Summer 2017 The Chronicle 1 - United States Navy · 2020-01-28 · Mount Whitney entered a drydock...

The ChronicleSummer 2017 1

The Chronicle2 Summer 2017

Rising 9th through 12th graders had a chance to see if they have what it takes to be cybersecurity warriors during the fifth annual

Palmetto Cybersecurity Summer Camp, held June 19 through 23 at Burke High School in

Charleston. See story on page 29.


3 Government/industry partnershipsSSC Atlantic counts on its contractual relationships to augment in-house engineering efforts.

14 Etter Award winnersSix SSC Atlantic scientists honored with ASN RD&A Dr. Delores Etter Top Scientist and Engineer awards.

16 TMIP capabilities showcasedAn SSC Atlantic team shows TMIP-MC capabilities for medical data sharing during a Fort McCoy exercise.

Summer 2017 Vol. 23 No. 2

Leadership update ...........................2 DCGS-MC IPT demo .......................18WOW events ................................20‘Old Crows’ meet ...........................21MCLP 17-1 ...................................22Artist honors warfighters .................27STEM outreach events ....................28 Visitors .......................................33 The final word ..............................36

Commanding Officer ............Capt. Scott HellerExecutive Director .........................Chris Miller

SSC Atlantic Mission, Vision and Values

We rapidly deliver and support in-formation warfare capabilities to our Naval, Joint, National and Coalition Warfighters. We enable Warfighters to Secure America and promote global freedom.

The Chronicle is a quarterly publication designed for SSC Atlantic employees. Its purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and generate new ideas. Contents of The Chronicle are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy or SSC Atlantic.

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

Editor ...........................................Susan PiedfortCommand Photographer ................Joe Bullinger

Chronicle

On the cover

InsideInside

The

The “Space” and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic team is using space as a domain to deliver worldwide warfighting capabilities. See story on page 9.

HM3 (FMF) Jeamper Vera reads medical info on a handheld device as Lt. Christine Heitzman checks vitals on ‘patient’ HM3 (FMF) Luis Guti-errez during an exercise demonstrating TMIP-MC capabilities. See story on page 16. Photo by Joe Bullinger.


AdmiralBecker visits SSC Atlantic Command-ing Officer Capt. Scott Heller makes a point to Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, commander of SPAWAR-SYSCOM, during the ad-miral’s in-brief June 13, which kicked off the Sys-tems Center Review. This was the admiral’s first visit to the Charleston campus since assuming command of SPAWAR-SYSCOM in March.

Clotfelter becomes Naples Officer-in-Charge

Photo by Joe Bullinger

SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne was one of three SPAWARSYSCOM leaders recognized with the Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award recently.

This distinguished recognition is given by the Presi-dent of the United States to senior executives who have demonstrated extraordinary professional, technical and scientific achievements on a national or international level. This prestigious rank is presented to only five per-cent of SES career members who exemplify the highest

Deligne receives Presidential Rank Awardlevels of leadership, integrity and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service.

Deligne, who reported to SSC Atlantic in January, received the honor for his previous service as Executive Director at NAVSEA. As the senior civilian official he led and directed daily business operations for the Echelon II command responsible for the technical authority, devel-opment, acquisition and lifecycle support of U.S. Navy ships and integrated warfare systems.

Cmdr. Chris Clotfelter recently reported as the Officer-in-Charge of SSC Atlantic’s Naples, Italy de-tachment. His responsi-bilities include afloat and ashore C4I projects across the European Command (EUCOM) and Africa Com-mand (AFRICOM) areas of responsibility. This is Clot-felter’s second assignment to SSC Atlantic.

Clotfelter enlisted in the Navy as a Cryptologic Technician Interpretive, and graduated with honors from

the Arabic basic course at the Defense Language Insti-tute. He served as a subsur-face direct support operator at Naval Security Group Ac-tivity (NSGA) Rota, Spain.

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in me-chanical engineering, Clot-felter was commissioned an ensign in 2001. His as-signments have included Airborne Special Evalua-tor with Fleet Air Recon-naissance Squadron Two at NSGA, Rota; Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan;

Project Officer at SSC At-lantic working on multiple command and control efforts and as Deputy of the Science & Technology Competency; at Program Executive Office (PEO) Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS) as an As-sistant Program Manager for an ACAT1C program; and as the ED Officer Community Manager at the Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS) 3.

Clotfelter earned a Mas-ter of Science degree in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School,

Clotfelterand was a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Fellow.


Providing Information Warfare solutions to warfighters effectively and affordably across five continents and seven time zones is a monumental task, but SSC Atlantic is up to it.

That is thanks to more than 9,000 industry partners work-ing in tandem with SSC Atlantic’s 4,100-strong civilian and military workforce to augment the center’s in-house engi-neering efforts. This proven government-industry partner-ship not only helps SSC Atlantic put lifesaving Information Warfare products in the hands of warfighters cost effectively, but also accelerates the pace of innovation and technological advancement.

“Given the amount of work we do, approximately 850 projects in parallel today, it is essential that we are able to augment our workforce and procure commercially available solutions via contractual relationships with our industry part-ners,” said SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller. “I’m very thankful for our many industry partners who are helping us achieve our goals. We need each other, and we need the great competition of ideas our partnership brings,” he added.

SSC Atlantic has unlimited contracting authority for awarding and administering contracts in the Information Warfare domain, including the areas of research and devel-opment, systems engineering and other services associated with production, installation and sustainment for Command,

Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveil-lance and Reconnaissance Systems (C4ISR) Information Technology (IT) initiatives.

Primarily a Navy Working Capital Fund Organization, SSC Atlantic relies on DoD customers paying for its engi-neering services rather than direct Congressional appropria-tions. SSC Atlantic generates adequate revenue to cover the cost of operations and break even at the end of the fiscal year. Since each project is directly tied to customer funding, the SSC Atlantic workforce must remain agile and dynamically allocated to meet customer needs.

“Industry partners are key to our success in bringing the best C4ISR solutions forward to our nation’s warfighters,” said SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller. “We are heavily engaged with our industry partners because without them we could not do what we do,” he added.Collaborations

Many of SSC Atlantic’s contractors have worked with the center for years on projects ranging from ForceNet to Information Dominance and now Information Warfare and cybersecurity. One of the more visible examples of SSC Atlantic’s successful teaming with industry was the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle integration effort, which began in May of 2007 and ramped up to 50

Partnering with IndustryGovernment contracts augment in-house engineering efforts

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller poses with the government and industry partner team after the drydocking of command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) in Croatia in December.

Photo provided

Continued on next page


vehicles being integrated each day by December of 2007. All told, more than 30,000 vehicles, including MRAP-All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs), were integrated with lifesaving C4I suites thanks to the government/industry partner effort.

SSC Atlantic’s Internet café project was another suc-cessful collaboration resulting in more than 1,000 Internet cafés established for use by warfighters and civilians sup-porting Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn and Enduring Freedom. The effort began in 2003, and by April of 2011 warfighters had used more than a billion call minutes to call home to loved ones.

More recent SSC Atlantic collaborations with industry partners were availabilities on nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and Navy 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20). Truman received a full upgrade of the Consolidated Afloat Network Enterprise Services (CANES) network to include more than 3,400 Local Area Network drops, impacting more than 2,700 ship spaces. All work was completed on track and within cost.

