Our Man In The Pacific (Now at the Pentagon)

PACOM Director for Intelligence visits U.S. 7th Fleet
By MC2 (AW) Greg Mitchell, U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs

Posted: July 16, 2009

YOKOSUKA, Japan -- The future intelligence officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) July 10 to get an intelligence update from 7th Fleet and participate in an all-hands videoconference with active duty service members and civilian intelligence professionals around the region.

Currently the U.S. Pacific Command director for intelligence, Rear Adm. Michael S. Rogers (1610 - Information Warfare Officer) visited Commander, 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. John M. Bird, during an office call and used the videoconference to discuss intelligence operations.

Originally a surface warfare officer, Rogers was recently selected to be the intelligence officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen in the Pentagon.

Rogers used the videoconference as a chance to talk career-oriented moves, while also opening the floor to personnel for asking questions concerning intelligence operations within the spectrum of forward-deployed naval forces.

“As an intelligence specialist, it is an honor to be able to be in the presence of such a prestigious senior officer in our field of expertise,” said Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class Steven Martell, with 7th Fleet's N2 Division. “This was a rare occasion to have the opportunity to meet a difference maker in our field of work.”

Rogers reciprocated Martell’s thoughts, expressing gratitude for the service of those in the intelligence community.

“I just wanted to come forward and thank all of the troops personally for their efforts,” said Rogers. “You should take pride in your part of supporting the area of responsibility (AOR). Your skill set and experience are vital to the decisions made by those senior decision makers.”

In closing, Rogers provided a bit of advice toward continuous success.

“Communication is something that I cannot emphasize enough,” said Rogers. “Part of the key to success is to know that the person on the other end of the line is just as capable and just as professional as you are.”

Skillsets Vitally Important to This War

"The skill sets of our Information Professional officers, information system technicians (IT), information warfare officers (IWO) and cryptologic technicians (CT), the capabilities they bring to the fight, and the effects they deliver, are vitally important to this war. There is no question about it — they are in the fight.

And while I’m focusing primarily on those from our NETWARCOM domain, I can’t say enough about the Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and civilians who are all part of this massive team effort. Everywhere I went I heard great stories of the professionalism and dedication of our Sailors involved in network operations, signals intelligence (SIGINT), cryptology and information operations. They are motivated; they understand the vital nature of their mission, and they are performing jobs in their skill sets. Their morale is very high."

Rear Admiral Ned Deets,
Vice Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command

CHIPS Magazine, December 2007

The Value of the IW Community

"In my mind, the value of the Information Warfare Community lies in the expertise of the Information Warfare Officers, the Cryptologic Technicians, civilians and government contractors supporting them. To sustain the IW Community, we must encourage those habits in ourselves and our subordinates which develop and improve the IW Community's underlying body of knowledge. We need to do this through both formal and informal collaboration. Ideally, we ought to get to a genuinely collaborative environment where we value "learning" more than "knowing". Wouldn't that be great?