technological leap ahead operations center pilot a ssc ......our future. rear adm. bachmann’s top...

The ChronicleSummer 2006 1

SSC Charleston’s RegionalOperations Center pilot atechnological leap ahead

SSC Charleston’s RegionalOperations Center pilot atechnological leap ahead

The ChronicleSummer 2006 3The Chronicle2 Summer 2006

Captain’s Call .................................... 4From the Executive Director ............... 5Netting the Special Ops warfighter .....12Regional Operations Center..................14Joint harbor ops supported...............16Ann Howell honored ........................18Navy’s new lightning ROD .................20Marines thankful for ‘Yummies’ ..........31A new mission for Mikolajcik .............36Statistical Process Control ................44SSC Charleston hosts VIPs ...............48The final word .................................50

7, 10 Lean Six SigmaSixteen earn LSS Green Belts, CASREPCrusaders ‘Lean’ casualty response.

26 Call to dutySSC Charleston Reservist’s recall offersexperience of a lifetime.

40 A legendary ship classUSNS Lewis and Clark is lead ship of Navy’sT-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ship class.

On the cover

9

Summer 2006 Vol. 12, No. 2

Navy Region Southeastwatchstanders man thenew state-of-the-art Re-gional Operations Cen-ter at Naval Air StationJacksonville. See storyon page 14. (Photo byHarold Senn)

Commanding Officer...Capt. Red HooverExecutive Director .............. James Ward

SSC Charleston’s MissionTo provide knowledge superiority to joint

warfighters and peacekeepers through the de-velopment, acquisition and life cycle support ofeffective, integrated Command, Control, Com-munications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveil-lance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems.

P.O. Box 190022North Charleston, SC 29419-9022

The Chronicle is a quarterly publicationdesigned for SPAWAR Systems Center,Charleston employees. Its purpose is to in-form, educate, entertain and generate newideas. Contents of The Chronicle are notnecessarily the official views of, or endorsedby, the U.S. Government, the Department ofDefense, the U.S. Navy or SSC Charleston.

InsideInside

From left, Greg Wilford, Charlie Peberdy, Navy RegionSoutheast Emergency Manager Terry Griffin, StacyJimerson, Rick Mahlie and David Whitley gather in the newRegional Operations Center at Jacksonville Naval Air Sta-tion. See story on page 14. Photo by Harold Senn.

Editor ............................... Susan PiedfortPhotographer .................... Harold Senn

The

ChronicleThe

Chronicle


From the desk of

James D. WardJames D. WardJames D. WardJames D. WardJames D. WardExecutive Director

Recently I heard a very interesting lecture about diver-sity and I want to share it with you. The professor ex-plained that we may think we have a diverse workforcewhen we look at observable characteristics such as gender,age or race. She cited an example of a group of employeeswho were made up of a variety of races and gender. Theprofessor then asked the class if this was diversity. Afterthe class emphatically agreed that this was diversity, shewent on to explain that although the members of that testgroup appeared to be diverse from all observable factors,they had very similar nonobservable characteristics. Theycame from the same kinds of neighborhoods, similar fam-ily and financial backgrounds, went to the same kinds ofschools, and had similar Myers-Briggstest results. They “looked” diverse onthe surface, but were actually verysimilar. The point the professor wasmaking was that the deep waters ofdiversity go beyond observable char-acteristics.

At SSC Charleston our goal has al-ways been to bring together peoplewith different backgrounds and expe-riences. We need a variety of skills andtalents to be successful at deliveringthe best possible capabilities to ourcustomers. The value of these skills is multiplied by differ-ences in culture, race, age and gender. My experience isthat a champion team needs both observable andnonobservable diversity.

Our C4ISR engineering workforce has been predomi-nately electrical and electronic engineers. As I’ve often kid-ded, EEs are the best engineers -- especially those fromVirginia Tech. However, all kidding aside, I have witnessedthe increase in value to our customers by expanding be-yond the traditional professional disciplines within our team.We now have industrial engineers, systems engineers, me-chanical engineers, operational research specialists ... and

Diversity... Appreciating the differences

we have found these different skill sets add incredible valueto our projects and programs in new and unexpected ways.

One recent success story is the Up-Armored Humvee(UAH) project. Our electrical/electronic engineer might pro-mote engineering enhancements to the communications,command and control and ISR suite while our industrialengineers promote the value of a consistent configuration.This debate is very healthy in that it optimizes the solutionto the warfighter. This question is being discussed—is thatincremental performance enhancement of enough value towarrant a change in the configuration of the C4ISR suite?This is an example of how diversity is making a differ-ence!!

We also have professionals in op-erational research who are enabling usto do C4I capability assessments andanalysis. We have systems engineerswho are making a difference across theC4ISR product line with system of sys-tems test approaches. Our businessprofessionals are truly making a dif-ference in our business acumen andownership cost of our product line.Nothing encourages me more than tosee our diverse workforce apply theirindividual expertise to our overarching

goal of providing the best value and capabilities to the menand women serving our country.

Stephen Covey in “Valuing the Differences” said, “wecan’t just tolerate diverse views; we must actively seekthem out.” We must value the differences between peopleand how they view the world, and use those differences asa source of insight. You can learn the most from peoplewho are not just like you. Mixing styles of thinking fromdifferent disciplines has given us the best of each and re-sulted in innovation, process improvements and synergisticsolutions.

“Nothing encourages me morethan to see our diverse

workforce apply their individualexpertise to our overarching

goal of providing the best valueand capabilities to the men and

women serving our country.”

Continued on next page

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since I became thecommanding officer of SSC Charleston. We have had agreat year, and I become more proud of our folks and theefforts we are doing in support of the warfighter with ev-ery customer and project I see.

I recently even had the chance to go to Qatar and Iraq tomeet some of our deployed customers firsthand; along withseveral of our dedicated engineers earnestly involved in sup-porting the GWOT. With programs like CENTAF support,the Internet cafes, and Up-Armored Humvees, we are re-ally making a positive impact on supporting the warfighter.We have even dedicated our own SPAWAR building (named

SPAWAR Camp Anaconda) at Balad Air Base just outsideBaghdad. It serves as our office, berthing and the Net Op-erating Center (NOC) for Internet cafes in theater. See moreon page 39.

In my previous articles, I have been writing about align-ment, partnering and following the CNO’s guidance.

We also now have recent guidance from our boss, RearAdm. Michael Bachman, COMSPAWARSYSCOM. He listedhis priorities for Team SPAWAR within the framework ofthe 2006 Navy Strategic Plan to sustain current readiness,increase efficiency and identify resources to recapitalizeour future. Rear Adm. Bachmann’s top priorities are tomeet the cost-wise readiness needs of our warfighters,improve our total force posture, improve Team SPAWAR’sbusiness processes, and invigorate innovation in supportof the Naval NETWAR/FORCEnet Enterprise (NNFE).

SSC Charleston is very much aligned with these priori-ties as we develop our workforce to acquire and deliverfuture warfighter capabilities, and we will continue to en-sure our execution strategies are in alignment withSPAWARSYSCOM priorities.

To meet the goal of providing cost-wise warfighter readi-ness, we are undertaking a top-to-bottom review of whereour in-service engineering support resources are being spent.Jeff Klein (SPAWAR 04 Readiness and Logistics Director-ate) visited recently to brief us on how headquarters willwork with the In-Service Engineering Agents (ISEAs) andPEO C4I Program Managers to make ISEA processes moreefficient. Our ISEA Next initiative is modernizing our in-service engineering efforts in parallel with the ongoing bar-rier removal team initiatives to ensure continuous forcereadiness. A survey developed by our ISEA Next team, inconjunction with SPAWAR 04C and SSC San Diego, iscurrently being populated to identify our current ISEA roles,responsibilities and processes. This effort is being led byour Code 80 Department Head Jennifer Watson.

In order to improve our total force posture, data is be-ing collected to more effectively characterize Team SPAWARand understand the skills we have now and the skills wewill need in the future. COMSPAWAR’s intent is to move

More opportunities for alignment and partnering

Continued on page 6

SPAWAR Camp AnacondaPhoto provided


Receiving their certificates as Lean Six Sigma Green Beltswere, top row, from left, Nick Sullivan, Jennifer Watson,Nelson Ard, Scott Crellin, Bill Foxworth, Mike Kutch, Charlie

Adams and Ken Bible; bottom row, Wayne Pannullo, Capt.Red Hoover, Gail Silverman, James Ward, Kristy Penninger,Virginia Pitts and Shelly Dandridge.

New Lean Six Sigma Green BeltsSixteen SSC Charleston employees recently completed a

40-hour course to earn Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belts.The training emphasized using LSS methods and techniquesin projects and rapid improvement events. As Green Belts,they now set their sights on the next level, black. LSS BlackBelt holders are experts on LSS principles and tools and areresponsible for leading larger projects and coaching GreenBelts.

Master Black Belts receive advanced training in sophisti-cated problem-solving techniques. They lead a number ofproject teams and are responsible for training and coachingBlack Belts and Green Belts, monitoring team progress, andleading complex projects.

SSC Charleston’s LSS Master Black Belt Steve Lariviereis also the command’s LSS champion, responsible for man-aging and guiding LSS efforts to support corporate priori-ties.

LSS benefits include increased speed, flexibility and qual-ity of business processes as well as decreased costs. Itimproves business decisions by basing them on data and itcan be applied to processes in production, engineering andtransactional areas such as administrative, organizational,safety, security, financial and contracting.

“We have made great strides in our efforts regardingprocess improvement,” said SSC Charleston Executive Di-

rector James Ward recently. “More than 85 percent of ourworkforce has been engaged with developmental activitiesin LSS methodologies. Our goal is to have 100 percent ofthe workforce holding white or yellow belt certifications,signifying a basic or introductory knowledge of LSS andan understanding of the benefits to the organization, by theend of FY07.”

“LSS works,” said Rod Smith, SPAWARSYSCOMdeputy commander, in a recent message which lauded SSCCharleston’s LSS success. “[LSS] is a proven businessprocess that combines Lean’s focus of eliminating wasteand the Six Sigma focus of doing the job right every timewe do it,” said Smith. A team led by Lt. Cmdr. DeanBarsaleau has improved the casualty reports response pro-cess (see story on page 8.)

In addition, Pamela Bell of Code 09W2 led an LSS teamto increase the efficiency of processing personnel actionpackages that SSC Charleston submits to the personnel sup-port office. The team identified the voice of the customer,determined which steps were value added and which werenot, and formulated a plan to improve the overall efficiencyof the process. The team’s goal is to reduce rework from25 percent to between 5 and 8 percent. The new process is

Photo by Harold Senn


toward a Competency Aligned Organization (CAO) uti-lizing Integrated Product Teams (IPTs).

This alignment will be effective in focusing ourworkforce on improving their skills and individual com-petencies, and on ensuring that our customers get thebenefit of our workforce shaping efforts. NAVAIR andNAVSEA are already moving in this direction. In the end,this will result in the three technical Systems Commandsoperating under the same construct, to enable better sup-port of the Naval Enterprises and the fleet. You will behearing more about CAO/IPT in the future, and it willinfluence every component of our workforce shapingefforts.

In regard to Lean Six Sigma (LSS), we have set thebar high, with numerous successful LSS events, and

more importantly, we are executing the process improve-ments to save time and money. In my last column I wroteof an LSS casualty response (CASREP) event led by Lt.Cmdr. Dean Barsaleau. By this writing, the results arebeing executed, and the improved process showed a$47,000 annual cost avoidance with a return on invest-ment of nearly 600 percent! Read the articles on pages 7through 11 to learn more about our LSS successes.

The priorities of the CNO and Rear Adm. Bachmannreflect the needs of our Navy and Marine Corps. As theCNO noted, we are a nation at war, and we are contrib-uting to joint and combined operations in ways no onecould have imagined a few short years ago. I am veryproud that we are still leading the way in finding innova-tive solutions to problems and applying those solutionsin all ways possible to support the warfighter.

Continued from page 4Captain’s Call

SSC Charleston’s Automation Program (AP) has achievedCMMI® Maturity Level (ML) 3 – the first time a SPAWARproject has reached this crucial process improvement mile-stone.

The ML3 rating came after a rigorous two-week inde-pendent formal “Class A” Standard CMMI® AppraisalMethod for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) appraisal ledby appraisers from Software Engineering Institute (SEI).During the final findings briefing, the SEI lead appraiserrevealed that AP achieved Capability Level 3 in all seven ofthe Level 2 process areas and all 11 of the Level 3 processareas, earning the CMMI® Maturity Level 3 rating.

“The success of AP in attaining CMMI® Maturity Level3 is a substantial step toward our goal of implementing stan-dard processes and sound engineering practices to makeSSC Charleston the world-class engineering organizationwe know it can be,” said Michael Kutch, Code 09K direc-tor of engineering operations. After the final findings pre-sentation, Kutch addressed the AP team members in atten-dance, and applauded the whole team’s efforts.

“You should give yourselves a hand,” he said. “This is ateam that works really well together, and I think the ap-praisal went really well. I know it’s been a lot of hard work.”

By intensifying our diversity efforts in order to bettershape and grow the right workforce, we have expandedthe traditional focus of diversity beyond race and gender,and we have opened the doors to skill sets that had previ-ously been excluded from our workforce portfolio. We value

Continued from previous page

From the Executive Director our diversity in its observable and nonobservable forms,not for the numbers, but as a means to provide the bestpossible capability to the warfighter. So to my fellow EE’s,and especially those VT’ers, my eyes have been opened. Iam proud of our commitment to diversity and feel stronglythat it is the direct result of the time and attention we havedevoted to improving it.

The automation program consists of four projects; au-tomation fuel handling equipment (AFHE), Phase II B, AFHEmaintenance, automated tank gauging/automated fuel ser-vice station (ATG/AFSS) and automated information sys-tems/integrated consumable item support (ICIS) systems.

The goal of the appraisal was to assess the program’sprogress toward attaining CMMI® Maturity Level 3. Theappraisal focused on measuring all four projects in the prac-tices of project planning, project monitoring and control,configuration management, requirements management, sup-plier agreement management, measurement and analysis,process and product quality assurance, requirements de-velopment, technical solution, product integration, verifi-cation, validation, integrated project management, risk Man-agement, and decision analysis and resolution. Additionally,the command’s organizational processes, including organi-zational process focus, organizational process definition,and organizational training, were also appraised.

“Realize that Level 3 is the culture that this commandand the Navy is trying to put forward. You all are leaders inthat area,” said AP Senior Manager Kay Swann. “I’m soproud of you and I congratulate you, and at the same timeI challenge you to work with the rest of the division and

AP reaches CMMI® Maturity Level 3

Continued on page 19


Photos byHarold Senn

Clockwise from far left, Nick Sullivan preparesto fire the “statapult.” Capt. Red Hoover, WaynePannullo, Sullivan and Mike Kutch confer withSteve Lariviere. Above, Jennifer Watson lookson as Bob Kappler makes a point. At left, JamesWard, Kristy Penninger and Charlie Adams finetune their statapult. Nelson Ard monitors theboard during LSS training.

Lean Six Sigma

more user friendly and will save about 35 man-days peryear.

Other SSC Charleston projects are successfully elimi-nating rework and reducing the time it takes to accomplisha job. Dan Gwinn of Code 09C wanted to reduce the pulltime his CAEI Material Management Team required in sup-port of Common Submarine Radio Room (CSRR) produc-tion. He also wanted to reduce inventory errors that wereresulting in production work stoppages. Partnering withBlack Belts Richard Tucker and Jennifer Crawford of Code09C1, they selected a team to analyze the process, identifyproblems and eliminate waste. As a result, they have zeroedout excess inventory, improved inventory count accuracyto 100 percent and reduced by 75 percent the average num-ber of hours per inventory pull.

Considering that the CAEI Material Management Teamdoes an average of 48 pulls per year in support of CSRR,the cost avoidance in man-hours is almost half a man-year.More importantly, they have eliminated down-stream workstoppages on the CSRR production floor that were occur-ring due to inventory errors.



Timely CASREP review and data en-try were critical to this event. A previ-ous SPAWAR HQ CASREP ValueStream Analysis identified the CASREPAction Response and Tracking System(CARTS) as the authoritative sourceand collaborative tool for trackingC4ISR-related CASREPs. The teamleveraged and built on that effort byanalyzing and then improving upon lo-cal processes.

The focal point of that element wasRay Womac, who performs the dailytask of reviewing all incomingCASREP messages and entering theminto CARTS. Through observation andmeasurement, the team identified nu-merous “quick wins” and “Just Do Its”to make Womac’s job easier, while in-creasing his productivity by more than20 percent.

“This event has resulted in upgradesto my computer, improved myworkspace configuration and stream-lined my data entry processes,” Womacsaid, adding, “I am a firm believer inLean Six Sigma!”

The team leveraged the 8-Step im-provement methodology currentlytaught in LSS Green Belt training anddeveloped entry and exit criteria foreach step. This criteria helped the teamstay focused within the scope of theevent as defined by project charter.

Further, Karen Brewer, the projectmentor and Black Belt, conducted tollgate reviews with the team to help re-solve issues and ensure the 8-Step pro-cess was followed. “By following the8-Step process and capturing how eachentry and exit criteria was met, theteam followed a logical progressiontoward meeting their goal,” Brewersaid.

“Keeping focused on their primarypurpose and the charter’s scope, theywere able to collect the right data thatdocuments the huge success of thisevent. This was a dedicated team andthey did a superb job!” she added.