Capt. William Albin of the SPAWAR Fleet Readiness Di-rectorate (FRD) Installation Office Atlantic (FIOA), project lead for the Truman availability, steered the team through an aggressive schedule of milestones, including a CANES Light Off (CLO) completed in less than 120 work days. The CLO schedule milestone was the most aggressive and unprecedented in SSC Atlantic history. (See related stories on next page.) As Truman departed Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) one day early for sea trials in July following the availability, the carrier Commanding Officer Capt. Ryan B. Scholl praised ship forces, NNSY and civilian contractors for working together to stay on schedule and making an on-time departure from the shipyard.

Mount Whitney entered a drydock at Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Croatia last December for a six-month shipyard period during which vital systems and a hospitality upgrade was installed. “Completing this first major milestone on time sets the stage for a strong cooperative effort as we focus on completion of the 2017 Mount Whitney service life ex-tension program,” Capt. Kevon Hakimzadeh, USS Mount Whitney Commanding Officer, said after the drydocking. The scheduled life-cycle maintenance and C4I upgrades by the SSC Atlantic/industry team will extend the life of the 1970s-era command ship to 2039.

SSC Atlantic is also teaming with industry to design and develop the WSN-12 Inertial Navigation System, the next generation inertial navigation system for the surface and submarine fleet. One primary component, the Navigation Processor Module (NPM), is being designed and developed by SSC Atlantic leveraging previous investments made by the Navy in the submarine navigation control system. Development of the other primary component, the Iner-tial Sensor Module (ISM), was awarded as a competitive industry contract. This partnership between SSC Atlantic and industry allows the government to obtain cutting edge sensor technology while lowering the overall system cost.

SSC Atlantic is a pioneer in leveraging commercial cloud services for Navy and federal applications hosting, teaming with various industry integrators and commercial cloud providers with experience in cloud deployment and services. Industry partners also assist in the center’s 24/7 sustainment services, including cloud security services, and in adapting Navy application hosting behaviors and culture to this newer form of hosting services. SSC Atlantic has also leveraged commercial cloud services as part of the Navy Data Center consolidation strategy, providing customers the option to transition into an approved commercial cloud environment vice a Navy-owned data center.Engagement

SSC Atlantic actively engages with industry to improve collaboration and break down barriers to innovation. In Charleston this engagement is facilitated through the Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA). In SSC Atlantic’s detachment in Hampton Roads, Virginia, that connection is enabled through the Tidewater Association of Service Contractors (TASC), and in New Orleans, Louisiana, to members of the former Gulf Coast Government Contrac-tors Association (GCGCA).

According to Joshua Hatter, CDCA president, major in-novation and convergence is happening between defense and technology organizations, and CDCA plays a crucial role in preserving, sustaining and growing that business. Since the CDCA’s inception in 2002, SSC Atlantic has been teaming with them. Hatter, a senior manager of business develop-ment for General Dynamics Information Technology, has been on the CDCA’s board of directors since 2010 and has seen industry partnerships grow, along with SSC Atlantic’s

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) departs Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) one day early following a 10-month planned incremental availability.

Photo courtesy of NNSY by Shayne Hensley

Continued on page 6


The Fleet Readiness Directorate Installation Office (FIO) Force Level Execution Lead Mark B. McNeill had the honor of receiving (for the team) a framed photo of USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) at sea in a short ceremony held in Bldg. 182 in May.

The framed photo, signed and forwarded by USS Harry S. Truman Commanding Officer Capt. Ryan B. Scholl, com-memorated the exceptional performance of the SSC Atlantic C4ISR Installation/Modernization Team for work performed during the aircraft carrier’s recent shipyard period.

The inscription on the photo reads: “Captain Albin and the FRD LANT IMO team, your hard work and dedication drove high quality and on time delivery! My many thanks for the best support on the waterfront!’”

Albin had previously received this honorarium earlier in the week from Truman’s CO, and was on hand to present and extend that honor to the rest of the FIO Atlantic team.

SSC Atlantic’s own Capt. William Albin was recently named winner of the 2016 SPAWAR Military Logistician of the Year.

Assigned to the Fleet Readiness Directorate (FRD) In-stallation Office Atlantic (FIOA), Albin was lauded for his performance as project lead for the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) CNO availability. For this highly complex ship-board modernization, Albin developed a manpower model that projected the optimum project team size, allowing both an increase in the fidelity of installation costs and future manning projections.

The achieved result was a full upgrade of the Consolidated Afloat Network Enterprise Services (CANES) to include more than 3,400 Local Area Network drops, impacting more than 2,700 ship spaces, all completed on track and within cost.

In order to galvanize the team to exceed expectations early, Albin set very aggressive schedule of milestones, including a CANES Light Off (CLO) which was completed in less than 120 work days. The CLO schedule milestone was the most aggressive and unprecedented in SSC Atlantic history and praised highly by senior leadership.

Albin named SPAWAR Military Logistician of the Year

Truman CO praises SSC Atlantic FIO team

Photos by Jerry Sekerak

Capt. William Albin, fifth from right, poses with the FIO team as Execution Lead Mark McNeill displays the signed, frame photo signed by the USS Harry Truman commanding officer. Below, McNeill finds the right spot to display the photo.


economic impact.“If you look at Boeing and their 8,000 to 9,000 employ-

ees, the economic impact is obvious. SSC Atlantic has about 4,000 employees, then another 8,000 to 9,000 contractors supporting them from hundreds of different firms, so the impact is collectively much bigger, but not so obvious be-cause there is not a singular voice conveying that message,” Hatter said. “Our Number 1 goal is our partnership with SSC Atlantic to be that voice. They have such an important mission to execute. There is no other contracting command in Charleston supporting the industrial base the way SSC Atlantic does,” he added.

According to Hatter, the partnership between the CDCA and SSC Atlantic is stronger than it has ever been. “We look for ways to add value to each other and make each other’s lives better. When people attend our annual summit or quarterly small business outreach gatherings, they are blown away by how open SSC Atlantic is about contracts, timing and what they are looking to buy. This is what people want to hear,” he said.

“We want to give our industry partners more venues and opportunities to get their ideas in front of the right people,” said Miller. “Great partnerships are what it takes to do what we do for the Navy and the nation.”

SSC Atlantic has also made great strides on the develop-ment, execution and administration of its contract actions. “We work hard to be a good partner and to improve our contracting processes,” Heller said, pointing to improved accountability on making timely awards, and the commu-nication between acquisition professionals and Integrated Product Teams.

“We have improved upfront planning and establishment of realistic expectations with customers,” stated Heller.

“Our progress is noteworthy, but we need to continue to focus our collaborative efforts. We are looking at our enterprise tools and how to keep improving shared situational awareness and collaboration,” the captain added.

SSC Atlantic has several initiatives centered on improving communication with industry. Steve Harnig, the center’s Chief of the Contract-ing Office (CCO), leads a concerted effort to increase two-way communication and remove barriers in the government contracting process that can, by nature, be cumbersome. On a quar-terly basis, the CCO and his team brief industry at the Small Business and Industry Outreach Initiative (SBIOI). These briefings include in-formation on contracting office performance, contract strategy, forecasting of future orders and contracts, and question and answer sessions.

“The intent of these exchanges is to be trans-parent with industry,” Harnig said, adding that SSC Atlantic views industry as stakeholders in the contracting process since they are impacted

by decisions made on individual contract actions and strate-gies. To that end, he also chairs a Contracts Industry Council (CIC), made up of different contractors (size, socio-econom-ic status, etc.) The CIC covers “hot topics” that impact the government team or industry. “We intend to keep each of these communication methods going so that we can continue to leverage different perspectives, and explore better ways to deliver timely solutions to the warfighter,” Harnig said.

