Godwin to lead NMCI

Rear Adm. James B. Godwin III will become the new director of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet program.

Godwin currently is the program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. He succeeds Rear Adm. Charles Munns, who was recommended in June for vice admiral and commander of submarine force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and commander of Submarine Allied Command, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Va.

Godwin becomes NMCI director next month. Navy officials do not know his start date yet, said Capt. Chris Christopher, the program's staff director.

Gordon England, secretary of the Navy, appointed Godwin to the NMCI director position Aug. 6, according to a Defense Department flag officer assignments statement released that day.

Before Munns began in early 2002, committees ran NMCI with at least six Navy officials having a say in the program's management. Munns became the anchor of the NMCI team, championing the need for an enterprisewide system and challenging detractors. When he took over the fledgling program, fewer than 700 sailors had been transitioned to the new system. As of today, more than 187,000 seats reside on the network.

NMCI's many critics say the system isn't worth its $8.8 billion price tag and that lead contractor EDS cannot finish the job on time and on budget. But more than half of Navy and Marine Corps personnel use the network.

Godwin grew up in Texas, attended Tulane University on a football scholarship and graduated from the institution in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering. He was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy. He flew 2,000 hours each in the retired A-7 Corsair II and the F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters and logged 34 missions during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.