Photo By George Bieber | Capt. John Watkins, commanding officer, Naval Information Warfare Development Center...... read more read more
Naval Information Warfighting Development Center (NIWDC) celebrated its one-year anniversary in Norfolk, Virginia, March 29.
“What a great day to reflect and recognize your hard work over the past year,” said Vice Adm. Matthew J. Kohler, commander, Naval Information Forces (NAVIFOR) in a ceremony at Bldg. NH-139 aboard Naval Support Activity Norfolk in acknowledgement of NIWDC’s establishment on March 27, 2017. “NIWDC has set the bar extremely high and all of you should be proud of your achievements. Not many commands can take credit for doing so much for our warfighters in so little time. But you did - you had to - in response to recognition of the critical value of Information Warfare (IW) to Navy warfighting.”
Warfighting Development Centers (WDC) are the Navy’s tactical centers of excellence, enhancing Fleet high-end warfighting capabilities and readiness across the theater, operational, and tactical levels of war. All warfare areas – surface, air, sub-surface, expeditionary and now information – have WDCs.
NIWDC leverages the advantages of a multi-domain environment, shifting from traditional
platform-centric warfare tactics toward an integrated holistic approach that capitalizes on
warfighting power in multiple domains at sea and on shore.
“You have earned fleet credibility and warfare development center (WDC) relevancy - both top strategic objectives for advancing IW training to meet the serious challenges our operating forces
are facing around the world.” Kohler said.
Kohler went on to add that he is very proud of what they’ve been able to achieve over the past year. “NIWDC has revolutionized how we train, educate and advance our IW warfighters,” he continued. He highlighted the Navy’s six element approach to comply with the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and discussed how NIWDC supports each tenet for the Navy the Nation Needs: Bigger, Better, Networked, Talented, Agile, and Ready. “Once we build a bigger fleet, modernize it, properly man it, we need IW professionals to better operate it. We need NIWDC,” said Kohler.
NIWDC’s mission is to train and assess information warfare forces in advanced tactics, techniques, and procedures in assigned mission area at the individual, unit, integrated or advanced, and joint levels, ensuring alignment with the Information Warfare training continuum. The headquarters staff will manage seven core mission area directorates, which they refer to as “MADs.” Those MADs include: Assured Command-and-Control and Cyberspace Operations MAD, Space Operations MAD, Meteorology MAD, Intelligence MAD, Cryptology MAD, Electronic Warfare MAD, and Information Operations MAD.
“While we were the last WDC to stand up,” said Capt. John Watkins, NIWDC’s first commanding officer, “we [already] have IW community professionals, both enlisted and officer, arrayed across the other WDCs today, totaling about 150 people, who are working Information Warfare expertise into Naval warfighting. And it’s NIWDC’s integrated approach that redefines maritime warfighting with IW capabilities that address advancing and evolving technology and information.”
“Laying that all out, we can generate Information Warfare effects from any of those mission areas but when combined, it becomes extremely optimal,” said Watkins. “It’s the traditional ‘sum of the parts’ principle. . .”
Kohler noted that demand for expert IW talent has never been higher, “Your work is taking our professionals to the next level, preparing them to be the expert Information Warfare talent our nation needs in this new era of global challenge. The bar has been raised by our adversaries, raised by new technology, raised by the pace of change. But you are meeting those demands and exceeding those challenges.”
Kohler finished by outlining NIWDC’s accomplishments, mentioning their engagement in the Pacific in support of the fleet problem series, recent partnering with Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) to enhance Surface Warfare advanced tactical training venues with advanced IW scenarios, great advancements in the NIFC-EW effort during support efforts with RED NITRUM, working the Electronic Warfare (EW) campaign and EMW CONOPS, enhancements to Fleet Deception CONOPS, and codifying the Information Warfare Commander construct.
“Congratulations to each and every one of you here, and to those shipmates who couldn’t be here today,” Kohler said. “You should be proud of your work and your contributions to the fight. Happy one-year anniversary and I look forward to celebrating many more with such an inspiring team.”
For more information on NIWDC visit its web site at
http://www.public.navy.mil/fltfor/navifor/Pages/Default2.aspx , http://www.public.navy.mil/FLTFOR/infodomain/Pages/HOME.aspx or our Navy News Web page at http://www.navy.mil/local/navifor or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/USNavyInformationDominanceForces
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2018 14:10 |
| Story ID: | 271916 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 236 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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