The event also served to identify sev-eral best practices used to documentand track fleet support, flag actionableCASREPs in CARTS, and provide for

proper notifications when a high-vis-ibility CASREP requiring prompt atten-tion is received. Further, each of theseprocesses was thoroughly documentedto help institutionalize these improve-ments.

Leif Grytebust, the C4I Help DeskManager remarked, “What theCASREP Crusaders have started withthis LSS event can and should be pur-sued further. The LSS event producedchange and process improvements.”

Besides identifying waste and varia-tion, the team was also challenged toperform a root cause analysis, definethe “ideal” CASREP response process,and brainstorm potential solutions.

Lt. Cmdr. Dean Barsaleau, the eventteam leader, said, “As a former fleetSailor, I worked hard to link our projectto customer value, increase our re-sponsiveness to fleet demand and im-prove collaboration. As a team we havebeen able to remove many barriers andnon-value-added activities, and workedclosely with headquarters to implementa number of improvements to CARTS.

“I am very proud of each of theCASREP Crusaders; they all contrib-

uted significantly to the success of thisevent. Our next challenges will involvefollowing up on our changes to verifythe realized savings and trainingSPAWAR personnel in the new busi-ness rules.

“We’ve also generated some greatideas for follow-on events, including apromising proposal for a virtual fleetsupport Web site that will enhance theconsistency and timeliness of fleet sup-port across all of the technical codes,”Barsaleau said.

The team also received strong sup-port and encouragement from Com-manding Officer Capt. Red Hoover,who served as the event champion, andExecutive Officer Cmdr. Patty Gill, theprocess owner.

The CASREP Crusaders generateda large number of artifacts in docu-menting their project which will serveto facilitate kickoff and tracking of fu-ture Lean Six Sigma events. These ar-tifacts may be found in the shared pub-lic directory at S:\CHRL\SSC-CHShare\LSS CASREP Event.

- Lt. Brian Phillips, Code 70I

COMSPAWAR Rear Adm. Michael C. Bachmann praised the CASREP Crusadersfor enhancing direct support to the fleet with their LSS effort as he presented theLightning Bolt Award during an Aug. 1 visit. From left are McQuaid, Phillips,James Ward, Grytebust, Reagin, Brett Huffman, Womac, Brewer, CTRI MattKazlauskas, Trueblood, Bachmann, Weekes, Bartow and Capt. Red Hoover.


CASREP Crusaders receive Lightning Bolt Award

‘‘‘‘‘Lean’Lean’Lean’Lean’Lean’

CASREP Crusaders are, from left, backrow, Lt. Cmdr. Gus Weekes, Leif “Grit”Grytebust, Lt. Cmdr. Dean Barsaleau,Lt. Brian Phillips, ET1(SW) DouglasReagin and Ray Womac; front row, TomTrueblood, Karen Brewer, BillMcQuaid and Frank Bartow. Membersof the team not pictured are CTR1 MattKazlauskas and Brett Huffman.


The USS Eisenhower carrier strikegroup is poised to deploy in support ofthe global war on terrorism and Op-eration Iraqi Freedom. Equipmentreadiness is critical for these ships, air-craft and submarines as they executetheir rigorous and demanding missions.High-tempo operations take their toll onsystems and equipment, underscoringthe importance of effective casualtyresponse in maintaining top fleet readi-ness.

Team SPAWAR plays a key role inminimizing the downtime of the C4ISRsystems our fleet customers rely on,and SSC Charleston personnel recentlycompleted a Lean Six Sigma event tofurther enhance our casualty responseprocesses.

Anytime a Navy ship or shore sta-tion experiences an equipment or soft-ware malfunction that impacts missionaccomplishment and cannot be cor-

rected within 48 hours, a casualty re-port (CASREP) naval message is gen-erated. As recipients of these messages,SSC Charleston personnel review eachcasualty to determine what action isrequired. This assistance may includedistance support with ship’s force tech-nicians, warranty support for failedhardware, collaboration with RegionalMaintenance Center technicians or ac-tual on-site technical assistance.

For the LSS event, the “CASREPCrusaders” focused on improving theefficiency and effectiveness of the SSCCharleston CASREP response andCommand Duty Officer (CDO)tracker maintenance processes. Previ-ous studies and anecdotal evidence re-vealed possible waste and inconsis-tency in CASREP response processes,so the team set out to identify, mea-sure and eliminate process inefficien-cies.

To ensure the event captured all fac-tors involved in our local processes,the team included representation fromacross the command, including engi-neers and logisticians, military mem-bers from enlisted and officer ranks,Help Desk, data entry and messagecenter personnel. The team also col-laborated heavily with SPAWAR HQReadiness and In-Service Support De-partment (SPAWAR 04C) to ensureteam efforts were aligned with head-quarters’ initiatives.

The improved process showed animpressive $47,000 annually costavoidance with a return on investment(ROI) of nearly 600 percent! Moreover,the team eliminated a number of un-necessary steps and streamlined manyof the subprocesses, reducing theworkload involved in CASREP follow-up by 40 percent.

SSC Charleston Casualty ResponseSSC Charleston Casualty ResponseSSC Charleston Casualty ResponseSSC Charleston Casualty ResponseSSC Charleston Casualty Response

CASREP CRUSADERSCASREP CRUSADERSCASREP CRUSADERSCASREP CRUSADERSCASREP CRUSADERS

‘‘‘‘‘Lean’Lean’Lean’Lean’Lean’


tion requirements of a Joint Special Op-erations Task Force (JSOTF) – typi-cally more than 100 users.

The SDN-M is designed to fill thegap between these two communica-tions suites. The SDN-M uses internetprotocol-based architecture to maxi-mize data throughput, reduce equip-ment footprint by utilizing the smallestcommercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)equipment available, and simplify equip-ment configuration and set-up pro-cesses. The SDN-M is sized to sup-port small teams with five to 15 posi-tions.

The system is a deployable, light-weight, commercial or military trans-portable, secure communications pack-age developed to provide satellitereachback capability to a SOCOM gate-way access to NIPR, SIPR and SCIservices as well as Secret and TS voiceservices.

The system’s modular design allowsaccess to SCI data and voice networks.The current technical solution consistsof a radio frequency (RF) portion, abase band portion to include commer-cial routers and switching equipment,encryption devices and necessary an-cillary end items housed in easily trans-portable cases, which interface com-mercial and/or military satellite com-munications (SATCOM) between head-quarters and deployed SOF units.

The SDN-M is a modular commu-nications package developed to providemultiple security classification levels ofvoice, data and video services via sat-ellite to the USSOCOM WAN and RedTelephone Network. The SDN-Mcomplements the SDN-Lite and Tran-sit Cased Variant (TCV) to form a familyof systems to fulfill small, medium orlarge communications systemrequirements.The SDN-M is designedto support the mission requirements ofthe deployed SOF warfighter, and willconnect deployed SOF elements totheir respective headquarters and pro-vide an interface for the SOFwarfighter into the global informationgrid (GIG).

- Glenn Wood, Code 594

Poe, Gunst earn

Contribution AwardsAndrew Poe of Code 521 and Ryan Gunst, Code 633, were recently

presented SSC Charleston FORCEnet Contribution Awards.Poe’s award was a result of his efforts with a DISA and State Depart-

ment tasking to link convoy communicationsthroughout the war theater. He assisted in the devel-opment and deployment of a reliable Automatic LinkEstablishment (ALE) to provide station-to-stationconnections establishing an emergency communi-cations network to link convoy communications be-tween Baghdad and Kuwait City with multiple sup-ply routes throughout Iraq, and to provide mobilecommunications for the Provisional Authority sites.

“By ‘connecting outside of the box’ across theboundaries and services of our organization and withthe Air Mobility Command, you were able to movetons of equipment in theatre in less than 10 days tothe Green Zone for installation,” his award citation noted.

Gunst received the FORCEnet Contribution Award for his efforts in aHorn of Africa (HOA) Djibouti C4ISR Systems Engineering tasking.

His command teaming and leadership were lauded as he assembled andled a team which conducted the initial assessmentstudy of current C4ISR intrastructure capabilities atCamp Lemonier, Djibouti. The study evaluated DoD’splans to improve the C4ISR infrastructure at CampLemonier, provided improvement recommendations,and proposed an integrated plan of action for infra-structure improvements. Gunst organized, assembledand arranged cross-departmental resources to meeta tight deadline with challenging requirements. As adirect result of the teaming efforts, SSC Charlestonhas been funded $5.8M for execution of the nextsteps in the C4ISR infrastructure upgrade efforts.

Executive Director James Ward praised Poe and Gunst for taking theopportunity to better integrate and provide more interoperability for SSCCharleston customers.

“Success is making a contribution—having acareer of significance that takes on more of the

behavior required to help our partners connect inways they aren’t even thinking about yet.”

- Executive Director James Ward

The Army’s Special Forces inIraq and Afghanistan are using anew and improved communica-tions system, thanks to Code 594,SSC Charleston’s Bayside SupportFacility in Tampa, Fla.

Code 594 is contracted by theU.S. Special Operations Command(SOCOM) at MacDill Air ForceBase to procure, integrate, test andfield the Special Operation ForcesDeployable Node - Medium (SDN-M). Twelve SDN-M systems werebuilt by Code 594 and fielded toU.S. Army Special OperationsCommand (USASOC) in Decem-ber 2005 to meet a SOCOM com-bat mission needs statement. Thesystems subsequently were de-ployed to Iraq and Afghanistan tosupport real-world missions. SSCCharleston civilians and contractorsalso deployed to assist Army Spe-cial Forces personnel in activatingthe systems into the SOCOM net-work for the very first time.

The SDN-M communicationsterminal is designed to meet mis-sion requirements to support deployed Special OperationsForces (SOF). SOF are typically first on-scene during con-tingency operations and require initial command and con-trol (C2) support. Operations in austere infrastructures causethe first-in operators to rely on whatever they carry in forinitial C2.

Up to the development of the SDN-M, the USSOCOMcapability for early entry was satisfied through the SDN-

around the worldaround the world

Lite. It is contained in a suitcase-style case and providestwo to three users with connectivity by means of an Inter-national Marine/Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) SatelliteCommunication (SATCOM) system with a throughput ca-pacity of 64 Kbps.

Also available is the SOFTACS Transit Case Variant(TCV) that consists of a larger SOF Deployable Node and a2.4M satellite antenna. It is sized to meet the communica-

SSSSSSC Charleston’s TSC Charleston’s TSC Charleston’s TSC Charleston’s TSC Charleston’s Tampa facility fields new commsampa facility fields new commsampa facility fields new commsampa facility fields new commsampa facility fields new comms

NettiNg thespecial opswarfighter


Steve Ankrom, an SSC Charleston part-ner employed by Eagan, McAllister As-sociates, Inc., (EMA), sets up the SpecialOperations Forces Deployable Node -

Photo provided

Medium (SDN-M) in Iraq. Ankrom was oneof three contractors and one SSC Charles-ton civilian sent to the Middle East to ac-tivate the new communications system.

Andrew PoePhoto by Harold Senn

Ryan GunstPhoto by Harold Senn


at the remaining seven or more ROC facilities planned forconstruction around the world, including one for the CNICops center in the nation’s capital.

In addition to the ROC pilot, in the near future this tech-nological improvement work may be carried over as theNavy moves toward consolidating individual installationemergency dispatch centers into regional dispatch centers(RDC).

In 2004 CNIC initiated an effort to begin consolidatingall the dispatching of emergency functions. As is the casein all Navy regions, the police, fire and EMS are dispatchedindependently at the nearly two dozen Navy and MarineCorps bases operating in the Southeast region. This was aninefficient use of manpower. No matter how small the base,there always had to be at least two dispatchers on duty pershift due to breaks, leave and/or distractions. CNIC there-fore decided to fund an effort to create an RDC and site thetest bed in the Southeast region at Naval Air Station (NAS)Jacksonville.

Thus it was decided to model a combination, or joint,ROC/RDC to take advantage of infusing the latest informa-tion technology for both command and control with emer-gency dispatching to optimize facilities and economy ofmanpower. The SSC Charleston ROC/RDC project is a tech-nological pilot which kicked off by identifying approximately6,000 square feet of floor space within Bldg. 919 at NASJacksonville. This footprint houses the new combined re-gional dispatch center, alongside the flag officer-controlledregional operations center. Colocating the ROC with theRDC immediately facilitates information sharing betweenthese two critical entities during times of emergency. Whenactivated, these joint operations will, together, provide theregional staff, and subsequently CNIC, with a more fo-

cused relief effort and faster response time in dealing withemergencies.

Some of the tools installed in the ROC and RDC includea video information distribution system, networks to handleany type of data coming in or out, a video teleconferencing(VTC) suite, redundant power and UPS when street poweris lost, an adequate HVAC to support all the systems beinginstalled under nearly any environmental conditions, andthe support system facilities necessary to endure long du-ration catastrophes.

One strength in executing a pilot project model and simu-lation before investing in mortar and brick is that new ideascan be quickly integrated and their feasibility checked outwith far fewer dollars. Combining ROC and RDC func-tions from around a region is a technological step ahead inand of itself.

SSC Charleston’s Code 63 was chosen to lead the de-sign team and direct systems integration for this multifac-eted project. Because of its clear success in completing theJacksonville ROC model and simulation portion of theproject on time, CNIC has chosen SSC Charleston to con-tinue to integrate operations centers worldwide. At present,the design team consists of engineers, analysts and techni-cians from Codes 50, 60 and 70, demonstrating that this istruly a Team SSC Charleston effort.

These command centers, when activated, will do muchto strengthen the Navy’s, and the nation’s, capability torespond to regional disasters, both man-made and from theforces of nature. Technology is only as good as those peoplewho know how to use it, know how to integrate it andknow how to maintain and upgrade it. SSC Charleston bringsall these capabilities to the worldwide fight against terror-ism.

- David Whitley, Code 633

Greg Wilford makes a point during a presentation in the new VTC in the ROC/RDC. Photo by Harold Senn

The Navy is leaping into 21st century technology. Underthe aegis of Navy regionalization, and in a major effort tosupport the Global War on Terrorism and ongoing navaloperations, the U.S. Navy is developing and deploying NavyRegional Operations Centers (ROC) throughout the world.

The ROC concept, initiated in 2004 to further supportfederal antiterrorism force protection (ATFP), is intendedto provide Navy regional commanders with a comprehen-sive real-time picture of operational requirements and amaster inventory list of ready resources available that canbe mobilized within their region as needed.

In 1997 the Department of the Navy (DoN) began insti-tuting a new strategic plan for the future of ashore Navybases in support of a document, 21st Century Shore Sup-port Infrastructure Vision and Strategic Plan, drafted bythe Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Logistics). This docu-ment provided an opportunity to increase funds allocated tothe Navy modernization process while maintaining fleet readi-ness.

The concept of Navy regionalization is the tool beingused in order to streamline business processes, and eventu-ally reduce the costs of shore support infrastructure.Through this regionalization process, DoN is eliminatingthe longstanding concept of installation-centric commandand control on its bases, in favor of a consolidated region-centric command and control network within a consoli-dated operations center.

This Navy effort dovetails nicely with a key mission ofthe Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS goalsinclude supporting operational capability needs for a NavyRegional Operations Center (ROC), a tool used to assist inthe execution of the ATFP concept within the Navy.


The Commander, Navy Installation Command (CNIC)is the Navy lead to make Navy regionalization a reality. It isthe CNIC’s responsibility to create new standardized mis-sions and operations for Navy installations worldwide thatwill function on regional levels.

CNIC was involved in a concurrent effort, supportingthe DoN and DHS policies that led to the concept of creat-ing ROCs. The ROC is an incident command system (ICS)compliant room that is fed information that provides situ-ational awareness of the region to the governing regionalcommander. In addition to providing a snapshot of an emer-gency event at one of the regional bases, the ROC accom-plishes routine operations such as message traffic monitor-ing, intelligence monitoring and communications trafficmanagement.

Typically, the ROC would be in stand-by 70 to 90 per-cent of the time. The exception would be activation in theevent of an emergent situation occurring in the correspondingregion. The base experiencing the emergency event wouldactivate its local base emergency operations center (EOC),which would in turn filter up both information and supportneeds to the regional commander in the ROC. The ROCwould then tap relief assets from the surrounding basesand deploy the Navy assets to the affected installation com-mander to manage.

SPAWAR is at the leading edge in developing operationscenters like the Navy ROC. SSC Charleston recently com-pleted a key pilot program by designing and modeling thefirst ROC. This pilot project, located in Jacksonville, Fla.,and supporting Navy Region Southeast, was officiallyopened in May 2006. When operationally tested and ac-cepted by the Navy, SSC Charleston will deploy the design

Jax ROC/RDC ... a true SSC Charleston team effort


- Evan Thornton, Code 633

camera and sensor feeds, such as ra-dar and the automatic identificationsystem, in order to create a commonoperational picture which encompassesthe Coast Guard sector’s area of re-sponsibility. In Jacksonville, the sys-tem that provides this sensor fusion isthe sensor management system (SMS)with joint perimeter surveillance com-mand and control (JPSC2) front-endsoftware developed by SCC-San Di-ego. In addition to sensor feeds, thewatch positions will also have theneeded radio communications at theirpositions to communicate with any re-quired parties. Together,these capabilities providethe necessary tools to bothidentify and react to poten-tial situations.

