Information Warfare and Cryptology Community Leadership - incoming Rear Admiral Leigher

As I assume the leadership of our Information Warfare and Cryptologic community let me start by thanking Rear Admiral Ned Deets for his stewardship and vision over the last several years.  His tenure as community leader saw more change than perhaps any other period in the history of Naval cryptology.  He led us to a time when our skills have never been in greater demand, in the midst of continued growth of our billet base and leaves to us the task of writing the next chapter of our history.  Our future will unfold around the nexus of our operational base at Fleet Cyber Command and the resource sponsorship of N2N6.

The work ahead will be difficult and will necessarily bring continued change.  The excellence in RF and cyberspace exploitation that we bring to the joint force will expand to include a range of emerging defensive and offensive capabilities.  The nature of the interconnected and digital based world will insure that the pace of change will continue to be fast and sometimes appear daunting.  Yet we are a daunting team and we will be ready and continue to excel.

Our community's signals work is foundational to Information Dominance and your Navy's ability to deliver effects on every battlefield and to every commander.  We need your intellectual capacity to think through challenges and opportunities that this integrated battlefield brings and we need your technical capacity to create solutions that span intelligence production and effects generation.

The creation of the Information Dominance Corps is the opportunity for new partnerships and to tackle obstacles to our collective capability.  It also means finding a comfort zone that has come with the additional responsibilities that our warfare device brings and blending seamlessly with the excellence that our Navy peers who operate platforms bring.  The IDC isn't just a group of people, it is the basis for using information as another capability to project power.  This change may be the hardest to face as it involves how we think about ourselves and what we do.  I believe this is worth that effort because there is one thing I am certain of, our Navy will be better with the that the IDC can bring to the fight.

Thank you for what you do every day and for the sacrifice that you and your families chose to make for our nation.  I am honored for the opportunity to lead this Navy community.  All the best to you and Godspeed.

Very respectfully,

Rear Admiral Bill Leigher