Air Force to merge tech offices

Service officials plan to create a new IT organization that combines the work of the CIO Office, Warfighting Integration Office and Communications Operations Office.

Air Force officials plan to replace three technology offices with one.

Air Force Secretary James Roche announced today that the service would create a new information technology organization called Networks and Warfighting Integration. It combines three offices at Air Force headquarters and the Pentagon: the office of the service's chief information officer the Warfighting Integration Office and the Communications Operations Office.

A lieutenant general will be named director of the new organization and will also be the Air Force CIO, officials said. A senior civilian executive will be the deputy.

The service's deputy chief of staff for warfighting integration is Lt. Gen. William Hobbins. Currently, John Gilligan is the Air Force's CIO.

Officials unveiled the consolidation plans this afternoon at Air Force IT Day, sponsored by the Northern Virginia chapter of AFCEA.

"The Air Force has long recognized the growing dependence of warfighters and decision-makers on information generated and shared across worldwide networks," Roche and Gen. John Jumper, the Air Force's chief of staff, stated in a Dec. 2 memo about the move.

Officials expect to present their implementation plan to Roche in January.

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