Team SPAWAR's PEO C4I Establishes New Program Office Focused on Information Assurance, Cyber Security

By Steven Davis, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The Navy's Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I) formally established a new program office July 20.

The Information Assurance and Cyber Security Program Office, also known as PMW 130, will focus solutions to protect and defend Navy information systems.

"PMW 130 will be the sentry, manning the gates of Navy information," said Rear Adm. Jerry Burroughs, the program executive officer for C4I. "It is designed to provide the information assurance products and cyber security solutions necessary to protect and defend Navy information and information systems, thereby protecting the fleet's ability to operate effectively."

Virtually every operation aboard a Navy ship – navigation, engineering, communications and weapons – relies on transfer of data. The ship's ability to effectively carry out its mission can be impacted if the data information flow is interrupted.

"Information is no longer an enabler, but a core capability as important today as the introduction of nuclear power was in the last century," said Burroughs. "We must be able to support the employment of dynamic cyberspace operations, which take us to a predictive rather than reactive posture in how we operate and defend our networks and information."

The Defense Department addressed the importance of cyber security in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and responded by creating U.S. Cyber Command to coordinate network and information security issues.

In concert, the Navy established the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and re-commissioned the 10th Fleet during a ceremony at Fort Meade in January. Both Fleet Forces Command and 10th Fleet were created as part of the vision to achieve the integration and innovation necessary for warfighting superiority across the full spectrum of military operations in the maritime, cyberspace and information domains, and to raise information to the forefront of the Navy's 21st century arsenal.

PMW 130 will team with U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, 10th Fleet, other government organizations, industry and academia with the common goal of providing information dominance to warfighters. The new program office is headed by Kevin McNally, who formerly served as the deputy program manager in PEO C4I's Ship Integration Program Office.