In order to make thingseven more effective, theSCC-Js and JHOCs are in-tegrating federal inter-agency and port partners,such as the port authority,state and local law enforce-ment, FBI and the Bureauof Customs and BorderProtection. These inter-agency partners will facili-tate coordination and infor-mation exchange amongthe agencies during day-to-day and emergency opera-tions. These operations will also includethe Coast Guard escort for high-valueNavy assets.

The local Navy and Coast Guardcommanders can utilize this joint fu-sion intelligence and operations centerto detect, prevent, monitor and actupon situations in the maritime domain.Bringing in port partners provides ac-cess to unique knowledge and infor-mation related to port and harbor op-erations and facilitates the civilian re-sponse necessary to deal with multiplesituations.

SCC-J facilities already exist inHampton Roads, Va., and San Diego,Calif., with a current build out happen-ing in Seattle, Wash., but their capa-bilities are limited compared to the

planned capability for the Jacksonvillefacility. The JHOC in Jacksonville willhave a greater area of responsibility inthe amount of area covered (measuredfrom the shore out) than what is pro-vided by the existing facilities.

In March Code 633’s David Whit-ley and Evan Thornton traveled to NewLondon, Conn., to participate in thedesign working group meeting for theJacksonville JHOC. Locations for fu-ture efforts may also include New Lon-don, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Guam,pending an evaluation to determinewhich site or sites have critical require-

ments for a SCC-J or JHOC. The teamalso participated in fact finding with theSCC-J design working group to helpthe team determine if an SCC-J wouldbe required for New London harbor.

During the visit, the team visitedSubmarine Base, New London for awaterside security brief and spoke withSubmarine Group Two officials togather facts and to observe their cur-rent operations. This gave the teamvaluable insight into potential opportu-nities where the SCC-J design couldbe improved or modified to supportsubmarine escort operations and in-crease maritime domain awareness.

The team also attended a brief at theNaval Warfare Development Center foran overview of DHS doctrine. They dis-

covered that doctrine for interagencycooperation, including the maritime se-curity relationship between the CoastGuard and the Navy, is still being de-veloped in some areas.

In support of the search for pos-sible sensor site locations in New Lon-don, SSC Charleston representativeshad the opportunity to accompany SSCSan Diego personnel and others fromthe design team aboard a Coast Guard41-foot utility boat to survey possiblesensor site locations and provide a bet-ter view of the area from the waterwhile the Coast Guard performed re-

pairs to existing equipment.This trip proved extremelyhelpful in identifying the bestvantage point for possiblyestablishing a future sensorsite. As the team entered theport at the Coast GuardAcademy they observedsubmarine escort and traf-fic management operationswhile making a close inspec-tion of the submarine and alarge container ship.

The information gatheredfrom the site visit in NewLondon is currently being in-corporated into the engineer-ing and design work of theJacksonville JHOC. As theCoast Guard moves toward

standing up an interagency operationscenter for maritime and port securityin each sector, NAS Jacksonville ismoving ahead of the curve by bringingtogether the Navy and Coast Guard tohelp secure maritime borders.

The importance of the work doneat SSC Charleston and its impact onthe interagency warfighters cannot beunderestimated. Codes 633, 634 andthe SMS team from SSC San Diegoare all doing a part to help provide theNavy and Coast Guard with the toolsand information they need to quicklyand efficiently execute decisions nec-essary to protect this country’s mari-time borders.

Code 633/634 and SSC San Diego support

Navy/Coast Guard joint harbor operationsIn recent months coastal and port

security have become two areas of in-creased U.S. public interest.

This became especially apparentwhen a United Arab Emirates shippingcompany, Dubai Ports World, put in abid to purchase a significant portion ofport operations in six U.S. ports. Al-though the international port operatorwon approval from a U.S. governmentpanel that evaluates the potential secu-rity risks associated with foreign com-panies buying or investing in Americanindustry, various other governmentofficials and the general public raisedconcerns.

It may have taken a possible foreignport deal for many to recognize a needfor increased security in the nation’sports and harbors, but the Navy andCoast Guard have been taking activesteps to address these issues. Recently,the Enterprise Engineering and Opera-tions Branch (Code 633), the EnterpriseServices Branch (Code 634) and indi-viduals from SSC-San Diego were in-volved with helping to secure the

nation’s ports and coastline by stand-ing up the joint harbor operations cen-ter (JHOC) in Jacksonville, Fla.

In response to September 11, 2001,the government created the Depart-ment of Homeland Security (DHS),moving the U.S. Coast Guard from theDepartment of Transportation to DHS.Since then, the Coast Guard has hadan increased role in protecting thecountry and emphasizing coastal andport security missions. As the CoastGuard realigns to support its homelandsecurity missions, it has broken its areaof responsibility into sectors. EachCoast Guard sector has, or will estab-lish, a sector command center (SCC)responsible for the command and con-trol of the operations within its desig-nated sector.

The House and Senate introducedH.R. 5720 and S. 3542, respectively,June 20, 2006, as part of an effort toincrease maritime and port security. Ifpassed, this bill will be known as theProject SeaHawk Implementation Actof 2006. It would require the Secre-

tary of Homeland Security, actingthrough the commandant of the CoastGuard, to establish or designate an in-teragency operational center for mari-time and port security in each geo-graphic region designated as a CoastGuard sector by the commandant.These centers, to be established withintwo years, will be modeled after theCharleston Harbor Operations Center,also known as Project SeaHawk.

The Navy has teamed with the CoastGuard to standup sector commandcenter-joint (SCC-J) facilities orJHOCs within sectors that contain highvalue Navy assets, such as aircraftcarriers and submarines. A JHOC is thejoint portion of an SCC that is colocatedwithin the geographic area of the sec-tor, whereas a SCC-J includes both theSCC and participants from the federalagencies.

These command centers are beingstood up in order to increase maritimedomain awareness and port security.The SCC-Js and JHOCs are being uti-lized as the fusion point for multiple

A 25-foot Coast Guard response boat provides public safetyand security. The new “Defender Class” boats will replacenearly 300 nonstandard, shore-based boats and provide a

standardized platform for the Coast Guard’s new MaritimeSafety and Security Teams (MSST) which were establishedas a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

A container ship passes in the background as Evan Thornton(left) and David Whitley survey sensor site locations in NewLondon harbor from a 41-foot Coast Guard utility boat.

Photos provided


SSC Charleston’s Common Infor-mation Centric System (CICS) projecthas achieved a Capability Level 3 rat-ing in 16 process areas as measuredby the Software Engineering Institute’s(SEI) Capability Maturity Model Inte-gration (CMMI®).

Code 70’s CICS project is the firstat SSC Charleston to undergo a formalSCAMPI ‘A’ appraisal (the most rigor-ous type) for CMMI® Level 3 processareas, and is the first SSC Charlestonproject to achieve this rating.

According to CICS Project LeaderOdette Foore, “Achieving this ratingindicates that the command is progress-ing toward our overall command goal

CICS achieves CMMI® Level 3 ratingof achieving CMMI® Maturity Level3.” The command plans to reach thislevel in 2007.

From May 31 to June 7 a seniormember of the technical staff of theSEI led an appraisal team in evaluatingthe CICS project. The appraisal resultsrevealed that CICS successfully imple-mented best government, industry andacademic practices, as reflected in theSEI’s CMMI® model for systems andsoftware engineering.

“As part of the appraisal, areas suchas our organizational training, processimprovement program and standardprocesses were also evaluated,” saidMichael Kutch, Code 70 department

Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (N-ERP) on its wayA major Navy corporate initiative

called Navy Enterprise Resource Plan-ning (N-ERP) will roll out to SSCCharleston in April 2008. N-ERP is aNavy key enabling initiative for SeaEnterprise seeking to transform busi-ness processes and generate enterprise-wide efficiency savings to support theplanned recapitalization of naval forces.

N-ERP is a SAP commercial-off-the-shelf modular business software solu-tion that will automate and integratebusiness processes, share commondata and processes across the entireorganization, produce and access in-formation in a near real-time environ-ment, and provide consistent informa-

tion for timely decision-making andperformance measurement.

Key functions impacted include fi-nance, program management, I-levelmaintenance, plant supply, wholesalesupply, travel management andworkforce management.

The Navy’s top leadership is com-mitted to business process improve-ment through N-ERP. “I would like toreiterate my priority for success of theNavy Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) Program,” said Delores Etter,Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Re-search, Development and Acquisition)in a recent ERP program guidancememo. “This initiative will transform

the way we do business to make usmore efficient and effective,” she said.

Rear Adm. Michael Bachmann,SPAWARSYSCOM commander, said,“We will actively and aggressively pre-pare for N-ERP, particularly in FY07leading to a ‘go-Live’ date in mid-FY08.” N-ERP is aligned with his pri-ority of improving Team SPAWAR’sbusiness processes.

The SPAWAR Enterprise BusinessOffice (SEBO) is managing the enter-prise implementation effort. The SSCCharleston N-ERP implementation teamis led by Bob Bush, Code 09A2.

For more information go towww.erp.navy.mil.

head, FORCEnet technical director forISR/IO and deputy director of engi-neering operations.

“The appraisal results indicated thatas an organization SSC Charleston suc-cessfully implemented the best prac-tices of CMMI®. The appraisal validatedthat we have the necessary organiza-tional efforts in place for projects totailor their processes from the organi-zational processes, and are using theOrganizational Measurement Reposi-tory,” Kutch said.

“This benchmarking effort, some 10months before the command appraisal,provides clear evidence that we are onthe right track,” said Kutch.

Ann Howell, deputy for small busi-ness utilization at SSC Charleston, washonored as the Department of theNavy’s Small Business Specialist of theYear in a June 13 ceremony in theatrium of Bldg. 3147.

Capt. Red Hoover said Howell hasbeen instrumental to the success ofmany small businesses by educatingthem on the government contractingprocess. “A lot of the successes ofpeople assembled here today are alsobecause of the person we are honor-ing,” he added.

William Paggi, head of the contractsdepartment, praised Howell for har-nessing the talent and agility of smallbusiness, her deep passion for the smallbusiness program and her “relentlesspersistence in execution of the pro-gram.”

Susan Burrows, director ofSPAWARSYSCOM Small BusinessPrograms, presented a special awardfrom SPAWAR headquarters in recog-nition of Howell’s significant contribu-tions in support of the Team SPAWARSmall Business Programs.

Oreta Stinson, director of the De-partment of the Navy Small BusinessPrograms, presented the Navy SmallBusiness Specialist of the Year awardto Howell.

Noting that Howell had already re-ceived a Gold Star Award from theNavy’s Office of Small and Disadvan-taged Business Utilization last year,Stinson said she had to present a dif-ferent award. “You can get only oneGold Star,” said Stinson to Howell asthe assembled crowd laughed. She alsopresented a letter of appreciation in rec-ognition of Howell’s superior perfor-mance.

Linda Oliver, deputy director of DoDSmall Business Programs, presentedHowell a letter of appreciation in rec-ognition of Howell’s contribution to theDoD Small Business Programs.

In accepting the award Howell notedthe team effort while thanking Code 02and the command’s proven industrypartners. “Our team has made it hap-pen,” she said.

“Small business plays a very impor-tant part in our country today,” Howellnoted. “The image of large corpora-

tions in our country overshadows thecontributions of small business. Smallbusinesses account for 99 percent ofall employees. Small business is bigbusiness,” she said.

Last year Howell received the NavyGold Star as the small business spe-cialist who provided the most value andinnovation in support of Navy smallbusiness programs. In the previousyear, the U.S. Small Business Admin-istration honored Howell with theAdministrator’s Leadership Award, rec-ognizing her “tireless efforts and un-wavering commitment on behalf of thenation’s minority small business com-munity.”

In September 2004, SSC Charles-ton was awarded the first ever Out-standing Compliance Review award,which was attributed in great part toHowell’s leadership. The award notedthat her vigilance and dedication resultedin approximately 46 percent of SSCCharleston’s prime contract awardsgoing to small and small disadvantagedbusiness, for a total of approximately$1.5 billion.

Howell is Navy Small Business Specialist of the Year

From left, Oreta Stinson,director of Navy SmallBusiness Programs; SusanBurrows, director ofSPAWARCOM SmallBusiness Programs; LindaOliver, deputy director ofDoD Small Business Pro-grams; and Ann Howell,SSC Charleston SmallBusiness Program Man-ager pose after Howell re-ceived the Navy’s SmallBusiness Specialist of theYear award.


department to continue to grow that culture – that cul-ture of team spirit and also process improvement to makeus a better organization.”

The AP team participants were Kay Swann, seniormanager; Ralph Shealy, AP program manager; and APproject personnel: Reed Phillips, Jack Amey, BruceToppin, Billy Rollins, Ken Fertig, Pam Copeland, DavidDeFalaise, Susan Pendarvis, Martin Sullivan, LindaGardner and Nicole Joyce.

In accordance with the Command Process Improve-ment Plan, other command-sponsored projects will con-tinue to be formally appraised in the coming months byan SEI lead appraiser to determine their progress to-ward attaining CMMI® Maturity Level 3.

“This truly was and continues to be a team effort,”said AP Project Manager Ralph Shealy. “From here, wehave all the intentions of moving to CMMI MaturityLevels 4 and 5. This is a never ending, continuous im-provement process and that’s what we intend to do aslong as this program stays in existence. We’re continu-ing to grow.”

- Beth Meloy, Engineering Process Office

Continued from page 6

AP reaches CMMI® Maturity Level 3


Weather Service, Federal Aviation Administration or otheragencies will now be able to use the collected weather datafor analysis or use in their own applications.

A prototype of ROD was fielded for Naval Oceanogra-phy Command last summer and initially included two testsites located at NAS Chambers Field and NAS Oceana, Va.A third test site was added at the request of NAS Jackson-ville in order to support the Pinecastle bombing range. “Wereceived a call that a major FleetEx was taking place off ofthe coast of Florida where Jacksonville was directing air-craft into the Pinecastlebombing range. NASJacksonville had no wayof relaying weather infor-mation to the inbound pi-lots. Upon receiving therequest from the NavalOceanography Com-mand, we installed the de-vice within a day andsolved Jacksonville’sproblem,” Winter said.

ROD Version 1.0 is cur-rently under evaluationand testing and will be re-leased this month. The so-lution will be fielded at 22

naval air stations in the U.S. Future plans for ROD is tofield the system in Asia and Europe in FY07.

Winter’s team is also discussing this solution with theNational Weather Service which has over 800 ASOS sys-tems in the U.S., and the U.S. Air Force which currentlyhas 70 ASOS systems.

“I would expect a fairly large return on investment (ROI)for the Navy,” Winter said. “The devices that allow us tocapture the remote observations cost $700 per unit -- avery low price for a very large capability. Once fielded, the

team will conduct an ROIstudy to determine thecost benefit of the RODSystem,” he said.

The system was builton .NET technologiesfrom Microsoft and in-cludes a Web services tierthat can be accessed bya variety of applicationsand devices which in-clude wireless PDAs, theWeb and windows appli-cations.

- Hank Winter,Code 661

This ROD window shows weather information from Keflavik, Iceland; NAS Oceana, Va.; and Charleston.

The Navy Oceanographic Command has a new capabil-ity to support weather forecasters through the use of anonline Surface Weather Display. As the Navy regionalizesand centralizes manpower, the importance of being able toremotely view weather information from weather sensorsbecomes even more critical.

The Remote Observer Display (ROD) is a Web-basedsolution that collects one minute weather observations fromgeographically dispersed locations and transmits them se-curely through the Internet to a central data warehousewhere the information is displayed on the Web.

“This new capability means that the Navy can pullweather forecasters out of the majority of these forecastsites and better utilize them at centralized hubs and on shipswhere they are desperately needed,” explained Hank Win-ter, SSC Charleston’s system architect and program man-ager for the ROD solution.

Winter’s team focused on a low-cost approach to get-ting the data from the remote weather sensor terminals.“We looked at several options early in the design phase.One was to tie a networked computer into the AutomatedSurface Observation System (ASOS) terminal but we foundthat technicians might not have the skills or experience tokeep the computer up to date with security patches and

other issues that might affect the system,” said Winter. “Welooked for a low-maintenance, low-cost, and some mightconsider, a low-tech approach.”

The solution was found in a point-of-sale device used atgas stations that transmits and confirms credit cards se-curely through Ethernet, wireless or dial-up connections.The team worked closely with the vendor to come up witha customized solution that would work within the RODarchitecture.

With a footprint of 6 X 4 inches, the small modem con-nects to the ASOS with only three connections. “We wantedto make this as simple as possible by preconfiguring thedevices before shipping them to the remote sites. The tech-nician only has to plug it in and walk away from it. If itfails, they ship the bad modem back to us and we replace it.It’s that simple,” Winter said.

ROD also has many options when it comes to deployingthe remote devices. “We have the capability to get the databack to us through dial-up, the internet, and through securecellular technology. The cellular technology will benefit thosesites with no telephone or networks, like the OLF airfieldslocated throughout the country.”

The architecture also allows the sharing of the data col-lected through the use of Web services. The National

The Navy’s new lightning ROD

The geographic ROD allows users to click on a marker to viewthat station’s weather data.