SSC Atlantic’s recently instituted Technology Exchanges are also fueling collaboration. Several of these quarterly exchanges have already been held and resulted in productive networking and a sharing of ideas. Each exchange focuses on one of SSC Atlantic’s technical growth areas – such as cloud computing, data science analytics, assured communications and cyber warfare – and features relevant industry white papers, panel discussions and break-out sessions.

Industry Days are another way SSC Atlantic communi-cates with industry partners. SSC Atlantic hosted 23 of them in FY17, and the two-way exchange and feedback at these events has resulted in more efficiency in the contracting process. At an Industry Day held in Norfolk June 20, Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne noted that SSC Atlantic is always looking for opportunities to engage with industry, through roundtables, the CIC and Technology Exchanges. “The driving force behind SSC Atlantic’s mission to rapidly deliver and support solutions that enable IW for [our] naval, joint, national and coalition fighters is Information Warfare,” he said, “and industry partners are instrumental in carrying out that mission.”

The SPAWAR Industry Engagement Council (SIEC), a quarterly roundtable discussion at SPAWARSYSCOM headquarters between SPAWAR and PEO leadership and

SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller kicks off the 45th Small Business and Industry Outreach Initiative Sept. 7.




two members from industry groups such as CDCA, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) enables an understanding of issues, challenges and opportunities that are facing the Navy and industry partners.

An Information Warfare Research Program (IWRP), modeled after the National Shipbuilding Research Program, is now being investigated at SSC Atlantic. IWRP will allow the center to partner with industry in research endeavors that can help respond to emerging requirements in a rapid way and with nontraditional ideas.Small business

On the contracting front, SSC Atlantic has a history of effectively working with small businesses and innovative start ups that can offer needed and novel solutions. SSC Atlantic’s partnerships with small businesses have consis-tently exceeded the DoD statutory targets established by the Small Business Act. SSC Atlantic’s target is 32 percent of total eligible obligated dollars on prime contracts to small business concerns. Out of the $3.25B contracting effort in FY16, 35 percent was obligated to small businesses (468 small business firms).

“Our success in consistently exceeding this goal is a result

The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) was awarded the 2017 Department of the Navy (DoN) Secretary’s Cup Aug. 10. The SPAWAR OSBP con-sists of employees from SPAWAR headquarters, SSC Atlantic and SSC Pacific.

The annual DoN OSBP award recognizes small business programs with exemplary contributions to the Navy’s small business mission through acquisi-tion excellence, reflecting the critical role small businesses play in supporting our Sailors, Marines and the industrial base.

Commands qualified for the Secretary’s Cup demonstrate innovative approaches and persever-ance in overcoming unusual conditions, issues and barriers. These approaches increase small business opportunities that enhance command effectiveness, support the customer mission, and typically result in quantifiable cost savings, innovation and efficiencies.

As of late August, the eligible small business dol-lars for fiscal year 2017 totaled $9.47 billion for the DoN. The SPAWAR OSBP accounted for $1.17 billion prov-ing its overall impact to small business initiatives Navywide.

Faye Esaias, director of SPAWAR OSBP, emphasized that the award demonstrates the importance of teamwork from within the organization and with outside stakeholders.

“The award represents a combined team effort,” said Esa-ias. “Not just a team effort between SPAWAR headquarters, SSC Atlantic and SSC Pacific, but SPAWAR program man-agers, deputy program managers and contractors. Building

a community with internal and external stakeholders helps my team understand the needs of the Navy and what small businesses can offer to improve our strategy for the future,” she said.

Emily Harman, director of the DoN OSBP, emphasized that small businesses support the warfighter and innovation.

“Small businesses bring economic power to our nation and combat power to our troops,” said Harman. “We need small businesses to help us achieve our mission.”

of acquisition planning and meaningful market research to understand small business capability while we minimize the barriers to entry,” Miller said. “We invest greatly in our relationship with small business through focused commu-nication and outreach,” he added.

The quarterly SBIOI provides a venue for government and industry to understand future opportunities and the constraints of both industry and the government. Mutual understanding helps all parties recognize technical require-ments, seek opportunities to be innovative and reduce the cost of doing business. More information about SBIOI can be found at http://www.charlestondca.org/. A recent SBIOI featured Director of Navy Office of Small Business Pro-grams Emily Harman. Another highlight was an innovative “reverse industry day” which allowed a panel of industry partner leaders to provide valuable feedback to the entire SSC Atlantic Contracts Team.

According to Robin Rourk, the head of SSC Atlantic’s Office of Small Business Programs, small businesses pro-vide flexibility and innovation to our Information Warfare mission. “Typically, our small business partners have spe-cial niche capability and want to make a difference in the

SPAWAR Small Business Office awarded Secretary’s CupContinued on page 13

Front row, from left, are Faye Esaias, SPAWAR OSBP director, and Tuan Doan, Deputy OSBP. Back row, from left, are Angela King, Mark McLain, Mary Lake and SSC Atlantic’s Robin Rourk.

Photo by Rick Naystatt


When a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon occurred across America Aug. 21, SSC Atlantic Electrical Engi-neer Michael J. Thorne of Code 521B0 was ready. He captured the photo above during the eclipse showing Baily’s Beads, or the diamond ring effect, as the moon almost completely covered up the sun and the last bits of sunlight passed through the valleys on the moon. As the solar eclipse crossed from the West Coast to the East Coast of the U.S., Charleston was one of the cities located along the Path of Totality. While rain and clouds obscured the view in some areas around SSC Atlantic’s Charleston campus, Thorne got a clear shot from Columbia, South Carolina, using his Sony DSLR - A350 with a Minolta Maxxum 70-210mm lens. Just prior to the eclipse he purchased a 2x teleconverter to double his zoom capability. The camera was mounted on a tripod and connected to a remote for stabilization. Thorne came across tips on shooting the eclipse from NASA’s website. The photography hobbyist started out with Minolta Maxxum 5000i, purchased in 1990, which he still has today.

James Ross shows one of his tele-scopes as he discusses how to enjoy the solar eclipse safely.

By day SSC Atlantic Computer Engineer James Ross is a member of the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) team, responsible for engineering, testing and implementing network project solutions that leverage the Global Information Grid.

But in his free time Ross is a NASA-certified subject matter expert on eclipses and a longtime member of the Lowcountry Stargazers astronomy club. In the week before the eclipse, Ross gave briefs at SSC Atlantic, sharing his expertise on what happens during an eclipse and how to safely view and photograph it.

Ross has been at SPAWAR since 2008. He is a West Point graduate, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in 1977, and he has 27 years of experience in military reserves, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has 20 years of industrial experience as a senior engineer with Proctor and Gamble and with Hewlett Packard, supporting global projects in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Ross invited all interested stargazers to come out at dusk on Wednesdays at Brittlebank Park as the club members observe the heavens with telescopes and photograph the skies.

Ross shares eclipse expertise

Thorne captures Baily’s Beads


Photo by Michael J. Thorne


Making optimum use of spaceto enhance warfighting capability

Warfighters must have reliable and capable communica-tions and information to successfully perform their missions, and the “Space” team at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic is delivering that capability.

SSC Atlantic’s Air and Space Integrated Product Team is making optimum use of space as a domain to deliver com-munications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and navigation capabilities to warfighters.

“Our folks are very effectively employing the medium of space to put information in the hands of our warfighters,” said SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller. “It’s all about providing warfighting capability for the fleet.”

Norris Mitchell, a Team SPAWAR Technical Area Expert for Space Systems Engineering, is also the technical lead for SSC Atlantic’s Air and Space IPT. He noted that while much of the SPAWAR space mission is centered on the West Coast at PEO Space Systems (formerly under the leadership of Rear Adm. Christian Becker before he assumed command of SPAWARSYSCOM in March) and at SSC Pacific, SSC Atlantic also provides considerable expert assistance in the engineering, development and acquisition of space systems for naval missions.

