Information Dominance Corps Flag Panel

Latest IDC Flag Panel was held Monday, 14 December 2009. Look for a summary report from VADM Dorsett soon. Continued topics from last IDC Flag Panel, including more on cross-detailing within the IDC. More to follow...

Genuine Command Excellence Revisited - Navy Information Operations Command, Pensacola Florida

The Commanding Officer, (Commander Frank Shaul) Navy Information Operations Command Pensacola, Florida inspects his Sailors during a command inspection and awards ceremony at Corry Station.

This is an important element of the "Maintaining Standards" aspect of the Navy's Command Excellence program. In superior commands people believe in doing things in the best possible way. They want to do the job right. Maintaining and improving standards is a way of life. They do not wait until just before an inspection to enforce standards.

Department Heads and division officers in superior wardrooms are key to setting and maintaining standards. Standards are clear and consistent. People know what is important and what is not. Enforcement of standards is done with an eye for fairness and justice. Goals are continuously improved upon. They are realistic, but always maintained at a high level. Once a challenge is met, Sailors are given positive feedback and another appropriately challenging goal is set.

Feedback, both positive and negative, on goals is a hallmark of top commands. Activities are monitored on a regular basis. Performance problems do not get out of hand because they are remedied at the first sign of difficulty. Everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for enforcing standards and seeing that things are done right in the command.

NIOC Pensacola, Florida - leading the way in Command Excellence.

The Importance Of Letter Writing - Captain Laurance Safford: Father of Naval Cryptology

Navy Captain Laurance Safford is often referred to as the “father of U.S. naval cryptology”. His contributions during WW II were numerous and significant.

Much of what we know about Captain Safford's contributions to naval cryptology come from his own writing.

A number of his personal letters provide insight into events surrounding the congressional investigation into the attack on Pearl Harbor. One letter refers specifically to the “Winds Message” reportedly intercepted by the U.S. days before the 7 December surprise attack. This infamous message reportedly gave clear indications of the planned Japanese surprise attack.

Unfortunately the actual intercept mysteriously disappeared shortly after the surprise attack and the "Winds Message's" very existence is only supported by the testimony of Safford and perhaps one or two others who reportedly also were aware of the intercept.

His personal papers also included a four page letter to Vice Admiral C.E. Rosendahl responding to two pages of questions from Rosendahl about the number, distribution, disposition and construction of PURPLE machines prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Other documents included a petition to the Congress and supporting testimony to award Capt. Safford remuneration for his many secret cryptologic inventions, some of which were cited as among the most important and secure communication systems used by the U.S. during WW II.

As Admiral Stavridis is so fond of saying: "Read, write and publish." If you don't tell your story - who will know it?

Command - Yours 24 hours a day

“Command is for the individual who loves responsibility, that is one of the challenges of leadership. It’s yours twenty-four hours a day. Command is an assignment that you were totally responsible for all the activities within that unit. There is an intrinsic reward; it is satisfying a need to be able to project a certain amount of order and discipline to yield results. That’s your reward, that you did it, to want bigger and bigger responsibilities. To seek it, but it was not ambition, but the challenge of taking on the toughest responsibilities.”

Admiral Paul David Miller

Guilty on all 5 counts - Someone you know?

Five Deadly Sins of Poor Leadership

- Career-First Orientation

- Intolerance of Dissent

- Substitution of Politics for Principle

- Accepting Rhetoric as Reality

- Obsession with Image Enhancement

* Taken from Lt Col Secrist's article - "Defective Leadership: America's Greatest Peril

Information Warfare Leadership

Some have expressed confusion about the leadership and seniority of Flag officers and Senior Executive Service (SES)/Defense Intelligence Senior Level (DISL) in the Information Warfare community.

Here is the line-up as I see it. As always, your comments are welcome.

1. VADM Jack Dorsett - 1630
Overarching Leader of the Information Dominance Corps - OPNAV N2/N6

2. RADM Ned Deets - 1610
Information Warfare Officer community leader - Vice Commander, NNWC

3. RADM Michael A. Brown - 1610
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications - Department of Homeland Security

4. RDML Mike S. Rogers - 1610
Joint Staff, J2 Director of Intelligence

5. RDML William Leigher -1610
Deputy Fleet Cyber Commander/Deputy Commander 10th Fleet

6. RDML (Sel) Sean Filipowski -1610
Director, Cyber, Sensors and Electronic Warfare OPNAV N2N6F3

7. Mr. Mark Neighbors - Former 1610
Chief of Staff (N2/N6S)

8. Mr. Jerome Rapin - Former 1610
Deputy Director - Cyber, Sensors and Electronic Warfare - OPNAV N2N6F3B

9. 50 or so 1610 Captains.

10. 100 or so 1610 Commanders.

Information Capable Warrior

"Information dominance in the 21^st century Navy will require specific focus, deep expertise developed over an entire career, new mindsets, and new processes. If we accept the assumption that "information effects" are both supporting kinetic operations and supported by kinetic effects, the Navy must take immediate steps to build and sustain Information Domain warfighting expertise in order to develop future Maritime or Joint Information Warfare Component Commanders. After reviewing all options for long-term effectiveness and near-term feasibility, the Information Capable Warrior study recommended establishing a new Information Officer (URL) warfighting community as a comprehensive solution with the best opportunity to realize the Navy’s goals for the future Information Capable Warrior."

Information Capable Warrior Whitepaper
Captain Mark A. Wilson, USNR, Retired
President/CEO - Strategy Bridge International

Command Failure = Commanding Officer Failure

"When things go wrong in your command, start searching for the reason in increasingly larger concentric circles around your own desk."

General Bruce C. Clark
Commander in Chief of the US Army in Europe, 1960–62

Seven Leadership Principles for the Information Dominance Corps

"The most important criteria for succeeding in the Navy, as in most places, is to attain professional competence. Seniors, peers, and juniors all judge us based on our basic knowledge of our business. Generally, the greater breadth and depth of professional competence, the more opportunities you will have to be successful. I hope this revelation doesn’t shock anyone, but it is important to emphasize. I believe individuals will be more successful if they spend time and energy on improving their professional skills, rather than wasting time trying to get face time or maneuver to find the right assignment. Depth and breadth in our field is immediately recognized. For officers and enlisted members, the best way in our business to expand professional competence (and professional reputation) is to go to sea and other operational assignments and do well there.

I believe there are a handful of fundamental principles that, when followed, can lead to success. These principles, I believe, apply to all members of our business, regardless of Service, specialty, personal or professional background and skills, paygrade, position or seniority. What are the fundamentals?

They are:

(1) professional competence,
(2) relevance,
(3) dedication,
(4) sense of urgency,
(5) attention to detail,
(6) leadership and
(7) maintaining the highest ethical standards.

There are other attributes of the successful Information Dominance Corps professional, and I will discuss them as well." (in later blog posts).

Vice Admiral Jack Dorsett
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance
"The Art of Success in Naval Intelligence"

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release

On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=13170 Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/comment.aspx or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 951-09 December 07, 2009

Flag Officer Assignment Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced today the following assignment: Capt. Sean R. Filipowski, who has been selected for rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as director, information operations, N3IO / deputy director of naval intelligence for cryptology, N2C, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

RDML FILIPOWSKI'S OFFICIAL NAVY BIOGRAPHY