ASOS Sensor Ethernet/Dial OutPOSLYNX Modem

HTTPS ProtocolSSL Enable Post

Port 443

NMCI or othernetworkWeb server for

client access

Cisco Pix 525Firewall

DataStore

RAS Dial-In

Remote Observer DisplayNetwork Diagram

ASOS Processor

RS232 VDU Output (No input)

Optional Dial Up(Fall-Over for Network Outages)

The ROD of the Charleston lab and surrounding areas.

InnovationInnovation


By Marsha Hassell, SSC Charleston Public Affairs Officer,and Susan Piedfort, Editor, The Chronicle

As the first tropical storm of the 2006 hurricane seasonmade its way through the Lowcountry, SSC Charleston’sCritical Infrastructure Protection Center (CIPC) was help-ing the S.C. Army National Guard (SCNG) demonstratehow local, state and federal agencies will be able to com-municate better during a hurricane, earthquake or man-madedisaster.

The SCNG’s Joint Incident Site Communications Capa-bility (JISCC) team held a Palmetto-Coalition WarriorInteroperability Demonstration (CWID) at the formerCharleston Naval Base June 5-14. The demonstrationshowed JISCC’s post-Katrina capability to provide an en-hanced emergency communications and satellite connec-tivity in austere and extreme conditions for extended peri-ods of time.

JISCC is a modularized satellite communications plat-form that connects all bands and frequencies together. It isthe first satellite system in the Guard inventory to have inte-grated functionality with the Defense Information SystemsAgency (DISA), which exercises command and controlfor Department of Defense satellite systems. Maj. DaveMcNamee, SCNG Director of Information Management(DOIM), describes JISCC as “bigger, better and faster. Itallows full spectrum operability,” he said. “You can hookanybody up to the system. For example, a person on ahand-held radio or cell phone within range of our repeatercan call anywhere in the world and coordinate a disasterresponse.”

The JISCC system can be transported in a C-130, fitsinto a small trailer and two Humvees, can be set up in 15minutes and be fully operational within the network in twohours. “If an existing communications infrastructure failsfollowing a natural or man-made disaster, local, state andfederal emergency responders can call on us to provide aquick fix so they can continue interacting with emergencyresponse agencies anywhere in the world,” McNamee said.

The naval base exercise included seven states, most par-ticipating “virtually” via JISCC. Also participating were most

CIPC capabilitiesenhance emergencycommunications exercise

S.C. National Guardsmen use the JISCC capabilities duringthe Palmetto-Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstra-tion (CWID) at the former Charleston Naval Base June 5-14..

Photo by Susan Piedfort

local first responders, the North Charleston police and firedepartments, the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA), Homeland Security (HLS), Navy, Air Force andactive duty Army personnel. State and county chief infor-mation officers (CIOs) cosponsored the event with SCNG,and approximately 40 industry partners participated.

McNamee called the CIPC team “critical in pulling to-gether the joint services, providing intelligence analysis ca-pabilities and real-time information. They have a very im-pressive database,” he added.

Bill Bolick, program manager of CIPC, said the CIPCteam could also provide real-time, “customized” informa-tion during the simulated emergency situations. CIPC pro-vided the location of area cell phone towers, allowing theNG team to determine area communication capabilities. TheCIPC analysis tools further provided geographic informa-tion on the coastline, from which the NG team could modelstorm surge damage to Sullivan’s Island and the Isle ofPalms.

Brig. Gen. Tommy Sinclair, commander of the 228thSignal Brigade, lauded CIPC’s contribution. “The CIPC canmanipulate data in all ways. They can take data and turn itaround a thousand different ways to show you all the pos-sibilities,” he said.

The arrival of Tropical Storm Alberto added realism tothe demonstration. With this hurricane season predicted tobe one of the worst ever for the East Coast, the CIPC teamwas glad to offer its unique communications capability andcontribute to hurricane preparedness.

John Linden, director of the SSC Charleston CIPC, saidthe demonstration was beneficial for everyone involved.“We brought them intelligence capabilities using live sen-sory data that they would not ordinarily have, and theybrought real life situations to complement and validate theanalysis process,” he said.

The commander of the submarine force (COMSUBFOR)tasked Code 84 to assist in the rapid deployment of a com-bined Automatic Identification System (AIS) and GeospatialInformation System (GIS) situational awareness (S/A) sys-tem. Some people refer to AIS as a maritime version ofIdentification Friend or Foe (IFF).

While the associated GIS enhances the system by pro-viding rich graphical situational awareness to the bridge navi-gation team, AIS systems are mandatory for most shipping,large fishing and passenger vessels under the Safety of Lifeat Sea Convention (SOLAS). While warships are generallyexempt from the requirement to transmit AIS signals, thereis benefit in a warship receiving AIS signals.

AIS messages contain information about surroundingshipping that otherwise is not convenient to acquire. AIS isexpected to assist in maritime interdiction operations, lawenforcement operations and to provide significant benefitsto safety of navigation. The interface with the GIS improvesthe effectiveness of the AIS and makes it more user friendly.

The information contained in AIS messages is both staticand dynamic and includes the ship’s name, call sign, port oforigin, port of destination, GPS-derived position, speed,heading and course. These data sentences are transmittedat regular intervals as determined by the type of data and thenavigation status (“at anchor” or “underway,” for example.)

The AIS system is fairly simple, consisting of a GPS andVHF antenna, the AIS transponder with embedded GPS re-ceiver, user interface and power supply. The GIS compo-

nent that Code 84is responsible forconsists of aCOMSUBFOR-s u p p l i e dToughbook com-puter runningCode 842’s DoDC o m m o nGeospatial Navi-gation EngineToolkit (COGENT). COGENT provides an electronic chartwith a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)Vectordata foundation. The AIS contact information is overlaidalong with the user’s own ship and any preplanned routes,providing a significant improvement to surface navigation/piloting situational awareness.

The simplified AIS/GIS configuration illustrated aboveis what COMSUBFOR is implementing in the fast-attacksubmarines. Code 84’s Rob Zickau and Rob Raper, work-ing with WRSystem’s Dennis Foster and others, are sup-porting the planning, cable manufacture, training and soft-ware loading of these installations.

The illustration at left provides an example COGENTdisplay from the Panasonic Toughbook. The concentriccircle icon represents the user’s own ship, the magentaicon is a ship within the user’s own ship’s closest point ofapproach (CPA) envelope, and the green icon is a ship atberth yet reporting nonetheless. With respect to actual in-stallation of the equipment, the Submarine SurveillanceEquipment Program in Groton is doing the Atlantic Fleetinstalls while the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport,Wash., is doing the Pacific Fleet installs. These submarineinstallations are driven by previous Fifth Fleet experience.

A Chief of Naval Operations tasker has accelerated imple-mentation of AIS until the system is stood up as a programof record. PWM 180 is the program office for the AIS andis working aggressively to stand up the program.

Incidentally, Code 70 is supporting the fleet with surfaceinstallation of AIS. They, too, are working to aggressiveschedules providing the surface fleet with AIS.

-- John Carvil, Code 84D

Code 84 enhances ships’ situational awareness

COGENTPanasonicToughbook

RLGNECDU

JCTN Box

AISDisplay

Pwr Supply

Trans-ponder

VHF Ant.

GPS Ant.

AIS/GIS Configuration


ACCS(AW/SW) Kirby Johnson,Code 66 ATC operations advisor andcommand senior chief, retired in a June16 ceremony after 20 years of ser-vice.

A native of Lake Placid, Fla.,Johnson joined the Navy in August1986, and after recruit training and “A”school reported for his first duty sta-tion at Naval Air Station GuantanamoBay, Cuba. His next duty stations wereat NAS Pensacola, Fla., NATTCMillington, Tenn., and USS America(CV-66), homeported in Norfolk, Va.In port less than 90 days in 1995, AC1Johnson completed an arduous, hightempo sea tour as leading petty officersupporting Operation Southern Watchin the Persian Gulf and air strikes onselected Bosnia Serb positions inNATO’s Operation Deliberate Force.He was advanced to chief petty officerin September 1996.

He returned toNaval StationGuantanamo Bay,Cuba in 1996 as airtraffic control facil-ity officer. In July of1999, Johnson wentto NATTC located inPensacola, Fla., forAC instructor duty,where he was pro-moted to senior chiefpetty officer.

In November2002, he came toSSC Charleston asCode 66 ATC opera-tions advisor andcommand seniorchief. He served as lead tester and re-quirements representative for all Navyand Marine Corps ATC shore equip-ment. He won the 2003 COMSPAWARSenior Enlisted Leadership Award,

Kirby Johnson retires in June 16 ceremony

May 1 was a special day for some Code 80 employees ofin Norfolk, Va. This was graduation day, a reward for theirhard work in completing the requirements for the New Pro-fessional program.

SSC Charleston Executive Director James Ward was onhand to present certificates to eight Code 80 employees,including John Adkins, Code 852; Antoine Etchene, Code821; Justin Firestone, Code 856; James Mengert and DarrylO’Neal of Code 833; Brian Tamburello, Code 854; AlanReeves, Code 831; and Hai Vo, Code 853. Also completingthe new professional program but not present at the cer-emony were Mark Azuza, Code 821; Jerri Baeumel, Code846; and Shaun Walters, Code 836.

The New Professional Program is a rigorous two-yearprogram of training and work assignments that allow theemployees to be converted from excepted service to careerconditional tenure. The employee’s career is guided by anindividual development plan (IDP) outlining the requiredtraining, rotations and work assignments necessary forcompletion of the program. Quarterly reviews ensure theemployee stays on track. IDPs require spending time work-ing onboard Navy ships to ensure a better understanding ofthe warfighter’s daily life.

Tidewater New Professionals earn certificates

The IDP stresses mentoring, which teams the new em-ployee with a senior employee for assistance in resolvingtechnical and administrative questions and issues. A shad-owing program also allows New Professionals a week ormore working alongside a manager to see the leadershipperspective.

Photo by Collette Williams

From left, John Adkins, Hai Vo, Justin Firestone, AlanReeves, James Mengert, Executive Director James Ward andDarryl O’Neal pose after the ceremony. Not pictured areAntoine Etchene and Brian Tamburello.

Adeoye O. Adeyemo, Code632Kimball G. Anderson, 511Zachary L. Anderson, 71BJamin E. Barnett, 541Glenn E. Baucom, 541Kendra S. Boykin, 742Daugenet C. Breaux, 634Philip J. Butler, 624Xavier C. Calderon, 822Matthew Chaney, 512David J. Coisson Jr., 541D. Carey Coleman, 751Ryan P. Comber, 743Christopher D. Cromer, 614Bradley K. Crosby Jr., 635Himanshu Darji, 541Monique L. Edmonds, 544John C. Erwin, 333Derrick R. Fleming, 832Odette T. Foore, 70EJorge E. Giraldo, 626

85 receive certificates at SSC CharlestonJoann K. Gozaloff, 614Jerry M. Groover Jr., 627Russell H. Guerry, 512Aslam Hameeduddin, 512Michael A. Harper, 741Ryan Harrington, 731Lakeithrick L. Harris, 60EJames Travis Hill, 723Vu A. Hoang, 726Michael T. Howard, 616Eric Nolin Huddleston, 743Daniel A. Hursey, 743Martina L. Jackson, 717Jeremy R. Jacobs, 743Adam James, 662Stacy Jimerson, 635Marco Johnson, 332Patrick S. Johnson, 742Richard J. Kaye, 741Jorge G. Leiva, 725James M. Leonard, 633Christine M. Madden, 543

Adam J. McCann, 324Toni C. Morrow, 634Tuan A. Nguyen, 663Xuong V. On, 541David B. Peterson Jr., 70EReed B. Phillips, 743Andrew A. Poe, 52CJoey F. Pomperada, 741Sherman J. Pope, 513Ammro A. Ragaban, 632Robin Raju, 625Jason D. Ramage, 09C2Saif U. Rehman, 762Bryan S. Rhodes, 724Nicholas D. Ringwall, 742Scott W. Rogers, 615William E. Rollins, 744Jeremy Rudbeck, 614Kyle Salas, 664Jason J. Sellers, 541Ryan M. Seningen, 63

Eighty-five New Professionals were honored June 15for completing the two-year Navy Career Intern Program(NCIP) at SSC Charleston.

Executive Director James Ward presented certificates tothe honorees in a ceremony in the Bldg. 3147 briefing the-ater. Completion of the program is a milestone that acknowl-edges the New Professionals’ training and preparation tosupport the warfighter.

“New Professionals have been a success here for manyreasons. We’ve been able to capture the brightest graduatesthe best universities and colleges across the country haveto offer ... that’s you,” Ward told the group. “You’ve beenplugged in here at SSC Charleston. A lot of specialized jobshere offer you a career of significance, and let you make adifference to our warfighters’ capabilities.

“The learning never stops,” he added. “Your degrees aremajor investments, and you have to continue to grow andhave ideas, keep your competencies keen. We recognizeyou as the difference we’ll make for the warfighter.”

The NCIP was created to identify mission-critical occu-pations and competencies needed in the current and futureworkforce and to develop strategies to identify, recruit andretain a high performing workforce.

Bhavin J. Shah, 60EKristen Shipp, 623Sean E. Shott, 743Emily Snell, 571,Phillip R. Spence, 623Latasha S. Stith, 631Jason P. Stokes, 674Andrew L. Stubbs, 544Renee Sturgill, 635Andrew M. Tash, 513Amanda M. Thomas, 313John C. Thomas, 541Tan N. Tran, 631Steven R. Tully, 724Adam S. Tyson, 713Kevin P. Votapka, 621Robert J. Warner, 535Marc Watson, 614Adam T. Wolf, 543Charles J. Wood, 734William I. Zirkle Jr., 725

New Professionals reach milestone

Some of the SSC Charleston New Professionals gather in theatrium of Bldg. 3147 June 15 after receiving their certifi-cates marking successful completion of the program.



ACCS(AW/SW) Kirby Johnson receives the national en-sign after a passing of the flag during his retirement cer-emony

training over 300 controllers onSPAWAR installed equipment and com-pleting a bachelor of arts degree in Hu-man Resource Management with TroyUniversity, Ala.

TransitionsTransitions



had just demobilized, anddidn’t give it much morethought. On Monday hegot another call notifyinghim he would be mobi-lizing again. On Wednes-day he got involuntaryrecall orders toCENTCOM in Tampa.He was assigned to CC,J5 Plans and Policy Directorate, performing duties as a strategic plannerfor Afghanistan. He and a newly arrived lieutenant colonel started an Af-ghan planning cell for CENTCOM and their Afghan planning team grew to18 people who met daily to discuss logistics, supply, movement of people,NATO actions and other different aspects of rebuilding Afghanistan.

Over 14 of the next 18 months, Daly was forward deployed to the Gulfregion, seeing duty in Qatar, Iraq and Afghanistan. Daly’s last deploymentbrought him to the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan (OSC-A)in Kabul. Soon afterward he was ordered to the Italian Provincial Recon-struction Team (PRT) in Herat to watch over a communications programfor about three days until a communications expert arrived to take over theeffort. The expert never arrived and Daly was tasked with the develop-ment and implementation of establishing a first-ever communication net-work for the Afghan National Border Police. Over the next four weeks heand his team traveled through the perilous western deserts setting up acommunications network for three battalions and nine companies of thebrigade. The job was an important one; the border patrol’s communica-tions ability was vital to stopping illegal border crossings. The border sta-tion outposts were mud huts with eight people and a motorcycle. Sightingsof Taliban or other undesirables were common. Once illegals were sighted,the border policemen had to ride the motorcycle 45 minutes to warn the

The accompanying photos, some taken by Dalyand others by those traveling with him, capture thebeauty of the country and the effects of war on itspeople.

Call to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyReservist’s activation offers experience of a lifetime

Call to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyCall to dutyom Daly of SSC Charleston’s Code 741 is a civilian again.Since January of 2004, he has been a civilian, an activated Navy

commander, a civilian, and involuntarily reactivated commander, acivilian again, and was recently selected for promotion to captain inthe Naval Reserves. While Daly does not know what the promotion

will mean for his Reserve career, he knows that his recent calls to duty – primarily inAfghanistan – were the most rewarding of his 22-year career.

In August of 2003, Reservist Daly was executive officer of Mobile Inshore Under-sea Warfare Unit (MIUW) 205, preparing to deploy to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Thatdeployment was canceled, and when sister unit MIUW 206 got orders to Kuwait, theyasked for 25 volunteers from 205 to go along. Daly had no trouble finding volunteersfrom his 73-member unit. A special operations and surface warfare designated officerwith diving and parachutist qualifications, Daly tried to volunteer also but was told hewas too senior.

This was not first time he had attempted to volunteer for war duty.During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, then Lieutenant Dalywas navigator/operations officer on a ship in Charleston. He wanted todeploy as a diver, so he called his detailer. Grateful to get a volunteer, thedetailer called Daly’s commanding officer to say thanks. After speakingto the CO, who neither knew nor approved of Daly’s plans, the detailerhad one less volunteer, and Daly stayed on his ship, which was in drydock.

As it turned out this time, the Navy needed the 25 volunteers plus 24more from MIUW 205 – including Daly. They went to Norfolk in Janu-ary of 2004 and then to Kuwait in February and March. During the 37-day mission Daly served as MIUW 206’s force protection officer andhelped conduct port security operations.

“When I left Kuwait, I thought, ‘That was a good tour, but I willprobably never be back,’” Daly said.

