THE CYBER DOMAIN, THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS IN ITSELF IS NOT THE ANSWER. AUTOMATED SOULTIONS COMBINED WITH A CYBER-SAVVY WORKFORCE WILL BE NECESSARY.
BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH IT IS A TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN ENVIRONMENT, TECHNICALLY ADEPT AND TRAINED PEOPLE ARE STILL OUR NUMBER ONE ASSET.
IT IS GOOD TO BE A “TECHNOLOGIST.” WHETHER MILITARY, CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT, OR PRIVATE INDUSTRY, SUCCESS FOR ALL OF US IN CYBERSPACE WILL REQUIRE EVERYONE TO BE A BIT “TECHSAVVY.”
CYBER IS A TEAM SPORT.
I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO CONSIDER JOINING THE TEAM. THE NATION CAN NOT BE SUCCESSFUL IN CYBERSPACE WITHOUT A TECHNICALLY ADEPT, TRAINED, AND HIGHLY MOTIVATED WORKFORCE…PEOPLE LIKE MANY OF YOU WHO ARE HERE TODAY.

Thank you Admiral Metts and Lieutenant Commander Herlong for sharing the Keynote address so it could be highlighted here. You can read the magazine free in its entirety HERE.

RADM Ned Deets’ Presentation on Importance of Cyber in IAMD

On 14 July 2011, Rear Admiral Edward H. Deets III, Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command gave a 45 minute presentation to industry on the Roles and Importance of Cyberwar in Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Command & Control at the 2nd Annual IAMD Symposium 2011. The briefing was classified and is available from his EA, Mr. Tim Bovill. Interested parties know how to reach him. This was an excellent forum to expand the understanding of the contributions of cyber and cryptology to countering air and missile threats. This symposium was sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association. You can check out their other important events HERE.

Mr. Jerome Rapin – N2N6F3 – Director, Cyber, Sensors and Electronic Warfare (EW) on the OPNAV N2/N6 Information Dominance Staff

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Rapin is a member of the Senior Intelligence Executive Service. He entered Civil Service in March 2001 following a 31½-year enlisted and officer career in the U.S. Navy and a brief period as a consultant in the private sector. He has represented the Navy Service Cryptologic Element, Commander, at executive level operational, policy and resource forums as the Director of the Navy Cryptologic Office at the National Security Agency.

Mr. Rapin enlisted in 1968 as a Cryptologic Technician (Technical) “CTT” serving as an Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) operator and analyst at various shore and afloat assignments including submarine direct support operations with U.S. Forces, Republic of Vietnam. Participating in the Naval Enlisted Scientific Education Program (NESEP), he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry at the University of Utah and was commissioned an Ensign in August 1975.

As a junior officer he served as Combat Information Center and Electronic Warfare Officer in USS VALDEZ (FF1096), Cryptologic Division Officer and Operations Department Head in USS SOUTH CAROLINA (CGN37), qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer, completed the postgraduate intelligence curriculum at the Defense Intelligence College, and attended Russian language training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

He served on various shore staff and operational assignments including Fleet Cryptologic Support Officer at CINCUSNAVEUR and as Operations Officer, U.S. Naval Security Group Activity Edzell, Scotland.

As a senior officer he served as Fleet Cryptologist with COMSEVENTHFLT, where he was dual-hatted as the senior cryptologic officer assigned to COMUSNAVCENT for the entirety of operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. His Washington DC area experience includes tours as a National Security Agency “Director’s Fellow” and Legislative Affairs Officer and as Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence for Plans Programs and Policy (OPNAV N-20). He attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and was awarded a Master of Science (cum laude) in National Resource Allocation. Mr. Rapin retired from active Naval service as a Captain in 1999 following three years in command of the Kunia Regional Security Operations Center (KRSOC) and Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA) Kunia.

In December 2009, he assumed duties as the Deputy Director of Cyber, Sensors and Electronic Warfare on the OPNAV N2/N6 Information Dominance Staff. In July 2011, he became the Director N2/N6F3.