Navy axes CIO office in reorg

Navy Under Secretary Thomas Modly is shutting down a top IT position that provided cybersecurity and privacy policy guidance for the Marines and Navy as part of a larger modernization and reorganization effort.

According to a March 16 memo, the Navy CIO and "all supporting functions will be disestablished," However, the DON CIO office will continue to operate, but on a small scale to comply with statute, Modly wrote.

"I will retain a small Office of the DON CIO Office of the Chief Information Officer reporting directly to me for statutory compliance, but will divest most other CIO functions to my DON CIO deputies in the services," he said.

Modly, the chief management officer and his office's senior leaders will absorb the Navy CIO's responsibilities "to help rapidly prioritize and accelerate business transformation initiatives," the under secretary wrote.

Most DON CIO functions, such as IT management, will be delegated to the services, while the new CMO will focus on audit outcomes, financial accountability, modernizing business systems, data strategies for business operations, and business reform across the Defense Department and Navy.

"We must build a business operations culture that employs faster access to accurate information, reduces overhead and bureaucracy, and streamlines processes that impede rapid decision making," Modly wrote in the memo.

"This culture must demonstrate the relentless pursuit of operational improvements in order to stay ahead of our adversaries and make the best use of the resources we are provided by the American people."

The services will each have leaders that report directly to Modly and serve as deputy CIOs from the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance (N2/N6) and Marines Corps' Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4/CIO).