He demobilized April 16 and, after three weeks back home, he got acall on a Friday afternoon from U.S. Naval Forces Central Commandsaying they were transferring him to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)from MIUW 206. Daly replied, “I’m now a civilian.” He explained that he

TTTTTDaly’s recall took him all over thecountry of Afghanistan.

Around the WorldAround the World

Kabul has a population of 1 million. At 5,900 feet, itis one of the world’s highest capital cities.



Daly was also aware that much of the good being donein the Middle East went unnoticed. While he understandsthat some are against the war, he said it’s imperative theydon’t hold it against the servicemen and women there. “Thereare young men and women over there dealing with unbe-lievable conditions, day in and day out. Some are goingcave to cave looking for bad guys in conditions most peoplejust can’t imagine,” he said.

“The military is doing a phenomenal job. They are allvolunteers, and many are returning for a third time. Theyare risking their lives, and many have lost their lives. If wegive up now, it would be doing them all a great disservice,”he said.

“Afghans know Americans are not there as conquerors.We are there to help, to support them,” Daly said.“It’s going to be tough. We are asking them tobuild a government and make a constitution … todo things in a few years that we’ve been workingon more than 200 years. This is so different forthem. There are still the old mindsets,” he added.The successful Parliamentary elections held in Af-ghanistan in September were hugely significant,he said, but hardly recognized in world headlinesas the success it really was.

“Americans are there to help the Afghans helpthemselves. The objective is to eventually leavethere,” he said. “The Afghans have to get themindset that they can do things for themselves.But with the rival factions that have been fightingfor many years, it is hard to change.”

There are other challenges, one of which isthe return of poppy production. Currently theAfghans lead the world in poppy production, sup-plying 75 percent of the world’s opium, ac-cording to the United Nations Drug ControlProgram. The Taliban publicly outlawed it,but allowed its production to flourish in or-der to fund its government. “Even now 70percent of the gross national product of Af-ghanistan is based on the poppy seed. Theaverage Afghan family makes only about$200 a year. Growing poppies they make$600 to $1,800 a year,” he said. “You can’tjust take the crop away.”

Daly helped with a seven-year counternarcotics plan to eradicate poppy growth inAfghanistan. The plan included law enforce-ment and legal issues, alternate crop and al-ternate livelihoods. It was passed to the U.S.Embassy, then to the Afghans, who adoptedit. For Daly, that was just one of many re-warding aspects of his tour.

Children pause for a photo in Kabul.

This former palace housed the PRT headquarters in Herat.

An Afghan man walks through the poppy fields in Kandahar at sunrise.

next station. With improved communications, they could coordinate theiractions as never before.

“We trained an Afghan team on how to set up the equipment and gavethem all the supply and logistics details, and gave them the points of contactthey needed. They went out and installed the systems and we followed,making sure it was all set up correctly. This allowed multiple sites to beestablished simultaneously, thus completing the job in four weeks insteadof six months as originally thought,” Daly said.

“We had great cooperation from the Afghans,” said Daly, who reliedheavily on the border police to provide the manpower and the ingenuity toinstall the equipment. At one point, he had a mast manufactured at a junkyardin downtown Herat.

“The Afghans were fantastic. They opened their doors to us. They sharedtheir food with us, which is a great honor because there is so little of it,”Daly said. The interaction offered Daly unique insights into their way oflife. Often when he and his team approached a village, the residents wouldquickly round up and hide the women and children. “They didn’t know ifwe were good guys or bad guys,” he said.

“The kids in some parts of the country walked two hoursone way to school through minefields. Then four or fivehours of school, and two hours back home. The winter of2005 was the coldest on record and the kids didn’t haveenough clothes,” Daly said, adding that soldiers’ familieswould send clothes for children in the villages and orphan-ages.

“They also have rocks that are half red and half white,laid out so the white side points to areas cleared of minesand the red side to the mine fields,” he said, adding, “Youdon’t touch the rocks.”

Daly saw extensive devastation wrought by the Taliban.Afghanistan had healthy date, nut and grape crops. Becausethe Taliban prohibits alcohol, they destroyed the grape cropand everything else, and salted the earth so nothing wouldgrow. “Afghanistan had one of the best irrigation systems

in the region, and the Taliban blew it up,” hesaid.

Rebuilding from this devastation falls to thePRTs with representatives from various coa-lition nations and the U.S. The military andcivilian manned PRTs — including Seabees,state and agricultural representatives – carryout infrastructure projects such as drillingwells and building schools and veterinary clin-ics.

“The infrastructure restoration the Coali-tion Forces are doing in Afghanistan and Iraqis phenomenal,” Daly said. “These are youngservicemen, as young as 17, out there. Thereare whole families serving over there, at leastfive of them I know of.” He knew many oth-ers who missed out on births and other mile-stones. “Lots of personal things are given up,”he added.

On April 20, 2005, Daly poses on SaddamHussein’s ornate throne.

Coalition forces at the PRTs completed many infrastructureprojects such as rebuilding this school.

This Afghan graveyard serves as a grim reminder of the lives lost since theTaliban came into power.


Today, I was given a bag of goodiesand your e-mail address was on the card.Thank you. The caring and support frompeople back in the USA means the worldto all of us over here. We are doing manygood things for Iraq. Sadly, the Americannews media focuses on the negative andthat makes our job more dangerous. Thankyou for caring.

Petty Officer Jones

The first shipment of Humvees from SSC Charles-ton and “Yummies for Hummies” arrived in theaterin early May. The vehicles were checked and allyummies were “present and accounted for.” Not longafter, notes of thanks began arriving from gratefulMarines.

Their sentiments echo those of Lt. Gen. Jan C.Huly, Marine Corps Operations, who in April sent aspecial note of thanks for the superb support SSC

Charleston is providing to Marines by adding C4ISRequipment and sending yummies.

“I want to thank you and all of yours who aregiving that bit of extra effort to do an extremely im-portant job well and with style,” Huly said. “Yourefforts are vitally important to the Marines on thefront lines .... it’s dangerous work they are doing,and you are making it a bit more effective and safefor them.”

To: Ms. Dingus, and All AmericansI would first like to give an extreme

thank you for your support!It is this type of appreciation andthoughtfulness from men and womenalike which gives all Marines the extraedge, just by knowing their country isbehind them thick or thin.As United States Marines, we give

much yet ask little in return but ourcountry’s love and prayers. You’vedone both.

Sincerely,GySgt Ellis

MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’MariNes say ‘thaNk you’

I am a Navy Seabee stationed

in Iraq. I have been here for six

months and just received a pack-

age from you. I wanted to express

my appreciation and thanks for the

gift. It was a wonderful surprise

and thought.

Keep us in your prayers.

R/ Petty Officer Phillips

Not sure if anyone has e-mailed

you to tell you if the care packages

from SSC Charleston were received,

but they were and are being utilized

by Sailors and Marines in Iraq.

Thank you for your thoughtful-

ness, we do appreciate it.

V/R,

LT Wheat

I just wanted to take a moment and

write a letter to say thank you for all the

care packages that you all have been send-

ing to us. The troops that come by our

site really appreciate it. It is a quick re-

minder that there are people back in the

states that still care for them and support

them. Once again just wanted to say thank

you for your kind thoughts and appre-

ciation. You would be surprised by the

number of smiles the packages bring to

those over here.

V/R

SSgt Davis

Thank you for the care package

that you sent to all of the Marines

out here. We all definitely appreci-

ate it and wish you well.

Stay motivated!R/S

Cpl Smith

Thank You Very Much Jack!!!Hello! I am on a six-month assignment in Kuwait ... supporting our

Marines up North .... We received a box full of goodies and I found this e-mail address in the bag, signed “Jack.” I would like to personally thank“Jack” and the others for this kind effort you have displayed and yoursupport for the men and women who wear the Marine uniform.

God bless you all, you made our day! Thank you again for yourprayers and thoughtfulness!

MAJ Bishop

That was a good touch hav-

ing a package from back home

... the new Hummer we received

today will be in use very shortly

....Thanks again for your hard

work.V/RPetty Officer Gonzalez

I just wanted to personally thank you for all of yoursupport of Americas troops and Marines. I fortunatelywas the recipient of your goodie bag and wanted to ex-press my eternal thanks and gratitude. Those TootsiePops were amazing. It is good to see that there are somepeople in the world that still care... once again, thankyou! Be safe out there.

SSgt. Caraballo

HonorsHonors

Awards were presented April 28 to the SSC Charlestonteam installing C4ISR systems on Up-Armored Humvees(UAH) for the Marine Corps. Above, SSC CharlestonCommanding Officer Capt. Red Hoover addresses theteam from Combat C2 Systems Branch in the Tactical C2Engineering Division of the Command and Control Sys-tems Department; Eagan McAllister and Associates(EMA); Corporate Production, Titan; and the Informa-

tion Warfare (IW) Exploitation Systems EngineeringDivision. Awards were presented by Robert L. Hobart,Deputy Commander, C4I Integration for the MarineCorps Systems Command. At right, Pete Ward of Code616 gives Hobart details on the production schedule.Hobart told the team they should be proud that they aresaving warfighter lives. He noted that no Marines havebeen lost in the units using the newly equipped UAHs.

Photos by Susan Piedfort

UAH team earns Marine awards

“I felt I was doing constructive, meaningful work. Whenyou get the opportunity to write a plan and turn it over to agovernment and they adopt it, it feels like you are writinghistory,” Daly said.

After the earthquake struck northern Pakistan in Octo-ber 2005, Daly was ordered out of Afghanistan toCENTCOM’s forward deployed headquarters in Qatar tohelp plan recovery assistance. He returned to the U.S. onDec. 9, 2005, left CENTCOM on the 15th and became acivilian again Jan. 29, 2006.

Daly has been adjusting to seeing green in the landscapeagain and making up for lost time with his family. “I had alot of family support for that two years, and that’s a bigthing. When I left, I never thought I’d be gone that long,”said Daly. He and his wife had previously never been apartfor more than a few days. “I lost two years of my son’sand daughter’s lives. It was rough on the family. They gota lot dumped on them,” he said. It did not help that operat-ing in remote areas offered him few opportunities to phoneor e-mail home.

His limited communications ability made him appreciateSSC Charleston even more, especially when he saw theInternet cafes in Iraq. “SPAWAR is doing a lot of good overthere. The Internet cafes are great,” he said. “I wish wehad one in Kuwait.”

Ironically, upon his return to Charleston, Daly found outhis old unit was preparing to deploy to the Middle East.Given his last two years, they opted to let him transfer toNR SPAWAR 107.

“I would go again, but it would be tough. It’s tough onfamily, and it’s a tough area to operate in,” Daly said. Butdespite the hardships, Daly still calls the tour the most re-warding ever.

“I had wanted to do something meaningful, real world… to see parts of the world I thought I’d never see. Pro-fessionally, it was the best two years of my naval career,”he said.

- Susan Piedfort, Editor, The Chronicle

Editor’s note: At press time, Capt. (Sel) Tom Daly was “in-vited” to return to active duty at CENTCOM for at least ayear. He is currently on active duty again.


Call to duty


A Technology and Innovation IPT-sponsored round-tablediscussion April 27 featured Tracey Staley, executive di-rector for human resources for Lockheed Martin MaritimeSystems and Sensors, Manassas, Va., and Vicki Warner,human resources advisor at Naval Surface Warfare Center(NSWC), Dahlgren Division, as briefers and participants.This was the first event sponsored by the Command’s Tech-nology and Innovation IPT.

An information exchange occurred regarding NSWCDahlgren’s direct hire authority for both new college pro-fessionals and senior scientists and engineers. The samerelative size as SSC Charleston, Dahlgren has a programallowing higher pay for senior scientists and engineers whoare world class professionals in their respective fields.Dahlgren also utilizes a multistep road map that specificallyoutlines the requirements for all promoted ranks. Warneroffered to assist SSC Charleston personnel with local imple-mentation of these initiatives if needed.

From left, Dr. Stephen M. Jarrett, DBA/ITM, Chief Tech-nologist, greets Tracey Staley and Vicki Warner at the SSCCharleston quarterdeck, along with Bob Miller of Code 618,Pam Bell of Code 09W2 and Gary Scott, Director ofWorkforce Optimization.

Staley outlined Lockheed Martin initiatives to retain se-nior scientists and engineers, including special pay plans.While both Lockheed Martin and Dahlgren have exceptionalpay plans for senior scientists and engineers, Staley andWarner agreed that strong leadership and a good workingenvironment are more important factors for senior employeeretention.


Round-table discussionoffers exchange ofhuman capital strategies

SSC Charleston volunteers gathered April 27 to be hon-ored by Earl Copeland, military affairs and veterans advi-sor for U.S. Rep. Henry Brown; Commanding OfficerCapt. Red Hoover and Execu-tive Director James Ward aspart of Volunteer AppreciationDay.

The ceremony recognizedthe volunteers who “give self-lessly of their time, talent andenergy to improve our coun-try, our communities and ourNavy family. This recognitionis most appropriate for ourvolunteers who continuallydemonstrate esprit de corpsand dedication to others,” saidHoover.

“The contribution of thosewho work tirelessly withoutreceiving a paycheck is invalu-able. Volunteer service en-hances the delivery and effec-

SSC Charleston volunteers lauded in Congresstiveness of our community,” said Copeland. Brown wasunable to attend the ceremony since Congress was insession. Copeland read from Brown’s speech -- which

was entered in the Con-gressional Record -- prais-ing SSC Charleston’s vol-unteer efforts.

Held in conjunctionwith National VolunteerAppreciation Week, theceremony culminated withpizza and beverages formore than 100 commandvolunteers. They volunteerthrough the Navy/MarineCorps Relief Society,Toys-for-Tots, Adopt-A-School, Red Cross blooddrives, youth sports,MaST, Ground HogShadow Day, Math/Sci-ence Technology seminarsand other activities.

SSC Charleston recentlycompleted installation ofwhat has been labeled by theU.S. Army’s 82nd Airborneas the “All American Com-mand Center.”

SSC Charleston’s Code856 developed the architec-ture, design, production andtesting of the center. HenryHuddleston of Code 856 col-laborated with Code 59 on-site personnel for theproject, which includedbringing multiple com-munications systems,secure and unsecure lo-cal area networks, Voiceover Internet Protocol(VoIP), a video wall andlarge screen displays tothe U.S. Army in FortBragg, N.C.

Instead of giant wallmaps marked withgrease pencils, Maj. JoeWyszynski, 82nd Air-borne chief of plans, hasa digital operations cen-ter that, after a $1.5 mil-lion update, features

Internet, instant messaging,field laptops and satellitelinks.

The equipment allows di-vision commanders to trackindividual vehicles and unitswith transmitters and to linkinto video feeds from un-manned aerial vehicles be-fore soldiers move into anarea, according to Division

Commander Maj. Gen. BillCaldwell.

The new communicationsgear greatly improves situ-ational awareness by provid-ing instant visibility on allvariables such as logistics,water and fuel. Platoons uselaptop computers to receiveorders and intelligence up-dates on enemy positions ormovements. Field reports

will be sent electronically in-stead of dispatching messen-gers. Staff at the headquar-ters can monitor televisionfeeds from a satellite or ahigh-flying airplane and canuse a secure chat room todirect units or the aircraft.

On a console in front of awall of 10 large televisionscreens, a small unit similar

to a telephone brings allradio calls within the di-vision into one place,where they are moni-tored by a single person.Division staffers can alsoeasily talk to Marine,Navy and Air Force per-sonnel as they performjoint operations.

During recent night-time training, scouts senta digital photo of whatappeared to be an enemyrocket launcher near adrop zone. Headquartersstaff analyzed it, con-firmed it was a threat andsimulated calling AirForce jets to destroy it.

Thanks to SSC Charleston the 82nd Airborne gets an

Code 856 developed the architecture, design, production and testing ofthe center.

Code 856 and 59 brought multiple communications systems, multi-security level local area networks, VoIP, video wall and large screendisplays to the Army’s 82nd Airborne.

Photos by Major John Conniff, USA

Executive Director James Ward addresses the command’svolunteers in the atrium, and Commanding Officer Capt.Red Hoover and Earl Copeland, center, look on.


Warfighter SupportWarfighter Support


ommended Southern MethodistUniversity’s distance learning program.Mike Kutch encouraged her. The com-mand would underwrite her studies aslong as maintained at least a “B” aver-age.

“I went ahead and took the plungeinto systems engineering,” said Foore.In the first class she was lost but didn’twant to give up. She did OK in thatcourse; then took another and did bet-ter. She learned she did not need theengineering degree as so many had toldher. She just needed to apply herself.

This time she was juggling school,a full time job and a family that includedtwo kids, Taylor and Justin. She foundmuch of her academic study relatingto her Code 70 work experience, whichinvigorated the pursuit of her goal. Shestudied CMMI and Lean Six Sigma(LSS), and as an LSS black belt forCode 70 she got the opportunities toteach, as she had always wanted. Theexperience, she said, helped her ma-ture personally and professionally, andsee “the big picture.”

Her next goal is to get a Ph.D. insystems engineering by 2010, “on the10-year plan,” Foore said. Ultimatelyshe wants to teach systems engineer-ing at the undergraduate college level.

She is the first in her family to earna bachelor’s degree, and now amaster’s, but it was not an easy road.“I was floundering around out there forfour or five years, but I was able toget back on track,” said Foore. “I neverdreamed I’d have a master’s degree,especially in systems engineering, orthat I’d be doing this kind of work. Ilove my job. I could still be cutting hairtoday and not be happy,” she said.

