Could the software and hardware systems designed to support Navy applications one day define the leading edge of information technology? This is entirely possible—if the naval information warfare community adopts a strict technical training regimen and adheres to the highest of professional standards.
The obstacles facing the naval information warfare officer community are great but not insurmountable. First, we need to increase significantly our pool of talented officers. We can achieve this goal by recruiting the best and brightest information technology personnel from the civilian community as well as by leveraging on reservists who have achieved a level of technical mastery in their civilian occupations. These individuals could be given years of service credit to help lead a new elite corps of officers. They could create both short- and long-range development plans, establish guidelines, create training requirements, sit on certification boards, conduct technical symposiums, mentor new officers, and solidify the image of the future information warfare officer.
Second, all members of the naval information warfare officer community should be certified in specialty areas through rigorous tests, interviews, and timely reviews of work. The certification process would continue throughout an officer’s career and would mirror the review process of the Navy’s nuclear community and leading civilian information technology providers. The goal of certification would be to ensure all information warfare officers remain current on technology advances and are able to communicate within the field.
Third, the Navy should require continuous training to maintain professional competency, prepare members for certification boards, and instill in members the confidence to realize their own potentials in shaping the command, control, communications, computers, and information technology of the future. All information warfare officers would receive periodic training at a dedicated site, which could be run in partnership with leading information consulting firm to ensure the lesson objectives keep pace with the latest technology developments. In addition, information warfare officers would be issued a laptop to keep abreast of the latest advances in their field, attend virtual classrooms, and respond to tasking when required.
Finally, we must insist that officers participate actively in the advancement of information technology. Performance at sea always has been the most critical element in an officer’s career. The resumes of medical professionals, however, emphasize their contributions in the field of medicine rather than the actual applications of their practice. If medical professionals adopted the evaluation practices employed in the Navy today, bedside manner might improve, but what would happen to the advancement of medicine? As a prerequisite to advancement, information warfare officers should contribute in meaningful ways to the information technology community by hosting seminars, delivering papers, getting published, and contributing to the improvement of system applications.
Senior leaders have made the case for change, but few are acting on what is being said. We fail to act because we have forgotten the lesson Admiral Hyman Rickover taught to a junior officer one morning many years ago. The story goes that the admiral was sitting down for breakfast when he took notice of two junior officers preparing to enjoy some scrambled eggs. The first officer tasted the eggs and then added some salt. The second officer, after observing the first, reached for the shaker and added some salt to his eggs as well. The admiral immediately got up and unbraided the second junior officer who had made the mistake of assuming the eggs were not sufficiently salted. Admiral Rickover’s outburst that day made a statement, heard loud and clear throughout the fleet—in his nuclear Navy, it was the duty of every officer to make decisions for himself and correct those who failed to do so.
The Navy does not need Admiral Rickover to return, but it does need an elite corps of information warfare officers who will hear what our senior leadership is saying and act. These men and women will not assume the operation specifications are sound without seeing the supporting documentation. They will not assume the risk of implementation is low because others are taking a similar chance. They will not assume they can deliver application systems into an operating environment without support from the end user. They will, on occasion, assume their eggs are too lightly salted. They will not, however, mind being corrected for it.
Commander Pietkiewicz is assigned to Area Air Defense Command Pacific. He is a senior principal programmer with Anteon Corporation.