01/07/2019
Update on Army Cyber's Headquarters Move
Below is a great outline of the timing of the relocation of Army Cyber Command to Fort Gordon, GA. With over half of the new 4,700 new cyber warriors and intelligence officers already joining the 25,000 personnel on post, the impact of this high tech catalyst can already be felt in Augusta.
-State of the art improvements to the electrical grid and fiber infrastructure
-Augusta University named a NSA Center of Excellence
-Almost a dozen new or expanded defense contractors in the last two years
Fort Gordon has really transformed into a modern Power Projection Platform for the Army, and the power we project is information dominance." Major General Stephen G. Fogarty, Cyber Center Commanding General United States Army
Mark Pomerleau, C4ISRNET
Army Cyber Command and Second Army are working to transition headquarters from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to Fort Gordon, Georgia. The move is expected to happen in fiscal year 2020.
Ron Pontius, deputy to the commanding general for Army Cyber Command and Second Army, and Maj. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, Commanding General of Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, provided details on the move at a July 14 event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.
The move is on track with construction for a facility. Contracts are out for bid now, with an award expected in August and groundbreaking planned for November. That leaves two years for construction: one year to certify and accredit and one year for IT fits, given that it will be a warfighting headquarters.
The facility will be adding a wing to NSA Georgia, also located at Fort Gordon, as to be “hand in hand with the intelligence community as we work defensive-offensive cyber and DoDIN operations,” Pontius said.
The “character of the installation will change” given that about 10 years ago, it was primarily a training facility. Now, according to Fogarty, about 25 percent of activity at the base is training, but it will grow into the cyber and electronic warfare making about 75 percent 24/7 cyber, intelligence and signal operations.
The move is a stationing decision, not a Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission decision, said Pontius. A contract announcement was made in December for a new HQ facility that would be constructed as a Secure Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) with further security zones divided and redundant and backup electrical, mechanical and security systems.