“Our people are scattered all over,” Mitchell said. “Our Air and Space IPT works with different competencies to find people to work on projects.”

Space-based systems are indispensable to modern war-fare, and the Navy and all services rely heavily on space capabilities. SSC Atlantic support ranges from providing

a government person for technical oversight of contractors developing systems, to maximizing use of data collected by satellites, to performing research that can lead to technology insertions.

“We are also leveraging the activities in other technical growth areas, such as cloud technology, and applying that to our space efforts,” Mitchell said. “Doing this kind of techni-cal exchange -- applying what we used for one customer to help another -- saves time and money,” he added.

What is SSC Atlantic doing in space?

U.S. Navy photo courtesy of United Launch Alliance

An Atlas V launch vehicle carrying the Navy’s fifth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) communications satellite lifts off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida June 24, 2016.


Nanosats are being used for a variety of naval missions.

SSC Atlantic has a long history of satellite com-munications capabilities and support, including ground-based control and communications systems, infrastructure and data pro-cessing related to them. These satellites are used for communications, observa-tion, weather reporting, navigation and research.

SSC Atlantic also sup-ports space missions and delivers data services and products via space, all to enable global information warfare and enhance com-bat effectiveness.

“We have folks going to launches, having payloads on the rockets, looking at data collected and support-ing other elements that do things in space,” said Jay Hughes, formerly head of SSC Atlantic’s Air and Space IPT. Colin Thomas recently took over as acting Air and Space IPT lead. The IPT has about 20 people, with roughly half of them embedded at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) or assigned as needed to support space missions.

“The space family is strong and growing at SSC Atlantic. We have a small but very effective group … engineers and

Ph.D.s who are absolutely brilliant,” he said. “They are working in very collaborative environments and changing how DoD operates in these domains.”

Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), the Navy’s next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communica-tions system, is the culmination of more than 14 years of collaborative effort. MUOS revolutionizes secure commu-

nications for mobile military forces. It provides communications capabilities to users around the world, regardless of where they are in relation to a satellite.

Narrowband communication accounts for more than 50 percent of all DoD satellite com-munications. Narrowband communication is used by every Combatant Command in aircraft, ships, submarines and ground vehicles, by troops in the field, and in a host of warfighting applica-tions, including special operations.

SSC Atlantic’s Air and Space IPT MUOS expert and Space Segment System Engineering Lead Paul Strazdus has been providing MUOS space systems engineering support, managing quality checks for the system, supporting launch, production and on-orbit testing. He also served as the Navy’s satellite technical representative at the manufacturer’s facility. (See story on next page.)

Strazdus also supported the Mission Analysis team at the Naval Satellite Operations Center

(NAVSOC) Satellite Control facility to develop and execute Photo provided


Jay Hughes, Norris Mitchell and Phillippe Reed


By Diane OwensSSC Atlantic Public Affairs

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently com-pleted a multi-year program to build, configure, launch, position and use a constellation of Mobile User Objec-tive Systems (MUOS) satellites – four primary units and a spare –to dramatically improve and expand U.S. military communications around the earth.

SSC Atlantic employee Paul Strazdus has played a role in MUOS’s success for the past seven years. As assistant program manager of payload (cargo), Straz-dus works from an SSC Pacific office in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and participated in all five launches and continuing system maintenance.

Strazdus, who earned a bachelor’s degree in electri-cal engineering and a master’s in systems engineer-ing, is a member of the Air and Space IPT, which is part of the Special Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Exploitation Sub-Portfolio.

He began working with MUOS during the prelimi-nary design review and supervised satellite construc-tion at the Lockheed Martin facility in Newtown. He also supervised launch operations at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and at the Navy Satellite Operations Center and managed systems testing once the satellites were launched.

Strazdus monitored a console measuring satellite telemetry (information the systems send back on temperature, power, etc.) and status during satellite launches.

Countdowns began eight hours before blastoff – which required personnel to maintain their stations through the night. He said each launch was so exciting that everyone involved had no problem staying alert and awake during the process!

Strazdus thinks the most amazing thing about the new satellite system is all the capabilities that inge-nious warfighters will discover as they use it to support a wide variety of unique situations in the field.

That’s an accomplishment to feel good about.

alternate orbit raising efforts to place the Navy’s fifth MUOS satellite into a usable orbit after it experienced a failure of its orbit raising propulsion system. Strazdus and SSC Atlantic Aerospace Engineer Phillippe Reed helped develop courses of action (COA) for an alternate orbit raising method, and Reed conducted Satellite Toolkit (STK) modeling in support of COA development and evaluation.

Reed has completed numerous Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) projects and is involved in engineer-ing work for several space efforts. He has worked on five different missions with nano-satellites (nanosats) for PEO Space Systems. Approximately a foot long and weighing less than 25 pounds, nanosats can rideshare on large launch vehicles for a variety of missions. A common form factor is the CubeSat, a low-cost miniature satellite that is risk tolerant and very capable, thanks to electronics miniaturization. They have been used increasingly, with hundreds in development by academic, commercial and military organizations.

Working with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labora-tory, Reed was technical lead on the Vector Joint Capability Technology Demonstration in 2013 which launched two CubeSats into orbit to test advanced communications ca-pabilities, successfully demonstrating the communications mission.

He and other SSC Atlantic employees have focused on nanosat payloads such as the Naval Interferometric Star Tracker Experiment (NISTEx), which measures star posi-tions over time to aid celestial navigation and to determine the orientation of space craft. This project is in partnership with the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO). Nanosat efforts are also centered on radar altimeters, which are used to provide key information about the ocean, measuring the sea surface height, wave height and wind speed.

In a recent NISE project with SSC Pacific, Reed, Barry Solomon and David Wayne investigated use of a small form factor Modulated Retro-Reflector (MRR) experi-mental payload to deliver a secure, high bandwidth opti-cal communications system. The SSC Atlantic team used commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) components to create a modular, government-owned design that can be reused to support other payloads and missions. This effort evolved into the High-bandwidth Anti-jam LPI/LPD Optical Network (HALO-Net) project, developing an optical communication system to enable low size, weight and power, secure, anti-jam, low probability of intercept and detection downlink and crosslink optical communications for a CubeSat-sized platform. The intent is to deliver assured communications in a radio frequency-constrained environment. However, the retro-reflector can also be used for precise orbit determina-tion using laser ranging techniques, a key capability for radar altimetry systems.

Hampton Roads Navigation IPT Lead Robert Greer and his lead engineer Leif Manley are working with an ex-perimental Automated Celestial Navigation (ACN) system

SSC Atlantic’s Strazdussupports MUOS satellites


U.S. Navy photo


prototype built by MIT Draper Labs and sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Manual celestial navigation - using a sextant and complex mathematical calculations to determine a ship’s location from the position of stars and the angle of the earth - is te-dious and time-consuming. The ACN system uses the stars to electronically determine the latitude and longitude on the earth for ships at sea that may not have access to GPS

systems.The SSC Atlantic team

will interface the ACN to the WSN-7 Inertial Navigation System (INS) during an at-sea experiment in early FY18. INS is a passive shipboard navigation system which will automatically and continu-ously calculate and indicate a ship’s position, attitude, head-ing and velocity in relation to the earth’s rotation.

