Navy Announces New NAVWAR Commander, Task Force Commanders

July 13, 2020 3:12 PM
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The Navy announced several appointments today for high-level jobs, including a new director of warfare integration and a new commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.

Rear Adm. Douglas Small has been selected to receive his second star and will serve as the next commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), formerly the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), in San Diego, Calif.

Small currently serves as the program executive officer for integrated warfare systems at Washington Navy Yard. He previously worked at PEO IWS as the electronic warfare assistant and then the major program manager for Above Water Sensors (PEO IWS 2), overseeing the development of improvements for the Navy in electronic warfare and radar, according to his biography. Prior to taking command of PEO IWS in November 2016, he served as executive assistant to the assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.

Rear Adm. James Pitts will serve as the next director of warfare integration on the CNO’s staff (OPNAV N9I). This position looks at integration across the resource sponsors – the directors of air warfare, surface warfare, undersea warfare and expeditionary warfare – to ensure the Navy is investing in a portfolio that’s effective in all warfare domains.

Pitts currently is multi-hatted, commanding Submarine Group Seven, Task Force 74 and Task Force 54 out of Yokosuka, Japan. In this role he commands attack submarine and ballistic missile submarine activities in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command. Prior to this assignment, Pitts commanded the Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Groton, Conn.

Replacing Pitts as the head of submarine operations in the Pacific and Middle East will be Rear Adm. Leonard Dollaga. He currently commands the Undersea Warfighting Development and will be assigned commander of Submarine Group Seven, Task Force 74 and Task Force 54.

Rear Adm. William Pennington will serve as the next commander of Task Force 70 and commander of Carrier Strike Group Five out of Yokosuka, Japan. In that role, he will command forward-deployed Carrier Strike Group 5 aboard USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) as well as carrier strike groups, cruisers and destroyers that deploy or transit through the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

Pennington currently serves as the director of global integration and engagement on the CNO’s staff (OPNAV N5I).

Rear Adm. Kathleen Creighton be the next director of information warfare integration on the chief of naval operations’ staff (OPNAV N2/N6F). She currently serves as the Navy Cyber Security Division director on the CNO’s staff.

Creighton previously commanded the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Sicily and Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Bahrain, and she served as deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN), leading the command and control of the DODIN operations and defensive cyberspace operations internal defense measures.

The Navy also announced the following assignments:

Rear Adm. John V. Fuller will be assigned as deputy director for force protection, J-8, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. Fuller is currently serving as director, J-5, U.S. Northern Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Rear Adm. (lower half) William E. Chase III will be assigned as senior military advisor for cyber policy to the under secretary of defense for policy, and deputy principal cyber advisor to the secretary of defense, Washington, D.C. Chase is currently serving as deputy director, command, control, communications, and computers/cyber, J-6, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Thomas M. Henderschedt is assigned as senior defense official/defense attaché, China. Henderschedt previously served as naval attaché, U.S. Defense Attaché Office, Beijing, China.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Nicholas M. Homan will be assigned as director of intelligence, J-2, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. Homan previously served as deputy, deputy chief of staff, intelligence, Resolute Support; and deputy director, J2, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Matthew N. Ott III will be assigned as executive director, operational contract support, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Washington, D.C. Ott is currently serving as special assistant for audit readiness, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller), Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Jeffrey S. Scheidt will be assigned as deputy chief, computer network operations, National Security Agency, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Washington, D.C. Scheidt is currently serving as commander, Naval Information Warfighting Development Center, Norfolk, Virginia.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Philip W. Yu will be assigned as U.S. senior defense official/defense attaché, Russia, Moscow, Russia. Yu previously served as China branch chief, N5I1, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Megan Eckstein

Megan Eckstein

Megan Eckstein is the former deputy editor for USNI News.

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