Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner, seen in a 2018 photo, is now the head of DISA. (U.S. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr.)
TECHNET CYBER 2023 — The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is set to begin a wave of reorganization that the agency’s chief says will help it keep up with strategic threats — specifically from China, America’s top competitor.
“So as we look at the China threat, and as we look at the strategic threats out there, we did some analysis and some internal looks [and] we weren’t functionally aligned optimally,” Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, told reporters May 3 at the AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore.
“And so as we looked at how do we function…optimally, that’s really what this was all about,” he continued. “Whatever we call it is secondary to making sure that we are functionally aligned so that we have experts in charge of a particular functional area that can get after that mission function…of that organization.”
“We decided to go with J codes for the fact of better aligning with our combatant commands, better aligning with the Joint Staff, and as a Combat Support Agency, it just makes sense,” Skinner said. The agency will begin its first “major movement” next month, Skinner told reporters.
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As part of the new reorganization, DISA will have a J-1 solely focused on human resources and a brand new J-2 “intelligence function” for the agency.
“The agency has never had one before,” Skinner said about the new J-2 during his keynote speech at the conference. “And so there will be an intelligence organization that is solely focused on providing the intelligence needs for the agency. There will be a J-3,5,7 in charge of ops, plans and exercises. Very typical of a J-3, 5, 7.”
There will also be a J-4 focused on warehousing logistics facilities; a J-6 that will bring together DISA’s Endpoint and Customer Service Directorate and the Joint Service Provider; a J-8 focused on requirements and finance; and the agency’s Host and Compute Center will be the agency’s J-9, Skinner said. At the end, the agency will have program executive offices “that are aligned with delivering capabilities.”
This is the second major reorganization of DISA under Skinner, who in 2021 said the agency’s organizational structure was too complicated. Under that previous shuffle, the agency moved from two main centers to four centers to more closely align with its strategy: the first center was focused on enterprise capabilities and security, the second center was focused on hosting and computing, the third was focused on operations and infrastructure and the fourth center was focused on innovation, C4ISRNET reported.