“This is the kind of engineering work we are doing that is making space more efficient and affordable,” said Hughes. “Our folks are working at NRO, the Naval Satellite Opera-tions Center (NavSOC), USNO and even in Pennsylvania where they were building MUOS, helping make sure ev-erything goes right in space, and resolving and mitigating problems.”

SSC Atlantic’s Dr. Travis Axtell currently serves as the In-formatics Technical Director and Deputy for the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT) in Washington, D.C. Axtell spoke at the National Academies of Science workshop on “Challenges in Machine Generation of Ana-lytic Products from Multi-Source Data” Aug. 9. He gave the DoD perspective on multi-source machine learning efforts and discussed the recently started Project Maven, as a part of the new OUSD(I)’s AWCFT. Project Maven is a Deputy Secretary of Defense-directed effort to apply artificial intel-ligence, machine learning and deep learning innovations for intelligence. Project Maven will begin by augmenting or automating processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED) of full-motion video (FMV).

Norris, Hughes, Dr. Ralph Crosby and Albert Garrick

In this photo from 2013, SSC Atlantic’s Travis Axtell, left, then a doctoral candidate at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), explains to Vice Adm. David Buss, then-commander of Naval Air Forces, how micro-actuators on a mirror assembly help align and focus images taken from space. Buss was touring the Segmented Mirror Telescope facility at the Spacecraft Research and Design Center at NPS.

Photo by Javier Chagoya

Leif Manley


In addition to supporting the center’s space mission, SSC At-lantic employees are also helping to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers -- and perhaps even astronauts -- through its STEM outreach program.

Palmetto Scholars Academy (PSA) is involved with NASA’s Student Space Flights Experience program. Kids work up propos-als for science experiments that can be done on the space station, and SSC Atlantic volunteers help them with ideas and proposal review. NASA is very selective and its review board picks only one to go on a space mission.

SSC Atlantic STEM volunteers also worked with PSA to talk live with an astronaut on the International Space Station in Febru-ary as part of the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) program. ARISS lests students worldwide experience the excitement of taking directly with ISS crew members.

At left, an SSC Atlantic Hampton Roads STEM outreach volunteer helps students understand propulsion in a fun way.

Inspiring the next generation in space

Photo by Jerry Sekerak

were in the Keck Center to hear Axtell’s presentation first-hand. Watching the webcast from across the SSC Atlantic Analytics Research Center (ARC) and Data Science, Analytics, and Autonomy Guild were Dr. Lucas Overbey, Suzanne Huerth, Bruce Billian and Reed in 71000.

Axtell started at SSC Atlantic while in college as a co-op student. Once a full-time employee, he completed an internship at the National Reconnaissance Office. He was then selected in the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) program, and earned his Ph.D. in space systems engineer-ing at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California. While studying at NPS he returned to the SSC Atlantic Charleston campus to give two technical briefs, one on space-based segmented mirror telescopes.

“We have really brilliant people doing engineering work that is making space more accessible and afford-able,” said IPT Lead Hughes. “We have people who are changing how DoD operates in the space domain and the ISR world.

“I have the best job at SSC Atlantic,” added Hughes, who as a kid was always the one launching rockets in the neighborhood. “I love what we are doing for the warfight-ers who rely on us.”

“We are providing great capabilities and people -- our most important asset -- to operations in space,” said SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller. “Through our Navy space research, development and acquisition activi-ties, we are using the medium of space to put information in the hands of warfighters.”

- Susan Piedfort, Chronicle Editor

day-to-day lives of our warfighters. The sense of pride and ownership of our small businesses make them responsive and committed,” she said.

Small businesses like Network Security Systems (NSS) Plus, which has contracted with SSC Atlantic for more than nine years, is a perfect example of the innovation and speed to capability that makes a difference for the warfighter. They have supported C4I operational computer network defense, NFS Red Team and Health Systems Security Engineering cybersecurity requirements.

“As part of our outreach, we meet one-on-one with poten-tial new entrants to our market. SSC Atlantic is very fortunate to have partnerships with nonprofit organizations such as the CDCA, TASC, AFCEA and Women in Defense (WiD) to help those new entrants network and understand our requirements,” Rourk said.

For industry representatives interested in partnering with SSC Atlantic, a current, detailed contracts listing is posted at http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Atlantic/Pages/Home.aspx, and there is also a link to SSC Atlantic’s E-Commerce portal (https://e-commerce.sscno.nmci.navy.mil).

As Heller noted, expectations for SSC Atlantic are great as cyberspace is the fifth Navy warfighting domain, on a par with the physical domains of land, sea, air and space.

“I believe SSC Atlantic is in the right place at the right time to deliver solutions that operationalize cyberspace,” Heller said. “Our industry partners will continue to give us a strategic ad-vantage as we develop and field Information Warfare solutions.”

- Susan Piedfort, Chronicle Editor

Government/industry collaborationsContinued from page 7


An SSC Atlantic U.S. Naval Observato-ry Network Redesign team and a computer scientist who led an enhancement project for the Navy Cyber Defense Operations Center were recently honored with the ASN (RD&A) Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientists and Engineers Award.

Computer Engineer Brent Misen-heimer, Computer Scientists Nicholas Bartkowiak, Kyle Smith and Stephen Bowman, and Electronics Engineer Kerry Loyd were presented the team award for helping to provide an end-to-end solution for the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) mission environment.

Joshua Lewis was honored as an emergent investigator for his work on the engineering and technical refresh of the Navy Cyber Defense Operations Center (NCDOC) Forensics local Area Network (FLAN) 2.0.U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO)

The USNO Network Redesign supports the USNO’s es-sential, scientific role for the Navy and DoD to provide astro-nomical and timing data which ensures accurate navigation and supports communications on earth and in space. This data is also used extensively by other government agencies and the general public in applications ranging from celestial observations to navigation to almanacs.

The network redesign was necessary to enable such mis-sion tasks as determining the positions and motions of the earth, sun, moon, planets, stars and other celestial objects; providing astronomical data; determining precise time;

measuring the earth’s rotation; and maintaining the Master Clock for the United States.

Misenheimer, lead for software and applications, was responsible for fully documenting custom applications and software written for or by the USNO. He authored the soft-ware design documents, data flow diagrams and similar arti-facts, tailoring as necessary to the application and audience. He assisted the USNO in accrediting all these applications for use on the DoD Information Network (DoDIN), and in migrating business practices and their concept of operation to be more consistent with the software development life-cycle and best practices for security, usability and sustainment.

Bartkowiak, technical lead for the Navy Cyber Integrated Project Team (IPT), served as technical authority for the team. He managed implementation of requirements; iden-tified technical risks and attendant mitigations; provided leadership and external stakeholders engineering and devel-opment approaches; oversaw technical artifacts; provided input and approved documents identified to ensure alignment with scope and requirements; and oversaw technical product execution by contractors, interns and junior employees.

Smith, cyber tools developer and the team’s recognized network lead, was charged with the discovery and docu-mentation of the USNO network, including officially rec-ognized elements and previously undocumented areas and unacknowledged segments. He assisted with the design, and was responsible for intrusion detection and intrusion prevention aspects of the network.

Bowman, senior network engineer, was responsible for

Etter Awards

The U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., serves as the official source of time for the DoD and a standard of time for the United States.

U.S. Navy photo

SSC Atlantic engineers honored

From left, Allison F. Stiller, Principal Civilian Deputy ASN(RD&A), SSC Atlantic’s Joshua Lewis and Dr. Delores Etter pose at the awards ceremony.


the network and physical infrastructure design. He led the network design team, integrating and instantiating require-ments across multiple design sprints and phases, provid-ing subject matter expertise to both internal and external systems engineering technical review events. He oversaw the mentorship and development of junior team members, facilitating knowledge transfer of the highly nuanced design and stakeholder tradespace.