Her own journey has shown her theimportance of education, and she en-courages kids to study math and sci-ence. She has volunteered countlesshours in the Groundhog/Shadow Dayand MaST programs at SSC Charles-ton. Foore recalls that her parentswanted her to be a veterinarian, but shebelieved she was not smart enough. To-day, she tells kids that regardless of theirage, they can accomplish anything.

“I’d be happy if 10 years from now,just one of them would come back andsay ‘Mrs. Foore you inspired me,’” shesaid.

“I’m proud of what we do atSPAWAR and I love telling people aboutit, and trying to inspire kids to pursuetheir goals,” she said.

Photo by John Berry, SSC San Diego

Code 61 in actionTom Glaab of Code 61D (left) and Rick Morganof Code 61F look up frequencies during a dem-onstration of a Digital Radio Mondial (DRM)software radio held recently at U.S. Special Op-erations Command (SOCOM) headquarters inTampa, Fla. The demo was in support of SPAWARefforts to introduce new technologies into theSOCOM mission.

“I tell people my heart is in this com-mand because I was raised in this com-mand,” said Foore.

While her path was not the conven-tional one, she ended up in a career verymuch like her dad’s after all.

- Susan PiedfortEditor, The Chronicle

Foore takes adifferent route tomaster’s degree

More than 247 of SSC Charleston’s approximately 2,340employees have earned masters’ degrees. Few of them,however, took the path of Code 70’s Odette Foore.

Her ties to SSC Charleston go back to birth. Foore’sfather, Steve Trevor, worked for the Industrial Manager,Sixth Naval District (INDMAN-6) detachment in Key West,Fla., when his daughter was born. When the detachmentclosed in 1972, the family moved to Charleston and whenINDMAN-6 was rolled up into the Naval Electronic Sys-tems Engineering Center (NAVELEX) Trevor worked there.NAVELEX was eventually consolidated into NCCOSC In-Service Engineering (NISE)-East, and later became SSCCharleston. Though he did not have a college degree, Fooresaid her dad was very knowledgeable and often sought outfor his technical expertise.

“I always admired my dad for his technical skills. Hecould fix TVs, radios, cars … anything electronic,” saidFoore. While she didn’t know what career she wanted,Foore had no desire to do what her dad did.

A reading comprehension problem that surfaced in thefifth grade was the first hint that Foore would not be lean-ing toward the world of academia. She made herself readcurrent events and novels, and had to work hard to keep upwith others and maintain the grades her parents required.

“My attitude was, I just had to make a ‘B.’ Learningdidn’t come easy for me, and I had no direction,” said Foore,adding that when she and her friends took the preliminarySATs, they filled in the answer grid to form designs on thesheet.

Graduating from Garrett High School in 1982, she wentto Trident Technical College for a while, then moved toFlorida to be a barber/stylist in her uncle’s West Palm Beachbusiness in May of 1983. She worked all day, every day tofinish the 1,500-hour barber/stylist program and in Novem-ber was licensed.

By 1985 she felt something was missing and returned toCharleston. Cutting hair during the day, she took a fewclasses at the Baptist College. Through her dad she metJohn Foore, who had majored in computer science atClemson and was employed at NAVELEX. The two weremarried in 1989.

“John was the one who convinced me to go back tocollege,” said Foore. She became a full-time College ofCharleston student in 1989. Still not interested at all in any-thing technological, yet wanting the hardest major imagin-able, she chose math. On her first college calculus test, shemade a 35. She went directly to the math tutor lab.

“I wrote every formula on index cards and studied themall the time. I had to memorize everything,” said Foore. Forthe newlywed whose husband traveled often, college lifewas not easy. She waitressed at Ruby Tuesday’s to helppay for college. After many hours in the math lab gettinghelp, one day she started tutoring others, and soon she wasrunning the lab. In three years, she earned a bachelor’sdegree in math with emphasis in computer science and aminor in education.

Degree in hand, she considered teaching, but instead tooka job doing administrative work for a defense contractor atNAVELEX in 1992. A job in Code 60 doing managementanalyst work was related to her studies and sparked herinterest. Eventually she moved to Code 70 and by 2001,she was ready to pursue a master’s degree. Through workshe had become interested in systems engineering.

“Lots of people told me I couldn’t get a master’s in sys-tems engineering because I am not an engineer,” said Foore.Not deterred, she set her sights on a master’s degree insystems engineering. Jim Rodenkirch of Code 50 had rec-

Odette Foore


PeoplePeople


Since taking on this new mission,Mikolajcik has already accomplishedwhat many said could not be done. Herealized that a support group greatlyimproves the quality of life for ALSpatients and their caregivers. There wasno local chapter of the ALS Associa-tion (ALSA), so he formed a networkand came up with a schedule to estab-lish one. They set monetary goals, ex-ceeded them and set even higher goals.

“The national ALS association saidwe were going too fast,” he recalled.“I told them we are moving at the speedof light, not at the speed of bureau-cracy.” On Jan. 30, 2006, South Caro-lina was approved as the 10th ALSAchapter in the organization.

When he discovered the closest ALSclinics were in Charlotte and Augusta,he set another goal. “So far we’vefound 19 people in Charleston and 300to 500 in the state with ALS. It is very

Black holes… “The Pink Pan-ther”... New York Senator … base-ball …. what do these things have incommon? They are all associatedwith the talents or achievements ofnotable people affected by ALS.

ALS is often referred to as “thenice guy’s disease” because of thewarmth and humanity that, for what-ever reason, is so often apparent inthe courageous men and women whoare affected. It also known as “LouGehrig’s disease,” in reference to an-other nice guy who was the first fa-mous person to bring ALS to publicattention. The New York Yankees’first baseman and powerhouse hit-ter set a record unsurpassed for overhalf a century by playing 2,130 con-secutive games. That streak, andGehrig’s awesome athletic prowess,came to an end with an ALS diagno-sis in the late 1930s. Two years af-ter stepping down from the game heloved, Gehrig died of ALS.

Actor David Niven first came toattention in Hollywood in the 1930s,

appearing in a variety of classic films.The Academy Award winner was theepitome of the debonair English gentle-man with a touch of light humor, ap-pearing in such films as “The Guns ofNavarone,” “The Pink Panther” and“Death on the Nile.” While he was ap-pearing on a British talk show a viewerrecognized the symptoms of ALS andcontacted Niven. He appeared in filmsfor several years after obtaining his of-ficial ALS diagnosis. He died in 1983.

Jacob Javits became a major figurein New York politics, serving as U.S.congressman, state attorney generaland finally as U.S. senator represent-ing New York for 24 years. He learnedhe had ALS in 1975, and finished his

last Senate term in 1981. Javits diedof complications of ALS in 1986.

A world-renowned British physi-cist, Stephen Hawking has madegroundbreaking contributions onquantum theory, black holes and thebig-bang model of the universe’s ori-gin. Hawking’s ALS is atypical, withdiagnosis at 21 and slow progres-sion of the disease for the last fourdecades. He uses a motorized wheel-chair for mobility and underwent atracheotomy. He writes using hiscomputer and communicates viaspeech synthesis technology, whichhe says gives him an American ac-cent.

The ‘nice guy’s disease’

hard for ALS patients to travel that farto a clinic,” he said.

He and others celebrated the open-ing of a multidisciplinary ALS clinic atthe Medical University of South Caro-lina on July 7.

The clinic provides state-of-the-artcare for ALS patients, with a team ofhealth professionals including neurolo-gists with special expertise in the diag-nosis and management of patients withALS, physical therapists, occupationaltherapists, respiratory technicians, di-eticians, social workers and others.

“They kept saying it couldn’t bedone, you are going too fast,”Mikolajcik said. “Don’t tell me how Ican’t do something. Tell me how I can.

“We are going to make a difference,”he said. “We already have.”

- Susan PiedfortEditor, The Chronicle

Mikolajcik and others are dedi-cated to continuing an all-out as-sault against ALS. That effort in-cludes identifying funding to re-search new and better treatmentsand ultimately find a cure for ALS.It also means providing compre-hensive health care services, in-cluding diagnostic and follow-upcare at ALS clinics and supportgroups, and assistance with pur-chase of wheelchairs, braces andcommunication devices.

For more information on volun-teering or making donations, call:

971-0933 or write:

S.C. ALSA ChapterP.O. Box 280

Charleston, SC 29402

Gehrig Niven Javitz Hawking

Volunteers needed

A new mission

Retired Air Force Brigadier GeneralTom Mikolajcik visited SSC Charles-ton recently to speak to Toastmastersand guests about his new mission:making amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS) a priority issue for the govern-ment.

A 1969 Air Force Academy gradu-ate with 27 years as a pilot, staff of-ficer and in numerous command posi-tions, Mikolajcik commanded Charles-ton Air Force Base from 1991 to 1994.The general is well known to many inthe area as an advisor to the MetroChamber of Commerce Military Rela-tions Policy Council and as a memberof the state Military Base AdvisoryCommittee. Working tirelessly through-out 2004 and 2005 to keep area mili-tary installations off the Base Realign-ment and Closure (BRAC) list,Mikolajcik did not disclose until late lastyear that he had been diagnosed withALS in 2003.

ALS is a progressive and fatal neu-romuscular disorder characterized byweakness and wasting of the patient’sarms and legs. Muscles related tobreathing and swallowing are also af-fected, and death is usually a result ofrespiratory failure.

Mikolajcik recalled that he startedfeeling weaker in May of 2003. Afterfour months of tests, his doctor toldhim, “You have ALS. You have one tothree years to live.” Almost three yearssince his diagnosis, the general is do-ing better than predicted. He can bal-ance well enough to walk, and he cantalk and breathe easily. He has lost some

use of his arms, and relies more andmore on a motorized wheelchair hedubbed “the electric chair.”

“I am different from when you sawme before. I may act differently on theoutside, but I’m not different on theinside,” he told the group. “I feel good.ALS doesn’t hurt, you just becomecaptive in your own body,” he said.“It’s a tough challenge.

“God has given me a sign that myclock is ticking faster than others. Butif I had been hit by a car I wouldn’thave this time,” he added, explainingthe philosophy he and his familyadopted of taking one day at a time andenjoying the time they have left. Whilesome struggle emotionally with the dis-ease, the general said he has a calmerapproach to life, and a more reflectiveapproach to death.

“I asked myself what I want to dowith the time I have left. I decided Iwant to enlighten Congress and raiseawareness of the relationship betweendeployed service members and ALS,”he said.

The only named disease listed in the“Gulf War Syndrome,” ALS has doublethe incidence rate for Gulf War I vet-erans than non-Gulf War veterans, anddeployed Air Force personnel have a2.7 times higher risk of developing ALS.Veterans are also shown to develop ALSat younger ages than the general popu-lation. Mikolajcik expects many moreveterans to be diagnosed with ALS overthe next five to 10 years, including thoseserving now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It has been nearly 70 years sinceLou Gehrig announced that eventhough he had ALS, he was the lucki-est man on the face of the planet. Whyhaven’t we found something to arrestor cure ALS?” Mikolajcik asked.

He believes drug companies won’tinvest much in this “orphan” diseasebecause of the potentially low returnon investment. When the Veterans Ad-ministration (VA) started a registry ofveterans with ALS in 2003, 1,453 pa-tients signed up. In March of 2006, 916were alive. Because of a documentedrelationship to military service,Mikolajcik wants the Department ofDefense and VA to more aggressivelyfund research.


Brigadier General Tom Mikolajcik(USAF, Ret.) speaks at an SSC Charles-ton Toastmasters gathering.

A new missionGeneral Tom Mikolajcik is making

a difference in the battle against ALS

PeoplePeople


SSC Charleston’s own building, named SPAWAR Detachment Ana-conda, was dedicated recently in Iraq. The building serves as workand home for SSC Charleston’s engineers and industry partners inIraq, and is the Network Operating Center (NOC) for Internet cafesin theater.

The dedication citation read in part, “The raising of this flag hon-ors the hard work and dedication of SSC Charleston employees andindustry partners who have served in support of Operation Iraqi Free-dom at the SPAWAR Detachment Anaconda Camp at Logistics Sup-port Area (LSA) Anaconda.”

SSC Charleston Commanding Officer Capt. Red Hoover raises thecommand flag on Detachment Anaconda. The flag, flown at thedetachment for several months, is displayed in Bldg. 3147.

Hoover receives a plaque commemo-rating the building dedication fromStan Rhorer of Code 752.

Photos provided

A lesson from RussiaDuring the May 2005 SPAWAR Inspector General (IG)

inspection the IG team, led by experienced facilitators, con-ducted several focus groups to hear employees’ views onthe command climate and general conditions affecting theworkforce at SSC Charleston.

A total of 159 civilian employees attended 11 focus groupsessions. Approximately 11 percent of the command’s totalcivilian workforce physically located in the Charleston geo-graphic area participated in the sessions. Two sessions wereheld for military personnel. The primary goal of this effortwas to brainstorm on critical issuesimpacting the effectiveness of theworkforce and to provide a list ofpossible solutions for the SSCCharleston executive level manage-ment team to consider.

Employees -- represented by DA,DG, DP, DS and DT career paths --were divided into 11 small, separategroups within “like” career pathsranging in size from 11 to 18 mem-bers. Two military sessions weresplit into enlisted nonsupervisors andofficers, with five and four mem-bers respectively. Each group wasprovided a listing of the 17 organi-zational command climate dimen-sions identified by the Office of Per-sonnel Management as reflective ofcharacteristics present in high per-forming organizations. The dimen-sions included reward/recognition, training/career develop-ment, innovation, customer orientation, leadership and qual-ity, fairness and treatment of others, communication, em-ployee involvement, use of resources, work environment/quality of worklife, work and family/personal life, team-work, job security/commitment to workforce, strategicplanning, performance measures, diversity and supervision.

Each of the focus groups reviewed the list of commandclimate dimensions and, by a show of hands, each groupidentified three dimensions from their personal perspectivethey considered to be SSC Charleston’s strengths. Eachgroup was also asked to list, from its perspective, the three“challenge” dimensions that need to be recognized by theactivity leadership to allow SSC Charleston to increase ef-fectiveness and better meet its mission.

The top three “challenge” dimensions identified by eachgroup established the foundation for each small group dis-

cussion. These discussions provided employees a forum toopenly express their views on SSC Charleston’s commandclimate.

The facilitators compiled comments from each smallgroup to prepare an overall group summary report. Thefacilitators did not arbitrarily select certain comments inthe report. If a particular comment was made but not sup-ported or voiced multiple times, that particular commentwas not used in the summary.

The overall impression from all of the focus groups wasthat employees enjoy working atSSC Charleston and are proud ofthe work being done by the com-mand. The top strengths recognizedby the groups were work and fam-ily/personal life, training/career de-velopment, work environment/qual-ity of worklife and customer orien-tation.

The top challenges identified bythe groups included communication,supervision, reward/recognition andperformance measures. The over-arching concern centered on theperception that management shouldbe more proactive in improvingcommunications below the branchhead level and between depart-ments. This included translatingstrategic planning into practical ap-plications, publicizing organizational

goals and measures clearly and concisely, and providingresults from current initiatives/surveys to all employees.Employees suggested updating CorpWeb with the latest in-formation available, holding more branch level and all-handsmeetings, minimizing the use of “buzzwords,” using con-sistent award criteria, and explaining clearly to all employ-ees the command goals and the measures used to evaluateSSC Charleston’s performance. Employees also suggestedthat managers/supervisors needed to develop better “soft”skills.

The Command Review Office provided a briefing of thefocus group findings to the Business Board at their March2006 meeting. The Workforce Optimization and the Chiefof Staff offices, along with the Command Review Office,have teamed to review the findings and recommendationsand determine the most efficient and effective way to ad-dress the concerns.

- Kim B. Mactier, Code 0R

SPAWAR Inspector General conducts

SSC Charleston command climate assessments

“ ... employees enjoy

working at SSC Charleston

and are proud of the work

being done by the command.

The top strengths ... were

work and family/personal

life, training/career

development, work

environment/quality of

worklife and customer

orientation.”

Detachment Anacondadedicated in Iraq


employment of resources bythe greater use of public andprivate collaborations. Theway J09C accommodated thesmart employment of re-sources was to formulate the“design budget” approach.

The design budget approachminimizes postdelivery newwork and upgrades, while en-suring new ships are deliveredto the fleet substantially closerto being ready for deploymentand fully capable of perform-ing their mission. While not acost-savings tool in the ship’sdesign and construction cycle,it is a cost-avoidance tool usedto implement “black box”changes that do not impact theoverall ship’s productionschedule and delivery dates.

This approach provides themeans for integrating evolu-tionary changes into the C4Isuite while preservingaffordability and ensuring suc-cessful cradle-to-gravelifecycle support for bothNavy and non-Navy systems.The integration and test team’sdeparture from usingstovepiped programs of recordand developing a composablecapability architecture thatpulled mission capabilitiesfrom several programs of record, required changes to theexisting supportability requirements.

Unlike their USS (United States Ship) counterparts, USNS(United States Naval Ship) vessels are manned primarily bycivilian crews working for the Navy Military Sealift Com-mand (MSC). USNS ships deploy for up to 265 days bycross-decking crew members. The operational scenario ofUSNS ships and the MSC maintenance philosophy for theseships preclude the use of the standard Department of De-fense logistics support processes. The extended deploy-ment cycle without replenishment places additional rangeand depth demands on the ship’s replenishment spares load.Similarly, the cross-decking of crew members adds com-plexity to the training requirements.

