DISA reshuffles the deck

The Defense Information Systems Agency announced earlier this month that it was reorganizing to help the Defense Department achieve network-centric operations and better align activities with DOD agencies.

DISA, which oversees procurement and administration of DOD IT systems, is restructuring in five areas: acquisition, engineering, operations, finance and governance.

"We will now have an organizational structure that positions us to be [DOD's] provider of end-to-end, global net-centric solutions," said DISA's director, Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege, in a statement.

Raduege ordered the reorganization Sept. 30 so DISA can more effectively support President Bush, top DOD officials, unified commanders and deployed combat units, officials said. Although some initiatives start immediately, the vast restructuring will begin in December.

"The agency is still in the process of working out the details concerning the transformation," said DISA spokeswoman Betsy Flood. "The reorganization will allow DISA to intensify its focus on [those] five 'big' opportunities."

The changes were the result, in part, of DOD's creation of the Strategic Command, said John Thomas, director of strategic programs in EMC Corp.'s federal division in McLean, Va.

"DISA has to be able to define its functions," said Thomas, a retired Army colonel who worked at DISA overseeing the Global Network Operations and Security Center, the agency's facility for conducting computer network defense.

DOD formed the Strategic Command last October by combining the Space Command, responsible for space and information operations, and the Strategic Command, which managed command and control for U.S. forces.

In one of the first initiatives, DISA created a component acquisition executive position to support large, joint IT acquisition programs across DOD.

Diane McCoy, the first component acquisition executive and former principal director of the agency's Applications Engineering Directorate, will oversee DISA's program management offices.

The agency also now consists of three strategic business units:

n Global Information Grid (GIG) Enterprise Services Engineering to develop and deploy GIG engineering solutions.

n GIG Combat Support to field and sustain net-centric products and services.

n GIG Operations to manage, operate and defend the infrastructure.

DISA must adjust to remain relevant, said Raduege in a memo to some agency employees. "We must continue to guarantee our forces global information dominance by providing interoperable, secure capabilities to our customers on a daily basis as we transform ourselves for future success," he said.

The agency's new mission statement reads: DISA "is a combat support agency responsible for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting global net-centric solutions and operating the [GIG] to serve the needs of the president, vice president, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders and the other DOD components under all conditions of peace and war."

Frank Tiboni contributed to this story.