Loyd, the team’s network engineer, was responsible for designing and engineering the network to support scalability and protected distribution across multiple locations, envi-ronments and even climates. He was charged with physical, logical and application layer site surveys, and scope includ-ing analysis and redesign of the human elements necessary to protect, operate and defend the network.

The USNO Network Redesign required the team to docu-ment requirements, develop architecture and design a robust, extensible and protected network. This phased capability delivery included a speed-to-capability sprint to provide a stable, managed, environment to support the USNO.

The team reconciled more than 20 separate networks of differing complexity and connectivity into a centrally man-aged and enclaved design. Connectivity and bandwidth were increased tenfold, and redundancy and a protected distribu-tion system were baked-in to the design to ensure availability and assurity of this critical national infrastructure.

To support the more than 110 products and services it provides, the USNO interfaces with more than 75 external organizations and activities. The network redesign team analyzed decades’ worth of agreements, designs and speci-fications and conducted hundreds of hours of stakeholder interviews. They walked, crawled and inspected spaces ranging from the most modern laboratories in Washington, D.C., to isolated desert outposts, and employed a battery of

discovery tools to document and derive the requirements necessary to design and document a way forward.Navy Cyber Defense Operations Center (NCDOC)

Joshua Lewis led the design, engineering and implemen-tation of Forensic Local Area Network (FLAN) 2.0, the Navy’s newest cutting-edge Incident Response and Forensic Analysis network suite, making the NCDOC one of the most capable cyber defense organizations in DoD. FLAN 2.0 significantly enhances the Navy’s Incident Response and Forensic Analysis toolsets in Cyber Defense, and puts NCDOC capabilities in line with the DoD’s most advanced and efficient technologies. The speed and efficiency of FLAN 2.0 increased malware analysis and review capacity by 50 percent.

The FLAN 2.0 design consists of a powerful enterprise environment that enhances networking and virtualization while automating previously laborious analysis of volumes of malware, enabling rapid identification and action on the most severe network threats. Storage capacity was increased by nearly 300 percent and transfer speeds increased from 1.0 Gigabyte per second to 10.0 Gigabytes per second.

His team designed a group of comprehensive and cut-ting edge flyaway kits for collecting incident and digital forensics data from deployed and expeditionary U.S. Navy units and bringing the data to the NCDOC for analyses on the FLAN.

The significant increase in efficiency and speed, and the reduction in human error, is having a major impact on the Navy’s ability to defend its networks against the cyber threats.

Lewis’ technical and engineering expertise spans digital forensics, network and security engineering, as well as multiple cybersecurity domains, enabling him to rapidly

Continued on page 34

From left, Al-lison F. Stiller, Principal Ci-vil ian Deputy ASN(RD&A) , and SSC Atlan-tic’s USNO Net-work Redesign team members K y l e S m i t h , Nicholas Bart-kowiak, Brent M i s e n h e i m e r a n d S t e p h e n Bowman pose with Dr. Delores Etter, right, at the awards cer-emony.


TMIP-MCAn SSC Atlantic team showed how the Theater Medical

Information Program enables a Marine Corps Forward Re-suscitative Surgical Suite and Shock Trauma Platoon (FRSS/STP) to deliver patient care more efficiently and effectively during a joint, multi-service training exercise at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in August.

SSC Atlantic’s Pauletoria Jones, an electronics engineer in 54240, and Mike Bedwell, an IT specialist and retired chief corpsman in 54250, took part in the exercise, which showcased how Theater Medical Information Program - Ma-rine Corps (TMIP-MC) is integrated and utilized by Marine medical personnel in a deployed, kinetic environment. The exercise gave TMIP-MC Program Management Office (PMO) representatives insights into how the Marine Corps deploys, along with its operational medicine requirements and capabilities.

“The Global Medic exercise is a large, multiservice ex-ercise that allows the services to train and operate together, in a simulated, realistic combat environment, from point of injury through the continuum of care,” explained Cmdr. Thomas Shu, chief information medical officer for the Marine Corps and leader of the Marine Corps’ EHR rollout in theater. “The benefits of this exercise are that it not only brings all our sister services together, but there are multiple partner nations participating.”

During the exercise, the TMIP-MC PMO and other DVs were able to observe units and end-users working in TMIP-Joint, TMIP-MC, Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4), and Medical Situational Awareness in the Theater (MSAT) programs. This information is especially valuable to the Marine Corps as they transition from TMIP-MC to the Joint Operational Medical Information System (JOMIS). JOMIS is tasked with pinpointing the needs and requirements for deployed Marines so they may be integrated into the Military Health System (MHS) Genesis. MHS Gen-esis is DoD’s new electronic health records system which will be standard across all services. For Marines, TMIP and JOMIS are focused on Marine needs and creating system capabilities with lightness and agility that can keep up with Marines on the ground.

TMIP was created to develop, deploy and sustain the Cmdr. Thomas Shu shows corpsmen information available on a handheld device during the exercise.

SSC Atlantic team enables medical data sharing

At left, a corpsman gets hands on TMIP training. Above, SSC Atlantic’s Mike Bedwell, left, and Pauletoria Jones, right, listen as Cmdr. Thomas Shu shows the size of a server that is part of the system.


electronic health record solution to operational and deployed forces across the range of military operations. TMIP is a tri-service system that integrates information from existing medical systems and provides it to deployed medical forces. TMIP supports all medical functional areas, including com-mand and control, medical logistics, blood management, patient regulation and evacuation, medical threat/intelli-gence, health care delivery, manpower and training, medical capability assessment and sustainment analysis.

During the Fort McCoy exercise in August, patient movement to the FRSS/STP, patient triage/assessment, sta-bilization, surgery, patient recovery and transport to the next role of care were simulated. Initially, paper documentation was the primary means of patient care documentation, with tracking and regulation done on a dry-erase white board. Patient care information was then transcribed to TMIP-MC after triage/initial care was provided.

The FRSS/STP team saw the value of integrating elec-tronic health record documentation during the exercise. Through Joining Reports and daily Medical Situation Reports submissions, the Marines’ FRSS/STP’s patient census and operating capabilities were integrated with the exercise’s MSAT capability. By the end of the second day on the ground, 21 simulated patients were brought in and treated by the USMC FRSS/STP.

The Defense Department operates 55 hospitals and more than 350 clinics across the globe, all of which will eventually be connected through MHS Genesis. With EHR capabilities live, service members’ health information will be entered into the MHS Genesis database from the time they enter boot camp. The new system will allow patients and doctors to easily share medical records with Veterans Affairs, as well as any private practices or military physicians.

While deploying the system in hospitals and clinics is important, deploying the technology to operational forces in theater is also crucial. The Global Medical Exercise at Fort McCoy gave valuable insights on the needs and requirements of deployed Marines.

The Marines’ systems must be light and agile. They will not be able to have large rack servers that other warfighters might have. The Corps is currently looking at options that include small laptops and handhelds that can work offline, which will then transfer data into the central database when plugged into the network.

“For the Marine Corps, we are not only able to demon-strate our medical and resuscitative capabilities, but this also offers us an opportunity to bring some future capabilities into a field environment,” said Shu. “In the end though, I believe that what this exercise shows is that we all operate and field very similar capabilities, not just within the DoD, but across our partner nations as well. We all have the same goal in the end no matter what uniform we wear,” he added.

