Keyboard with China flag key (Getty images)
AFCEA TECHNET AUGUSTA — The pace and speed at which adversaries like China are able to potentially disrupt the US’s cyber operations is driving the new leader of the Army’s recently reorganized program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors (PEO IEW&S) to focus on agility and the ability to adjust to new threats on the fly.
As a result, Brig. Gen. Ed Barker told Breaking Defense Wednesday, the Army is “taking a holistic view” of its cyber capabilities and “making some new determinations” on where things will go at the division, brigade or above levels.
That means not being tied to programs even if they are underway, if they are no longer relevant. As an example, he pointed out there could be changes to efforts like the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team (TLS-BCT). That system is meant to provide formations at the brigade level with long-range EW capabilities.
“So we’re designing things like the TLS-BCT…if the Army makes a decision that the brigade combat team is not going to have that capability and it’s going to reside at the division [level], as an example…we have to be prepared to flex and adjust for that change,” he said.
Barker, who previously served as deputy PEO IEW&S, became the number one official spearheading the office in June at a time when the Army announced a broader restructure of its cyber and network-focused PEOs. The reorganization, which will be complete Oct. 1, shifts some cyber-related offices and programs from PEO enterprise information systems under PEO IEW&S in order to consolidate all of the Army’s cyber efforts in one place.
But it’s not just about programs. In fact, Barker said a lot of his focus in the early going of his office is on making sure talent management and personnel issues are sorted out. DoD has to deal with “not just the dynamic environment from a threat standpoint, but that just the entire environment we have to deal [with] from resourcing, from manning and talent management and things along those lines,” he said.
“So we got to kind of assess where we are with regard to that and understand what we have to do to continually evolve and make sure that we’re prepared with the organizational agility, and really the talent management side of the house to make sure that any of the future requirements that are being levied… we’re prepared to meet those,” he added.
When it comes to the cyber threat environment, the Army is learning that techniques that work one day may not work the next because “everybody is finding new and innovative ways to penetrate and conduct our own offensive actions.”
“So we have to be prepared to kind of monitor those, assess, figure out a way to mitigate and then…what we have to do to continue to protect our data, to protect ourselves,” he added. “But the pace in which that happens is really the biggest challenge and so, whereas maybe two to three years ago, the vulnerabilities weren’t being exploited as often. And it’s just building, I guess, is the best way to describe it.”
Barker said he’s outlined a 100-day plan to help facilitate this transition, a lot of which involves updates to the workforce in regard to the mission and priorities of the PEO.
“So the thing that we’re focusing on really now is…you have to be able to look out and see what’s next,” he said. “What’s coming down in the form of requirements and resourcing, where are the different acquisition programs relative to the lifecycle and are we, as an organization, prepared to meet those future demands…And then you also have to ensure that your talent is there to do that.”
Aside from the PEO’s ongoing efforts, Barker’s also looking ahead at emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and machine learning, and is partnering with Army Futures Command and DoD’s Chief Digital and AI Office to leverage their expertise in those areas. At the same time, the PEO is building out its machine learning pipeline called Project Linchpin, and there are opportunities to integrate it with other programs.
“What we can’t do is we can’t afford to…have everybody build their own pipeline,” he said. “So we’re doing a test case with the TITAN program to build out a machine learning pipeline for TITAN that would then allow other programs use, like TLS-BCT…so it’s something that to our knowledge has not been done before.”
The Army is set to start making awards for Project Linchpin next fiscal year, using a multi-vendor approach where the service won’t be tied down to one company, Barker added. Requests for proposals for the effort are going out in September this year.