The Air Force is realigning its Headquarters Cyberspace Capabilities Center to the Office of the Chief Information Officer in an attempt to streamline information technology functions.
The center, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, was stood up in 2019 and was responsible for delivering cyber capabilities. The recently announced change making it a field operating agency that is secretariat aligned will require no movement of people, and it’s expected to reach full operational capability by October 2025.
“This is a significant step toward streamlining and consolidating Information Technology functions and ensuring unity of effort in IT service delivery across the Air Force and Space Force,” Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force, said in a statement. “By combining and aligning these functions to their authoritative owner, the IT enterprise will be able to produce capabilities in shorter, more rapid development cycles — ensuring requirements are expediently actioned and delivered to the Airmen and Guardians who need them.”
As a field operating agency, the center will develop and manage services such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, mobility, and data centers, to ensure interoperability and consistency across the department, according to a LinkedIn post from the Department of the Air Force CIO.
The move — which was effective Dec. 20, according to a release — is in line with Kendall’s ongoing effort to reoptimize the DAF for great power competition, a sweeping set of changes overhauling how the service is organized and creating new commands as it transitions from 20-plus years of counterterrorism operations and focuses on countering advanced adversaries such as China.
As part of those changes, the Air Force has sought to elevate the role of cyber and IT functions, with forthcoming moves including elevating Air Forces Cyber and splitting the intelligence and cyber roles at the deputy chief of staff level. The latter change aims to elevate the role of IT, cyber and warfighter communications with a dedicated three-star general serving as the chief advisor to the secretary.
“The bifurcation of IT did not meet my intent to rapidly deliver capabilities based on the requirements provided by our people,” Kendall said.
The evolution of the Cyberspace Capabilities Center, which will include the realignment of functions from other organizations and future administrative changes, will more effectively organize, train and equip the IT enterprise and cyber personnel, according to the Air Force.
“Our men and women are used to change, but we’re especially excited about this opportunity to refocus our mission centered around service delivery for the enterprise. We can already see the synergies building between our team and the DAF CIO’s staff,” Col. Chris Rubiano, Headquarters Cyberspace Capabilities Center commander, said in a statement. “We look forward to onboarding other Enterprise IT functions from across the Department and working with stakeholders to grow processes which help us best develop capabilities for both Airmen and Guardians.”
The move also aims to align with the Air Force’s notion of “one department, two services,” since the inception of the Space Force in 2019, with the need to better represent the structure among both entities.
“Many people don’t realize how vast our office’s statutory authority for IT is — there are many responsibilities that my office cannot delegate and that we are responsible for delivering and synchronizing across the Enterprise, which is inclusive of all IT — from business, to warfighting, to intelligence, to services of common concern,” DAF CIO Venice Goodwine said in a statement. “I have a responsibility to the secretary, but also his staff and both services, to ensure their IT requirements are captured and developed in a way that is not only responsive but cost effective and interoperable with one another. We can do this through effective governance, and alignment of the Cyberspace Capabilities Center as a Field Operating Agency to my office, will help reinforce adherence to the capability delivery process.”