From West 2023 in San Diego, CA, sponsored by Carahsoft.

SEAL teams around the world are just one group that gets its comms support from Naval Special Warfare Tactical Communications Command One. The command supports other special operations forces and conventional forces too. Commander Blythe Blakistone, commander of TCC1, tells me about her command’s mission.

The Navy is using unmanned systems in a lot of different ways, not just in high-end weapons systems. One way the service is deploying unmanned systems is in data collection. Wade Ladner, Technical Director of the Naval Oceanographic Office, tells me his office’s survey data and ocean observation collection is unique.

A new cyber workforce strategy is coming from the office of Defense Department Chief Information Officer John Sherman “any day now.” One of the leaders responsible for executing that strategy when it comes out will be Patrick Johnson. He’s Director of the Workforce Innovation Directorate in the Office of the CIO at DoD. He tells me the Pentagon can learn a lot about building a cyber workforce from industry.

The intelligence community should talk more about the threat China poses to the United States, and how it’s executing on that threat already, according to Rear Admiral Michael Studeman. He’s Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence and Director of the National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office. He delivered a speech at West 2023 that described a pretty stark outlook on the threat from China and Russia. After his speech, he tells me what exactly he wanted to convey in those remarks.

AFCEA DC Ukraine/Russia luncheon March 22, 2023

Photo: RADM Michael Studeman (L) and Francis Rose, February 15, 2023 at West 2023. Photo via Fed Gov Today