Photo By William Roche | Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commander of Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER), passes the colors...... read more read more
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U.S. Army Cyber Command’s (ARCYBER) 1st Information Operations Command (Land) conducted its final change of command ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va., in July 2024 as it prepares for its inactivation in 2025.
1st IO Command is the Army’s only active-duty information operations command. Its mission of providing analytical, planning, assessment and training support to Army and joint forces spans a wide range of intelligence, cyber and information responsibilities that support multi-domain operations.
The command will inactivate in Fiscal Year 2025 as part of the Army’s plan to fully transition to Multi-Domain Operations by 2030. The inactivation supports the progression from information operations to information advantage activities.
The command, which saw its official inception in 2002, has its origins in the Persian Gulf War in 1991 with the Army’s aim to build an organization that could provide information warfare and command and control warfare support to other Army commands.
Between 1991 and 2002, the concepts defining what became 1st IO Command took root from the efforts of Army leaders such as Lt. Gen. Paul Menoher, commander of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command and later Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, who in late 1993 and early 1994 developed the concept of the Land Information Warfare Activity. In 1996, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer issued his “IO intent and Strategy” directing the development and implementation of the “Army IO Campaign Plan” that resulted in the Army’s activation of the 1st IO Command in 2002.
In 2011, ARCYBER assumed operational control of 1st IO and began molding it into the more than 500-member strong organization composed of Soldiers, civilian employees and contractors that it is today.
In her remarks at the change of command, ARCYBER commander Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett said she could not list all the command's many achievements but noted a few highlights:
-- Deployment of IO Field Support Teams (FSTs) for dozens of operations and exercises, including information advantage experimentation.
-- Cyber opposing force support for dozens of exercises, including rotations at the Army's Combat Training Centers, and in support of the Mission Command Training Program and Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Capability.
-- Cyber red team support for the DoD Information Network and other critical networks.
-- Mission readiness exercises for more than a dozen deploying Army National Guard and Army Reserve IO FSTs.
-- Development of Joint Qualification Requirements for ARCYBER red teams and cyber red team digital gunnery.
-- Training 3,000 students in IO over two years.
-- Developing more than 450 reach-back analytical products supporting six combatant commands and their component commands.
"Ryan (Keating, 1st IO’s outgoing commander) brags about all the hard work 1st IO has done,” the general told unit members and guests at the ceremony. “You make him proud. You make me proud.”
"The work you do supports our national security and defends our democratic ideals in the information dimension."
1st IO has been an integral part of operations in the information environment throughout the Global War on Terror era and has continued to transform to support of ARCYBER’s efforts to maintain information advantage in support of Army continuous transformation. Harkening back to when the command helped shape the landscape of information operations, the Army plans to transform the unit’s capabilities to better enable information advantage.
1st IO gave us insight to what information advantage could be back when it first stood up in 2002 and began supporting joint force commanders and operations, said Barrett at the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association TechNet2024 event in Augusta, Ga., last month.
Today, the question is, “How can we get this capability into the theaters on a more persistent basis?” she added. “We don’t want the same capabilities, though … we want an evolved capability, and so it starts with, ironically, inactivating the1st IO Brigade.”
Barrett continued with what this evolution will look for the future of ARCYBER.
ARCYBER will take the 1st IO Table of Distribution and Allowances manning document for its civilian employees and take those positions to create a new organization.
The inactivation of the 1st Information Operations Command was declared in February 2024. Subsequently, the Army will construct new, theater-based information superiority units. Moreover, ARCYBER will maintain the civilian roles and staff of the 1st IO to establish novel information superiority and cyber red team capabilities.
This led to planning events with ARCYBER staff and 1st IO Command to develop a talent retention plan focused on preserving critical the experience and skills resident within the current 1st IO civilian workforce.
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ABOUT U.S. ARMY CYBER COMMAND: U.S. Army Cyber Command integrates and conducts cyberspace operations, electromagnetic warfare, and information operations, ensuring decision dominance and freedom of action for friendly forces in and through the cyber domain and the information dimension, while denying the same to our adversaries.
ARCYBER ON THE WEB: https://www.arcyber.army.mil
ARMY CYBER ON THE U.S. ARMY WEBSITE: https://www.army.mil/armycyber
ARCYBER ON X (Formerly Twitter): https://x.com/ARCYBER
ARCYBER ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/armycybercommand
ARCYBER ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/us-army-cyber-command
ARCYBER ON FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/army-cyber
ARCYBER TALENT MANAGEMENT ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/ArmyCyberCommandTalentManagement
Interested in the challenge of joining the Army Cyber team? Check out military and civilian cyber career and employment opportunities by clicking on the "Careers" tab at www.arcyber.army.mil
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2024 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 480946 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 597 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Active Army’s only Information Operations Command prepares for future stand-down, by SFC Kyle Alvarez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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