Without a new logistics support strategy, the operatingscenario and maintenance philosophy would result in ex-cessive logistics support costs and potentially degrade shipand fleet readiness. The excessive logistics support cost

and readiness issues were theroot problems addressed byJ09C.

Supporting cross-deckingcrew members required train-ing not available in Navyschools, fleet schools, or byprecommissioning unit train-ing. To fill this void, J09C de-veloped a comprehensive mul-timedia, computer-based cur-riculum to provide initial, fol-low-on, and refresher trainingonboard the ship. This inno-vative, module-driven trainingpackage approach providestraining as needed and on anas-crews-are-available basis,giving maximum schedulingflexibility to aid in ensuring thatcrews are trained to operatetheir integrated military C4Isuite.

J09C provided the recentlyidentified USNS Lewis andClark crewmembers a crewfamiliarization pilot course thatincluded hands-on training inSSC Charleston’s land-basedtest and integration facility(TIF) on the North Yard, NorthCharleston. Thesecrewmembers are currentlydeployed on different militarysealift ships. As they dock inthe Charleston harbor they are

asked to participate and comment on their multimedia, com-puter-based curriculum and to familiarize themselves withnew equipment.

As the Navy moves closer to implementing a lead sys-tem integrator (LSI) concept of developing, translating,acquiring and integrating joint requirements, architecturesand systems of systems solutions, more attention is beinggiven to J09C’s design budget and integrated supportabilityand crew familiarization model. These concepts are beingused with slight variations on the LPD-17 San Antonio class,LHD-8 Makin Island, CVN-77 George H.W. Bush, and theUSS Carl Vinson recharge and overhaul effort.

The success of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for-ward-looking concept of deploying bases at sea relies heavilyon the development of sea basing—a concept that willprovide the military services with significantly expanded


TTTTThe Corhe Corhe Corhe Corhe Corps of Discops of Discops of Discops of Discops of DiscovvvvveryeryeryeryeryOn February 28, 1803, President Thomas

Jefferson won approval from Congress fora visionary project that would become oneof America’s greatest stories of adventure.Twenty-five hundred dollars wereappropriated to fund a small expeditionarygroup whose mission was to explore theuncharted West. Jefferson called the groupthe Corps of Discovery. It would be led byJefferson’s secretary Meriwether Lewis,and Lewis’ friend, William Clark. Over thenext four years, the Corps of Discoverywould travel thousands of miles,experiencing lands, rivers and peoples thatno Americans ever had before.

By Dr. Carol F. Smith, C4ISR Acquisition Engineering &Integration (CAEI), Code J09C-L

The USNS Lewis and Clark is the lead ship in the Navy’snew 11-ship T-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ship class. It isin the final stages of construction alongside the NationalSteel and Shipbuilding Company’s (NASSCO) pier in SanDiego, with delivery scheduled this summer. The nameLewis and Clark honors the two legendary explorers whojointly led the Corps of Discovery on a visionary expeditionthat was to become one of American history’s greatest ad-venture stories. Captains Meriwether Lewis and WilliamClark led an expeditionary force from 1804 to 1806 to ex-plore the American West. Crossing wild rivers and ruggedmountains, they found a then unknown continent to sur-vey.

The second T-AKE, to be named Sacagawea in honor ofthe Shoshone Indian woman who acted as guide and inter-preter for Lewis and Clark on their expedition into the North-west region of the U.S., is scheduled to be launched thissummer. Sacagawea’s role emphasizes that successful ex-ploration involves many brave and resourceful people frommany backgrounds. The third ship was recently named AlanShepard, to honor the first American in space, Rear Adm.Alan B. Shepard Jr. He volunteered to explore the unknownand became the first American in space, beginning one ofthe most challenging endeavors in human history—themanned exploration of space.

TTTTTwwwwwo lego lego lego lego legendary eendary eendary eendary eendary explorxplorxplorxplorxplorers –ers –ers –ers –ers –one legone legone legone legone legendary ship cendary ship cendary ship cendary ship cendary ship classlasslasslasslass

The T-AKE ships are the first modern Navy ships tocombine proven international marine technologies such asan integrated electric-drive propulsion system that canachieve a speed of 20 knots, and commercial design fea-tures that will minimize their cost of operation and mainte-nance over their expected 40-year lives. The ships will carryalmost 7,000 metric tons of dry cargo and ammunition and23,500 barrels of cargo fuel.

Designed to operate independently for extended periodsat sea while providing replenishment services to U.S., NATOand allied ships, the ships of this class will directly contrib-ute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a worldwide for-ward presence. Their primary mission is to provide a steadystream of ammunition, spare parts and provisions (dry, re-frigerated and frozen) to naval forces at sea in their roles asshuttle ships. As a secondary mission, they will operate inconcert with a T-AO oiler as a semisubstitute for an AOE-1 Sacramento class or AOE-6 supply class fast combat lo-gistics support ship, if the situation so dictates.

Code J09C plays a critical role in acquiring and main-taining C4ISR mission capabilities for new constructionships. Budgetary trends indicate that program and logisticsmanagers will have to continually improve efficiencies whenobligating funding for force readiness, maintenance, tech-nology insertion, research and development. The productroll-out cycle must be shortened, while maintainability andreliability must be improved and sustained. These are daunt-ing tasks which can only be accomplished through smart

USNS Lewis and Clark, lead ship in the Navy’s T-AKE class, leaves San Diego for sea trials.


The Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) reminds active-duty Sailors andveterans to be extra vigilant and to care-fully monitor financial transactions inlight of the recent theft of a VA data-base files from an employee’s home inMay.

Even though the stolen laptop andhard drive were recovered by police inJune, identity theft is always a risk. TheVA recommends carefully monitoringbank, credit card and any statementsregarding recent transactions.

Several resources are available formore information. A special Web-sitewww.firstgov.gov and a toll-free num-ber (800-FED-INFO or 800-333-4636)feature up-to-date information on thedata compromise. The Web-site tellshow to check credit reports, how toguard against identity theft and whomto call if fraudulent activity is sus-pected.

Monitoring accounts online is thebest way to detect fraud early. Place a90-day fraud alert on your credit re-port, which tells creditors to contactyou before opening any new accountsor making changes to existing ac-counts.

It is only necessary to contact oneof three companies to place an alert.That company is then required to con-tact the other two. The three compa-

nies are Equifax, 800-525-6285,www.equifax.com; Experian, 888-397-3742, www.experian.com; andTransUnion, 800-680-7289,www.transunion.com.

Once the fraud alert has been posted,you are entitled to free copies of yourcredit reports. Review these reports forinquiries from companies you haven’tcontacted or accounts you didn’t open.The alert can be renewed after 90 days.

If fraudulent accounts or transac-tions are discovered. contact the finan-cial institution to close the account(s).File a report with the local police de-partment. File a complaint with theFederal Trade Commission by phoneat 877-438-4338, online atwww.consumer.gov/idtheft or by mailto Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Fed-eral Trade Commission, 600 Pennsyl-vania Avenue NW, Washington, DC20580.

VA data compromise necessitates vigilance

The Privacy Act of 1974 prescribes a framework for thecollection, maintenance, use and distribution of informa-tion on U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens. In gen-eral, the statutory and regulatory authorities limit the col-lection of personal data to information that is “relevant andnecessary” to accomplish an agency purpose that is man-dated by statute or executive order and prohibits the distri-bution of such information except with the consent of theindividual about whom the information pertains or as oth-erwise may be authorized by one of the enumerated excep-tions to the Act.

The Act as implemented by DoD also requires that agen-cies establish adequate safeguards to ensure the securityand confidentiality of the information and that rules of con-duct be established for persons involved with such infor-mation.

The DoD rules of conduct, as set forth at DoDD 5400.11,Enclosure 3, are as follows, “DoD personnel shall:

“E3.1.1. Take such actions, as considered appropriate,to ensure that personal information contained in system ofrecords, which they have access to or are using incident tothe conduct of official business, shall be protected so thatthe security and confidentiality of the information shall bepreserved.

“E3.1.2. Not disclose any personal information containedin any system of records, except as authorized by [DoD

5400.11-R] or other applicable law or regulation. Personnelwillfully making such a disclosure when knowing that dis-closure is prohibited are subject to possible criminal penal-ties [$5,000 fine] and/or administrative sanctions.

“E3.1.3. Report any unauthorized disclosures of personalinformation from a system of records or the maintenanceof any system of records that are not authorized by DoDDirective 5400.11 to the applicable privacy point of contactfor his or her DoD component.”

DoD system managers for each system of records shallensure that all personnel who either have access to the sys-tem of records or who shall develop or supervise proce-dures for handling records in the system of records shall beaware of their responsibilities for protecting personal infor-mation being collected and maintained under the DoD Pri-vacy Program.

DoD personnel, as well as DoD contractors and theiremployees, are stewards of the information. In this fidu-ciary capacity, all personnel -- whether military, civilian orcontractor -- have an affirmative responsibility to ensurethat the information is collected, maintained, used and dis-tributed only as authorized by law and regulation and thatthe information is continually safeguarded.

In essence, personnel should treat and protect the infor-mation in the same manner as they would treat and protectinformation about themselves.

Privacy Act establishes personal information safeguards

I recently had the honor of attend-ing a Managers’ Internal Controlworkshop in Washington, D.C.,where the Honorable Dr. Linda M.Combs, Office of Management andBudget (OMB) Controller, deliveredthe opening speech.

Combs amplified President Bush’sopinion that top management sup-port is a “must” to ensure account-ability for the federal government.She explained that President Bush,as well as all government officialsand taxpayers, expect the same levelof integrity within the federal gov-ernment as do stockholders withinthe private sector. Her presentationcontained a picture of President Bushwearing a t-shirt with the words“NO EXCUSES, JUST RESULTS!”Too many times we make excuses

It’s as easy as A-1-2-3for allowing controls to be bypassed.We have all heard them.

Combs spoke about “creating anew culture of accountability” andhow internal controls and good fi-nancial management are “habits” andshould be incorporated in all areas,not just the financial arena. Combssaid she is aware of the amount oftime and effort necessary to fullydocument and evaluate our internalcontrols, but is confident that oncethe “up-front” work is complete(e.g., flowcharting, risk analysis),the ongoing management of the pro-gram will become a daily part ofbusiness.

Combs told a story about an MBAstudent she was interviewing for agovernment position. She could tellhe had done his research regarding

the OMB, Management Controls andCircular A-123 prior to the interview.As they were talking about OMBCircular A-123, the student com-mented to Combs that he believedthe federal government really knewwhat they were doing when they“named” their programs. “After all,”he said, “it really is as simple as A –1-2-3!!!”

That MBA student hit the nailright on the head!! It is as simple as“A – 1-2-3.” A positive control en-vironment and an investment of timeto document and analyze our pro-cesses will ensure we have the rightmeasures and controls in place.

We must make internal controlsa part of our everyday work. Then,we will have exactly what the Presi-dent and the American public want- “NO EXCUSES, JUST RE-SULTS!”

- Kim B. Mactier, Code 0R


USNS Lewis and Clark

options and flexibility for employing the joint force from asecure and maneuverable base of operations. The idea isthat all logistics support will come from the sea, rather thanfrom a large, land-based supply point (as in traditional com-bat service support). Although the entire fleet would play arole in the sea base, the most important platforms would beamphibious ships and future maritime prepositioning force(MPFF) vessels. This means that the several support shipscomprising the sea base will have to operate as “floatingwarehouses” that are always available.

The transformation of the Navy’s surface combatant fleetstarts with a highly capable, multimission DD(X) DestroyerProgram and a new type of mission-focused Littoral Com-bat Ship (LCS). The LCS Freedom class will have modu-larity and scalability built in. It focuses on mission capabili-ties, affordability and life cycle costs. The Joint High SpeedVessel (JHSV) program is a cooperative that combines theArmy’s Theater Support Vessel (TSV) program with theNavy and Marine Corps High Speed Connector (HSC). After

delivery, each service will be responsible for manning, main-taining and providing full life cycle support for their re-spective vessels.

Life cycle support for all these new endeavors will comefrom several sources: commercial, service specific, DoDlogistics depots and foreign shores. The logistics supportconcepts developed by Code 09C are readily adaptable foruse in the sea base environment.

Fittingly, design budget allows Code 09C to deliver gov-ernment furnished information and equipment (GFI/GFE)just-in-time to support detailed design, integration and test-ing of the military C4I suite. Design budget goals are highlysuccessful at providing the fleet, at ship delivery, the mosttechnologically advanced military C4I equipment withoutincurring a significant increase in shipbuilding costs due todesign changes. Code 09C is a major contributor to ensur-ing the continued forward presence of the U.S. Navy fleetand our nation’s security.

Editor’s Note: During an All Hands April 25, 2006, Dr.Smith received the SPAWAR Civilian Logistician of the Year2005 for her extraordinary accomplishments as the SCNC4ISR Assistant Program Manager for Logistics (APML)on the T-AKE and T-AGM(R) vessels.

NewsNews


Figure 2.) As a result, a Lean Six Sigma event was initiatedto examine the inventory and material traceability processesto determine if any special causes of variation were presentduring that timeframe that would have caused the increasein discrepancies.

It was found that a clearly defined physical inventoryprocess had not been defined and consistently followed,and the ongoing material audits finally revealed this flaw. Atargeted team comprised of material management employ-ees worked together to develop an inventory procedure thatwould involve a series of checks and balances that werenot present in the existing inventory process. The new pro-cedure was tested on a subset of material currently in stock,and proved to be very successful – the Lean Six Sigmaevent not only reduced the amount of discrepancies in thematerial database, but it also reduced the time it takes topull material to satisfy production needs. Plans are in placeto apply this physical inventory procedure to all material atCAEI production with the intent to eliminate inventory dis-crepancies.

For managers and supervisors there are three very basicfoundations to put into place before SPC is effective: orga-nizational preparation, meaningful measures and commit-ment to process improvement. All are simple in theory andelusive to implement. First, all team members must be con-fident in YOUR commitment to quality improvement andtheir place on the team. They must be assured that processimprovement is focused on “why” and not “who.” Leadershave to ensure that variations in the process over whichteam members can exert little or no control will not beequated with poor performance. When corrective actionsare process specific, team members actively make improve-ment suggestions. When improvements are credited to theteam member who suggest them, you pretty much have

established a climate of continuous process improvement.See, that was easy, wasn’t it?

What to measure? Measure an observable event or pro-cess step that is recurring to the product or service pro-cess. The most important thing when trying to establishingSPC is to stop talking about it and measure SOMETHING!Nothing is perfect and every measure will have some short-comings. Things you did not consider will become obviouswhen you do your first analysis. Reassess your criteria andmeasurement, and try again.

The initial measure for cable fabrication was a simple“cables per day.” As it turns out, not all cables are equal.The 90-pin signal cables don’t come as quickly as the co-ax cables. Some days 15 people work cables; other days itmight be five. The first measure wasn’t very meaningful,but it was a place to start.

We reevaluated. Why wasn’t this measure indicative ofthe process? What is the fundamental recurring action thatmakes a cable valuable to the customer? An active wireattached to a connector is pretty obvious. Active wires-connectors/person/day is what we measured next. Thismeasurement proved to be a consistent indicator of ourcable-making process and immediately reflected effectiveprocess improvements and demonstrated that some changesmade no improvement. For service or transactional pro-cesses, a comparison is a simple measure, for example:transactions/day or (remembering the cable example) trans-actions/person/day or hour; errors/1000 stock items inven-toried. Notice none of these examples are terribly compli-cated. When you get your measures pinned down, you havean objective, data-driven process indicator! So what?

The payoff is a data-based monitoring of your processesfor factual decision making! When a special cause occurs,you will have an indication as soon as the data is plotted. Asthe team implements actions to improve the process, theresults are readily assessed and understood by all. Processchanges, increases in productivity and intervention beforeadverse impacts to customer are the direct results the teamcan see, agree and quickly act upon.

When we are constantly challenged to do “more withless,” SPC is a basic tool to test process improvements and“really” know when a process is at its limit and you justcan’t squeeze out anymore efficiency. (Has anybody reachedthis barrier yet?)

With experience and a basic understanding of SPC, moreelaborate applications are possible, such as design of ex-periments for accessing technology upgrades or testing anew process before you commit to implementation. Everydepartment has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and manybranches have at least one Green Belt. Find them and seehow SPC can help improve your team.

- Richard Tucker, 09C1/ CAEI production, andJennifer Crawford, Stanley Corporation

Figure 2: SPC Chart – CAEI Material Audits. This controlchart clearly shows a severe spike in material audit discrep-ancies in February 2006. Immediate action was taken todetermine the cause of this spike, and process improvementplans were implemented to drastically decrease the auditdiscrepancies.

The most commonly accepted definition of StatisticalProcess Control (SPC) is:

“A methodology which uses basic graphical and statisti-cal tools to analyze, control and reduce variability within aprocess.” (Basic Statistics, Kiemele, Schmidt and Berdine,1990.)

But what exactly does this mean, and why should a man-ager even care if a process is under Statistical Process Con-trol?

