The Defense Information Systems Agency is responsible for administering infrastructure, IT assistance and communications services to various Department of Defense components and combatant commands. However, the agency’s director says there’s a need for an intelligence-gathering wing to bolster situational awareness and gauge threats.
At an AFCEA Northern Virginia conference earlier this year, DISA Director and 2024 Wash100 Award winner Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner said that there will be an intelligence unit established and functional sometime this year, DefenseScoop reported.
“Being the owners and the keepers of the majority of this thing we call the [DOD Information Network] and the [Defense Information Systems Network], why wouldn’t we have an intelligence function that is providing us the threat picture and understanding what the adversary is trying to do against the terrain that DISA owns?” Skinner wondered.
For more details on what this intelligence arm might entail and information on DISA’s partnerships with the GovCon industry, register for Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual CIO Summit. Lt. Gen. Skinner will deliver the closing keynote address, and he’ll be preceded by a number of high-ranking government officials. Don’t miss this April 17 all-day blow-out event!
The incoming intelligence wing will be predicated on J code adoption. J codes are hubs made up of staff, operations, plans and intelligence and Lt. Gen. Skinner anticipates this model will help the agency strengthen its collaboration with the combatant commands it supports.
“I’m a firm believer that as a combat support agency, which is our identity, we should be more aligned to those organizations that we provide support to, which is our agencies and our combatant commands. The more we can function [and] align with what we are doing with our mission partners, the better,” Skinner noted.
The intelligence unit will be called J2 and will mark the first unit of its kind within the agency.
Lt. Gen. Skinner will offer more frank insights such as these at POC’s CIO Summit in April, and if you register, you’ll also get to hear from DIA CIO Doug Cossa, ODNI CIO Adele Merritt and DOD Principal Deputy CIO Leslie Beavers, among others.