SSC Atlantic employees, TMIP-MC Program Management Office (PMO) representatives and members of the Marine Corps Forward Resuscitative Surgical Suite and Shock Trauma Platoon (FRSS/STP) pause for a group shot during the exercise.

A member of the FRSS/STP enters patient information as corpsmen work on a “patient.”

Photos by Joe Bullinger


SSC Atlantic’s Distributed Common Ground/Surface System-Marine Corps (DCGS-MC) Integrated Product Team (IPT) recently leveraged the Tactical Exploitation Group Remote Workstation (TEG-RWS) and the Intelli-gence Analysis System Family of Systems (IAS FoS) Intel-ligence Workstation to demonstrate a Man-Portable Video Downlink (MPVDL) interoperability proof of concept to the Fires PMO.

This demonstration took live video from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and fed it to the handheld Video Scout system, which then transmitted the video feed in Near Real-Time (NRT) to both the TEG-RWS and the IW.

DCGS-MC migrates select USMC ISR processing, ex-ploitation, analysis and production capabilities into a single, integrated net-centric baseline that makes organic and ex-ternal ISR data more visible, accessible and understandable.

DCGS-MC IPT interoperability demo a successTEG-RWS is designed to access tactical imagery to sup-

port tailored on-site imagery analysis during deployments. The IAS FoS enables global collaboration with Marine and joint analytical systems. It gives Marines the capability to conduct all-source fusion, analysis and production of intel-ligence by semi-automating multiple intelligence functions and processes.

During the demonstration the DCGS-MC systems successfully provided feedback to support the collection, analysis and dissemination of Near Real-Time (NRT) Full Motion Video (FMV) and associated Metadata within the Intelligence community. It also showed interoperability of current and new Handheld Video Data Link (VDL) capabili-ties with data exploitation system components. The team was able to integrate Marine Corps Fire Support Coordination and USMC Intelligence Community efforts, forming a fu-sion of information and knowledge (through a representative Combat Operations Center (COC) networked environment.)

In the demonstration the SSC Atlantic team collaborated with Marine Corps Systems Command representatives, the Expeditionary Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnais-sance IPT, Intelligence Technology Improvement, Innova-tion, and Quick Reaction Capability IPT, COC IPT, Digital Integration Facility (DIF) IPT and DCGS-MC IPT.

The Intelligence Analysis System (IAS) Family of Systems (FoS) Intelligence Analysis System (IAS) is the all-source analysis and production capability for the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance En-terprise (MCISRE). This acquisition program is the Marine Corps’ primary intelligence analytical toolset at all levels of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF).

This includes the display of current enemy situation, col-lection requirements, asset management, message parsing, and database updates. IAS automatically logs intelligence activities into a journal and provides access to intelligence produced by tactical, theater and national systems and agencies.

Participants gather at SSC Atlantic’s Unmanned Systems Research Range for the interoperability demonstration.

Michael Cullen of Skylla Engineering makes last minute checks on a laptop before the demonstration.



New Professionals gatherfor All Hands April 19, 20

New Professionals (NPs) across SSC Atlantic got to-gether in person at the conference center in North Charleston and virtually from Hampton Roads, New Orleans and the National Capitol Region April 19 and 20 to network as a community.

Guest speakers included SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller, Executive Director Chris Miller and David Smoak, SSC Atlantic Senior Science and Technol-ogy Manager (SSTM) for System of Systems Engineering (SoSE).

The theme of the All Hands was “Building an Identity as a New Professional,” with focus on leadership and profes-sional development.

The NPs heard briefs on mentoring, on time manage-ment and life balance from Executive Coach and Talent Management Lead Scott Dreyer, on federal benefits and financial planning from Kirby Johnson of Civil-ian Workforce Human Re-sources, on the Leadership Council from Dana Tom-masini and on job rotation opportunities from William Clayton.

The annual All Hands gathering allows NPs to receive important updates and give feedback, and to hear important lessons and engage in networking exercises. Photos by Joe Bullinger

At top, David Smoak speaks to the New Professions. Above, NPs engage in a networking exercise. Below, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller briefs the group.


SSC Atlantic’s Women of the Workforce (WOW) hosted events in April and May focused on leadership development.

WOW held leadership training April 6 for SSC Atlantic employees in New Orleans, Charleston and Hampton Roads. Karen Davis, SES, Executive Director for Surface Warfare (SEA21B) at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), was the featured speaker. The all-day session also featured breakout sessions on leadership, career and per-sonal development led by experts in their respective tracks and great networking opportunities.

A Lunch with Leaders WOW event May 25 feature a discussion by Ann Rideout, 5.5 Competency Lead (Acting), and Pamela Bell, 8.1 Competency Lead, on the topic “Success in Career and Motherhood: Learning What Works for You.” Rideout and Bell brought in family photos as they discussed their individual career progressions and points at which their careers intersected.

This gathering offered attendees a unique opportunity to interface with leadership in a small setting, sharing their experiences and learning with their peers.

While WOW events are focused on giving women invaluable insights into managing careers and enabling upward mobility potential, men are welcome at all WOW events and are encouraged to attend and share their experiences.

For more information on WOW visit their COG page at https://wiki.spawar.navy.mil/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=142551056.

WOW events focus on leadership

Top, Karen Davis discusses her Bachelor of Science degree in com-puter engineering from Clemson. At left, Pam Bell listens as Ann Rideout shares highlights of her career.

Photos by Joe Bulllinger


The Palmetto Roost Chapter of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) hosted their 8th Annual Electronic Warfare/Cyber Convergence Conference June 6 through 8 at the SSC Atlantic Cooper River Landing Conference Center.

The Wando High School AFJROTC Color Guard opened the conference by posting the colors and leading the gather-ing in the Pledge of Allegiance. SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller, welcomed the more than 170 military members, government employees and contractors in attendance.

This year’s conference theme focused on cyber and elec-tronic warfare (EW) successes, as well as capability gaps across the services. Master of Ceremonies Rich Nelson, president of the Palmetto Roost Chapter, facilitated ses-sions that categorized the operational concepts of combining EW capabilities with cyber warfare tactics, techniques and procedures, and enabling the rapid deployment of new and improved capabilities.

Gaylord “Joker” McFalls, AOC Southern Regional Direc-tor, provided welcoming remarks from AOC International. Keynote speakers included Brig. Gen. Ryan Heritage, USMC Deputy Director, Future Operations, J3, USCYBERCOM; Margaret G. Palmieri, SES, Director, Digital Warfare Of-fice; Greg Shaffer, SES, Assistant Chief Engineer Mission Architecture and System Engineering National Competency Lead ISR/IO; and Maj. Gen. Burke E. “Ed” Wilson, USAF, Deputy Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of Defense and Senior Military, Advisor for Cyber, OUSD(P).

Additional notable speakers were from Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group (NCWDG), Navy Cyber De-fense Operations Command (NCDOC), U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet (FCC/C10F), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), National Air & Space Intelligence Cen-ter (NASIC), 24th Air Force – AFCYBER, 25th Air Force, MARFORCYBER, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A highlight of this year’s conference was the presentation of SSC Atlantic’s command classified brief by Jessica Reno, SSC Atlantic Intelligence Oversight Program Manager.

“There is a considerable amount of cyber and EW work that goes on in the Charleston area centered at SSC Atlantic. Much of it goes unannounced and unnoticed; however, hav-ing a classified conference allows SSC Atlantic employees a great opportunity for collaboration on a much higher level with others throughout the EW/cyber community,” said David Walman, vice president of the Palmetto Roost Chapter of the AOC and a senior systems engineer at SSC Atlantic.

The conference is valuable in allowing all who attend the ability to provide the best support possible to those carrying on the fight across the electromagnetic spectrum, he added.