Simply put, SPC provides a means to track the real-timeoutput of a process and see whether or not the process isbeing influenced by special causes of variation. Variation isthe fluctuation in the output of a process, and special causesof variation can drastically affect the quality of the productor service that is being produced. Process output is plottedon a control chart with statistically determined upper andlower control limits. Trends in the data or data points plot-ted outside the upper and/or lower control limits indicate aspecial source of variation is affecting the process. Whenthe manager sees these conditions, he/she can take imme-diate action to identify and eliminate that cause from inflict-ing any further influence to the process.

Every process contains some amount of variation. Let’slook at a very simple process – drawing a circle. If youdraw 15 circles on a piece of paper, you know those circleswill look similar but no two will be identical. There is inher-ent variation in the standard process you use to draw acircle, but that variation can be contained within predict-able limits. This inherent variation is called common causevariation.

If someone bumps your hand, or the piece of papermoves, or if the lead on your pencil breaks while you aredrawing a circle, you will get a “special” cause of variationthat affects the circle you are trying to draw. The resultingcircle may end up looking more like a kidney bean, or theremay be breaks in the line – whatever the case, the outputwill be outside the predicted control limits.

Now apply this line of thinking to one of your processes.You can plot the output of a process on a control chartwhich consists of three basic components:

1. Centerline – the mathematical average of all data pointsplotted.

2. Upper and lower statistical control limits.3. Performance data (plotted over time.)For example, you want to track the number of defects

per 100 lines of code that programmers are writing. Youdecide how often you want to take a measurement sample,and then plot the data on the control chart. The centerline,and upper and lower control limits are calculated based onthe data that is collected and plotted. The chart allows themanager to identify trends and potential occurrences ofspecial causes of variation. (See Figure 1.) Any points thatfall outside the control limits, or points that follow a non-random trend, can indicate when outside influences affectthe process.

Figure 1: Sample Control Chart. Notice that observations1-16 show a low degree of variance, then the process ap-pears to have varying results starting with observation 17.The manager of this process would investigate what hap-pened at observation 17 to cause the change (special causeof variation).

Statistical Process Control is utilized in the CAEI Pro-duction group within Code 09C1. SPC charts are main-tained for rack integration, cable fabrication and materialmanagement in the areas of productivity and quality. Spe-cific actions were taken when the CAEI material audits SPCchart indicated a drastic increase in the amount of discrep-ancies found during material audits in February 2006. (See

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At this stage, information assuranceis not being addressed other than toexplore whether encryption could beadded. However, he cautioned, withmany countries using TETRA, thechallenge that multiple encryption al-gorithms would pose for interoperabilitywould be considerable.

In cross-banding terms, both coun-tries are still discussing final details.Emondi explained that use of a Project25 public safety waveform was origi-nally envisaged, but the failure to de-

velop an SCA-compliant version meantthis was impossible. A plain “vanilla”FM waveform operating in a U.S. pub-lic safety band is now targeted as thecross-banding waveform.

The U.S. is eyeing the potential util-ity of working with TETRA users in-ternationally for public safety, disasterrelief and peacekeeping roles usingSCA-compliant JTRS radios. Emondisaid the U.S. Department of Justice alsois interested in the program as part ofits involvement in promoting the SCAand SDRs for domestic public safety.The representative hardware the U.S.-Swedish team is using also is being

used by the Justice Department to helpevaluate the SCA.

Interim SCA compliance testing isscheduled for January 2007 comple-tion. To secure funding for the nextphase, demonstrations have beenplanned to show the health of theproject.

“SDR is a big project,” said Wiss.“It is not something we can do our-selves. We are looking for internationalpartners, and we believe that this willbe done in close cooperation with manyother nations.”

To see the entire SIGNAL Magazinearticle, visit www.afcea.org/signal/.


By Vince KopekSomething to ponder ....I have never hunted, but I do have an

appreciation for the mechanics and con-struction of firearms. I was browsing arecent edition of Field & Stream andstumbled across an article about MikhailKalashnikov. This caught my attentionbecause his 1947 design, AK-47, hasprobably been the most successfulweapon built and used to date. Over ahundred million have been produced andmany a soldier has looked down one endor the other of this weapon.

Kalashnikov, a young poor farmer, became involvedfirsthand in World War II as an enlisted man. He suffereda wound in a T-35 tank that sent him to a hospital. Whileconvalescing he thought about the weapons his fellowsoldiers were given and tinkered with a design in his head.He managed to venture out of the hospital and was ableto fashion a crude but functional weapon of his design.His superiors were very impressed and stationed him withthe Russian weapons design team. The Automatic byKalashnikov - 1947 (AK-47) was born.

So what’s the point? This is what I see:1) I see a young, modestly educated man without a

degree that has great talent and potential. His superiorsrecognized it, yet had he not been injured, his talent mayhave gone fallow. As supervisors we need to try and rec-ognize one’s talents and do our best to see that they areencouraged and placed where they need to be.

2) A person’s education is very important, but no morethan one’s ability to consistently accomplish what is be-

fore him or her. Education gives us a setof tools to get started and a rounded per-spective. Tools can also come from ex-periences. It is what one does or doesn’tdo with those tools is what counts.

3) We need to be open to ideas and lis-ten to those in the field and on thedeckplate. Kalashnikov went against all ofthe design theory of the time. Designersworked to very tight tolerances yet it wasa soldier who wanted and designed loosetolerances so “that even a handful of sandwouldn’t stop [it] from working.”

4) Keep it simple. Kalashnikov said, “Tomake something simple is a thousand times more diffi-cult than to make something complex.” I don’t know ifthat is totally true, but “complex” seems to be more fun.We have to recognize that the things we do are not forour pleasure but to support the warfighter. We can enjoydoing it for them.

5) Recognize what is around you, use what worksand be willing to swallow a little pride and throw awaywhat doesn’t work. Kalashnikov looked at the designsof others around the globe and used what seemed bestand discarded those that were proven not to work.

6) Kalashnikov recognized a need, he was on the frontline. We need to pay attention to those “on the front line”and be willing to listen to them, willing to go to bat forthem and promote them.

Kalashnikov is now an 86-year-old Russian general.He is considered to be great by his countrymen becausehe was recognized for his potential and allowed to con-tribute.

A lesson from russiA

International partners

Al Emondi, Code 50E, described SSC Charleston’s in-volvement in a software-defined radio (SDR) project withSweden in an article entitled “Sweden Seeks Military Com-munications Flexibility,” in the May 2006 SIGNAL Maga-zine. A condensed version of the article follows.

weden’s military is embracing multina-tional cooperation and procurement in itssoftware defined radio (SDR) activities thatmay lead to the melding of two powerfulradio systems. A series of planned projectswill deepen waveform expertise on the ter-

restrial trunked radio (TETRA) waveform demonstratorproject through a unique joint effort with the United States’Joint Tactical Radio System Joint Program Executive Of-fice (JTRS JPEO).

Lt. Col. Sigvard Wiss, Swedish army, head of the JointTelecom Branch, Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters,placed Sweden’s Common Tactical Radio System, or GTRS,and TETRA work into a strategic and policy context. “Weare in the middle of transforming our armed forces from alarge defense force—built up, trained and equipped to beable to meet an invasion—into a more modern, flexibleforce.... Our defense force now has international missionsas the main focus, and we will adopt international and NATOstandards.... No matter how good, if the systems are notinteroperable and cannot communicate with our coalitionpartners, then they are just not good enough,” Wiss said.

Ralph Persson, strategic specialist and chief engineer,Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), outlinedthe broad vision for SDRs in Sweden. “What we want toachieve in the future is the flexibility of plug-and-play func-tionality that you have with PCs now,” Persson said.

Persson cites two reasons that the TETRA waveformwas selected as the basis for a joint U.S.-Swedish project.“One is that it should be readily available and used interna-tionally, preferably by international civil organizations andby rescue organizations. The second issue, particularly forthe U.S., was that it should not be classified in any way.TETRA met both these requirements,” he said.

Al Emondi, chief scientist, communications department,SSC Charleston, outlined the U.S. perspective on the pro-

gram. “We decided that rather than parcel this out to justone country we [would] split it. The U.S. [does not have amajority of] TETRA experts, and we know that the Swedeshave expertise in that area. Under our agreement, we de-cided that we would undertake ‘layer one functionality’ andthat they would work on layers two and three,” he said.

“We are developing the TETRA waveform between theU.S. and Sweden, and we had initially thought we wouldwork on both TETRA’s direct mode capability and its trunkmode capability,” he added. However, these initial expecta-tions were cut back at the formal planning stage because offunding. “In the end what we really want to try to focus onare trunk mode operational concepts because that is moreinteresting, and direct mode operation is not nearly as tech-nically challenging,” Emondi said.

The joint effort between the two countries is structuredso that the U.S. will be delivering layer one of the TETRAwaveform, a representative Software Communications Ar-chitecture (SCA)-compliant hardware platform—not a JTRSCluster radio, and the software and support personnel toperform SCA compliance testing on the jointly developedwaveform. Sweden’s development team will provide layerstwo and three and the control user plane client. Initial workhas concentrated on the interface between layers one andtwo so that each party can then work more effectively ontheir portion of the project.

“We are developing a waveform that was not meant tobe in the U.S. waveform repository” Emondi stated. “Itdidn’t make a lot of sense to put the waveform through thewhole Joint Tactical Radio System Technology Laboratory(JTeL) stress and to spend a lot of money doing so at thisstage of the program,” he added.

The initial testing will look at the potentiality of portingbut will not actually attempt it. “We wanted to make surethat we had good solid code in order to take the programonto subsequent phases. We are going to run the code on aU.S. box, which to some is considered a first port, but weare not going to port it to a second box, which would be thecase under the normal JTeL schema,” he explained.

SSC Charleston helps improveSwedish military communications flexibility


InternationalPartners

SSSSSKalashnikov


There are many reports from com-panies with U.S. government facilityclearances concerning inappropriateconduct by foreign personnel duringvisits to the facilities. Inappropriate con-duct during visits is a frequently re-ported modus operandi (MO) associ-ated with foreign collection activity.

While visits may be more costly andslightly more risky to the foreign en-tity, visitors usually gain access to thetargeted facility. For this reason, thisMO, while not the most frequentlyused, is assessed as the most damag-ing form of collection activity becauseit can result in a loss of technology.

Once in a facility, good collectorscan manipulate the visit to address someor all of their collection requirements.Visiting foreign scientists or engineerscan take acquired technology back totheir own country and apply it directlyto their needs without having to waitfor it to arrive through a bureaucraticintelligence collection process.

While most foreign visits take placewithout incident, many do result insome inappropriate or suspicious ac-tivity. Reported cases involving inap-propriate conduct include “wandering”visitors who become offended whenconfronted; questions beyond thescope of what was approved for dis-cussion; fraudulent use of data ex-change agreements; unannounced ar-rival at a facility; taking notes and pho-tographs; holding “commercial” dis-cussions when the U.S. government re-fuses to officially sponsor the visit; andlast minute or unannounced additionsto a visiting delegation.

Many of these techniques are spe-cifically designed to produce potentiallyembarrassing incidents for the host inorder to obtain collection objectives asa result of the host attempting to beconciliatory.

Many reports of inappropriate con-duct during a foreign visit involve tak-

ing advantage of the escort and mak-ing the escort a vulnerability instead ofa security countermeasure. This hap-pens when there are not enough es-corts to control the size of the visitingdelegation.

In other instances, the escort hasnot been properly briefed on what toprotect and how to respond to ques-tions. During a visit to an aeronauticsfacility, a foreign delegation of 10 wasprovided one escort. The visiting del-egation recognized the vulnerability andused an opportunity during a rest roombreak to split the delegation, causinghalf the delegation to be unescorted inan area with export-controlled technol-ogy.

A frequently used technique by for-eign military attachés within the U.S.is to arrive at a contractor facility un-announced in three-piece suits withbusiness cards. The civilian businessattire makes the military attaché appearless threatening. However, the tech-nique itself is to arrive unannouncedand rely on the courtesy of thecompany’s management to permit theattaché access.

On several occasions, and at sepa-rate facilities within the Washington,D.C., area, military attachés solicitedunclassified papers and brochures andengaged in conversations to determineother venues for exploitation. What thecompany personnel may not have re-alized is that most foreign militaryattachés are either intelligence officersor are acting in the capacity of intelli-gence officers.

Another popular technique is to addor switch a person at the last minuteas part of a visiting foreign delegation.This technique also relies on the cour-tesy of the company’s management.Sometimes the person being added orswitched is a commercial or militaryattaché from an embassy or consulate.The company has less time to perform

a check on the background of the visi-tor, thereby increasing the likelihood ofslipping an intelligence officer into thefacility.

Foreign visits: What is inappropriate?

S e c u r i t yS e c u r i t yS e c u r i t yS e c u r i t yS e c u r i t yc o u n t e r m e a s u r e sc o u n t e r m e a s u r e sc o u n t e r m e a s u r e sc o u n t e r m e a s u r e sc o u n t e r m e a s u r e s

Countermeasures to mitigate vul-nerabilities associated with the col-lection techniques of foreign visi-tors are relatively simple, inexpen-sive and effective—if implemented.

· Do not allow access to suspi-cious, unannounced foreign visitors.Tell them no one is available, andask them to reschedule their visit.

· Do not allow last minute addi-tions or substitutions to a foreigndelegation. Ask them to remain inthe lobby while the others are per-mitted access. This could keep anintelligence officer out of the facil-ity and encourages proper visitationprocedures.

· Verify the visitor’s personal IDagainst the original request.

· Ensure there are enough escortsto control a visiting delegation if itis split into multiple groups.

· Escorts must know what iscritical in the facility and what re-quires protection from foreign visi-tors.

· Ensure facility employees arebriefed on the scope of the foreignvisit and do not discuss anything be-yond what is approved.

· If a visitor becomes offendedwhen confronted, recognize this asa collection technique and ask thevisitor to abide by the rules or leave.

· Do not permit any cameras ornote taking if something in the fa-cility is “sight sensitive.”

· Make sure cryptographic ma-terial is either removed or covered.This regulation is often ignored butshould be strictly enforced.

Operational security update

- Lt. Brian Phillips, Code 70I

SSC Charleston hosted a visit by Dr. Steve Hutchison,Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) director oftest and evaluation, April 25. Hutchison and DISA staff-ers got a look at SSC Charleston’s Net-Centric testingphilosophy and strategy, and toured labs and test beds.The day-long visit featured a command brief by Execu-tive Director James Ward and an overview of the serviceoriented architecture (SOA) testing and validation phi-losophy and strategy. Pictured above, from left, DISAvisitors Col. Bill Hall, Steve Bridges, Cyndy Gardener,Hutchison and Patty Wilson pause while touring the IPClab.

SSC Charleston hosted Richard R.McNamara, Executive Director,Program Executive Officer (PEO)Submarines, Naval Sea SystemsCommand, April 26. McNamara,who is responsible for managing allacquisition programs for PEO Sub-marines, was invited by thecommand’s Technology and Innova-tion IPT to explore possible syner-gies with SSC Charleston. During aseries of briefs McNamara learnedabout SSC Charleston projects insupport of submarine warfare andexplored partnership and collabo-ration opportunities. At left, BobMiller of Code 618, left, andMcNamara share a laugh beforebriefings get underway.

Karl Eberle, above at right, vice president of operations forHarley-Davidson assembly plant, visited SSC CharlestonJune 27. A command brief and tour of the IPC lab, ATCbuilding and CSSR highlighted Eberle’s visit. As he lookedat modifications being made to Up-Armored Humvees, Eberlenoted many similarities between the work accomplished hereand operations at Harley-Davidson. Before giving a leader-ship brief to supervisors at the conference center, Eberle waspresented a book by Medal of Honor recipient Major Gen.James Livingston, USMC, Ret., left, as Commanding Of-ficer Capt. Red Hoover looks on.

Photo by Susan PiedfortPhoto by Harold Senn


VisitorsVisitors


Tell the world about your projectDoes your sponsor receive The Chronicle? Don’t miss

out on valuable recognition for yourself, SSC Charlestonand our products and services! Send names and addressesby e-mail to [email protected] or U.S. mail to TheChronicle Editor (JOA5SP), P.O. Box 190022, NorthCharleston, S.C., 29419. We’ll add your customers andsponsors to our mailing list.

You can help us keep all SSC Charleston employees,customers, contractors, sponsors and retirees current onthe command’s accomplishments. If you have an article orstory idea, submit it to The Chronicle. To discuss a storyidea or for assistance writing an article, call (843) 218-4973 or DSN 588-4973.

Code 534’s Jeffrey LaFrance was on board guided missiledestroyer USS Ramage, above, when a friend on anothership in the USS Eisenhower strike group took this photo.

Code 545 supported the strike group’s Tactical Data Linkstesting, performing a deploying group systemsinteroperability test during the final integration phase.

The Chronicle is published quar-terly. Articles will be accepted at anytime. Articles of any length will be con-sidered, but those with 300 to 700words are preferred. Photos or illus-trations should be sent as separate files,rather than embedded in a document.

A full color version of The Chroniclecan also be viewed on the Internet at http://sscc.spawar.navy.mil. Employees canbrowse the current and back issues onSSC Charleston’s CorpWeb under “e-Pub-lications.”

Photo provided

The Final WordThe Final Word

Full speed ahead!Full speed ahead!

The Chronicle52 Summer 2006

Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.

Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.Afghanistan: war torn land of beauty.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.See story on page 26.

technological leap ahead operations center pilot a ssc ......our future. rear adm. bachmann’s top...

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