5 Takeaways from AFCEA WEST 2024

The workforce of the future was a common conversation point, including upskilling current servicemembers, hiring and retention in the services. Leveraging the next generation’s digital skill sets, comfort with technology and innovation, according to Lt. Col. Charlie Bahk, director of the Marine Corps Software Factory, is key to the Marine Corps’ vision for its future-savvy workforce. Using this “latent talent of the digital natives that we are empowering and upskilling” is critical to the future of the Marines.

“We need to give them a fully developed career path with opportunities to ascend, opportunities to promote and advance and eventually step into leadership roles where the newer generation comes in behind them, and they get to pass that knowledge on to them,” Bahk said.

The Navy’s IT, cybersecurity and data operations exist in a dynamic environment that requires strong identity management and a thriving culture of evolution and adaptability. Navy CIO Jane Rathbun sat down with GovCIO Media & Research to discuss the ways that her office is changing with the different threats to provide the best resources for those in theater.

“You need to figure out how to do right by the warfighter. Our mantra is to securely move data from anywhere to anywhere. How do we make that real?” Rathbun said. “That requires us to rethink our IT infrastructure and how we deliver that as a core capability of the department and a strategic asset of the department.”

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called on industry partners to focus on delivering innovative solutions to the Navy on time and on budget. He cited the economic rebound from the COVID-19 downturn as something which industry and the Navy can use to collaborate and innovate better to solve larger problems. The future of the Navy, he noted, largely depends on that collaboration.

“We’re not just building ships, we’re forging a modern, lethal fleet — agile, adaptable and able to meet any threat on the horizon. Our logistics and our shipbuilding initiatives aren’t just about jobs or creating a technical advantage,” Del Toro said. “They’re about guaranteeing a maritime force that can outmaneuver any challenge presented by any adversary around the globe.”

The Marine Corps is in the middle of modernizing its networks into a single enterprise network to improve identity management and services. The team is upgrading software and hardware to improve latency and cybersecurity on its networks. Getting warfighters what they need at the tactical edge is one goal, but constant modernization is the greater goal at the center of the process.

Shery Thomas, cyber technology officer at the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, spoke to GovCIO Media & Research about the state of the process. “Network modernization is an ongoing effort. It was started a few years ago, and it is an iterative process. We are in multiple phases in terms of modernization,” Thomas said. “We are doing unification from tactical to enterprise.”

Technology underpins the Navy’s global power, Navy Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said during the conference’s opening keynote address. She cited “cyber weapons to unmanned platforms, directed energy, artificial intelligence and hypersonic missiles” as the tech that the Navy needs to continually innovate for a strong foundational approach. The Navy’s culture, its people and its tech are part of the backbone of the service’s global power, Franchetti said.

“It’s the foundation that supports [warfighters] by investing in our infrastructure, building trust, aligning resources and quite simply by always being ready. Our United States Navy plays an outsized and dominant role in achieving America’s national security objectives and ensuring our economic prosperity,” Franchetti said. “The decisions we make and the actions we take today will determine the global maritime balance of power for decades to come.”