“We believe this conference makes a significant impact for SPAWAR, for the EW/Cyber industry, as well as for our national security, and most importantly, for our warfighters.

In addition to Reno, SSC Atlantic’s Intelligence, Sur-veillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Technical Warrant Holder Joe Luker, along with SSC Atlantic Advisor to the Fleet Frank Smyth, presented on SquirrelWorks and other special programs and capabilities that exist within the SSC Atlantic/industry partner team.

The name “Old Crows” emerged from the first large-scale use of EW during the World War II. The Allied radar countermeasure operators used the code name “Ravens,” and employed receivers and transmitters to monitor and jam threat frequencies. Military jargon later changed “Ravens” to “Crows.” Military, government and contractor personnel at all locations are invited to attend AOC meetings near their sites. Meetings in the Charleston area are held the fourth Thursday of each month. Additional details can be found on their website: http://www.palmettoroost.org/.

8th Annual EW/Cyber ConvergenceConference held

Brig. Gen. Ryan Heritage, Deputy Director of Future Operations for J3USCYBERCOM, left, poses with AOC Palmetto Roost Chapter Vice President David Walman.

Photo provided


MCLP 17-1:In the days of sailing ships, new

recruits had to learn how to tie knots and which rope hauled up the different sails, which coined the phrase “learning the ropes.”

Employees participating in SSC Atlantic’s Mid-Career Leadership Pro-gram (MCLP) 17-1 cohort embarked on their journey of learning by learning the ropes on the challenge course at James Island County Parks.

MCLP features interactive lectures, guest speakers, guided discussions and activity-based experiential learning -- such as the full day of challenges and exercises at James Island County Parks -- all designed to reinforce the importance of trust, communication and team building.

The cohort had the opportunity to engage with fleet customers at Naval Station Norfolk in August, and with Marine leaders and drill instructors at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Par-ris Island, South Carolina, in October to focus on values-based and ethical leadership.

Members of the MCLP 17-1 cohort

Learning the ropes

At top, the SPAWARriors travel from one platform to another in the ropes course at James Island County Park. Above, a trust exercise involves working together. At top, opposite page, MCLP participants cheer on a shipmate as he climbs the wall.



are Scott Betza of 521B0, Jake Blake of 62100, Bethany Cal-abrese of 52110, Xavier Calderon of 55130, Todd Collier of 56250, Nate Cunningham of 41130, Brad Duvieilh of 54380, Michael Herz-ing of 12210, Stacy Jimerson of 52140, Pauletoria Jones of 54240, Holly Leonard of 54210, Sharetta Maynor of 54130, Elaine Pace-Reed of 22310, Mimi Pham of 52560, Phillippe Reed of 71000, Orlando Scott of 41120, Brandon Solis of 62300, Robert W. Taylor of 12D00, Shannon West of 12240 and Lakeisha Williams of 71000. Sixteen members of the current class are SSC Atlantic employees working in Charleston, with three from Hampton Roads, one at Joint Staff, Suffolk, Virginia, and one from New Orleans.

During the challenging six-month program, participants spend approximately 110 hours in and out of the classroom and up to 60 hours working on a shadowing project with senior SSC Atlantic leaders. The training is designed to develop employees who model Navy core values, apply leadership to influence and effect positive change, instill a teaming and learning culture, and are committed to continuous lifelong learning and pro-

fessional development beyond the formal course.More information on MCLP can be found at https://

wiki.spawar.navy.mil/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=71868648.

Photo by Jerry SekerakThe MCLP 17-1 cohort members had the chance to tour the Virginia-class submarine USS John Warner (SSN-785) during a visit to Norfolk Naval Station.


SSC Atlantic celebrates Earth Day


SSC Atlantic recognized Earth Day April 21 with a pro-gram held in the Bldg. 3147 atrium and streamed to other center sites.

Organized by the “Green Team” in 8.3, the program featured guest speaker Vonie Gilreath from the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester County Council of Governments (BCDCOG). Her presentation highlighted ongoing regional transportation planning and construction efforts to alleviate traffic in the Charleston metro area, and future possibilities for mass transit.

After the presentation attendees could sign up for Adopt-A-Highway pick-ups and to participate in the Bike-To-Work Day. The Employee Services Association (ESA) also held a plant and cuttings sale, with donations going to the com-mand holiday party fund.

“Earth Day is an opportunity for us to reflect on the environment we live in and the natural resources we share, and highlight the progress we’re making to achieve energy security and sustainability,” said SSC Atlantic Executive Officer Cmdr. Lane Askew, who kicked off the observance. “As citizens of the world it is our moral obligation to protect our environment.”

He noted that SSC Atlantic is always adapting and inno-vating to improve environmental stewardship and reduce our impact on the environment. More than 190 tons of material from SSC Atlantic were diverted from landfills in Charleston alone in the last fiscal year, including 169,000 pounds of cardboard, more than 117,000 pounds of office paper, 3,500 pounds of aluminum cans and more than 37,000 pounds of lead acid batteries.

Vonie Gilreath from the BCDCOG speaks at the Earth Day observance.

Employees check out the offerings at the plant sale.


Johnson completesleadership program in Charleston

Esther Elendu, an administrative special-ist in Code 43430, is the first SSC Atlantic employee to be se-lected for the LEAD Hampton Roads Class of 2018. She was nom-inated to the program by SSC Atlantic and selected by the Hamp-ton Roads Chamber.

LEAD Hampton Roads is an 8-month, skills-oriented lead-ership development

program designed to inform, motivate and increase the awareness of selected participants through interaction with community decision-makers and behind the scenes experi-ences. Selection criteria included a record of achievement in community activities, a desire to increase community involvement and the ability to set and attain goals as dem-onstrated by significant career, personal and community achievement.

Elendu is actively involved in several volunteer efforts around the Hampton Roads region including church outreach and ministry to hospitalized and nursing home residents, motivational speaker and advisor, Sunday school teacher, Lunch Buddy program participant, school reading programs volunteer and food and clothing donator for the hungry and homeless.

Elendu, Dickens selected for leadership programsZandria Dickens,

an electrical engineer in Code 51110, has been selected to par-ticipate in Leadership Charleston Class of 2018.

She was selected by the Leadership Charleston Steering Committee follow-ing her nomination to the program by SSC Atlantic. Lead-ership Charleston is a 10-month program providing an intensive and up-close look at the most chal-lenging issues and opportunities facing the Charleston re-gion, engaging leaders in the experiences they need to lead. Dickens is a Charleston native and is involved in several volunteer programs in the area such as Reading Partners, STEM Outreach and Career Day presentations and Feed the Homeless. She is also the fundraising chair for the National Society of Black Engineers, Charleston Chapter.

Each year, SSC Atlantic supports local chamber leader-ship programs in Charleston, New Orleans, and Hampton Roads. Those interested in representing SSC Atlantic in one of these programs should watch for the announcement next May providing information about these opportunities. Point of contact is Dave Hillman, [email protected] or [email protected], 843-218-2240.

SSC Atlantic’s Michael Johnson Jr., an IT specialist assigned to 59550, recently completed the Metro Chamber of Com-merce Leadership Charleston profes-sional development program. Johnson is a member of of Leadership Charleston’s 43rd class.

Established in 1974, the 10-month program fosters an understanding of South Carolina’s most pressing issues. Each year, just 50 participants are selected to take part in the highly competitive program.

During 120 hours of instruction, partici-pants gain access to an informed network of diverse colleagues, peers and mentors.

Charleston Metro Chamber President and CEO Bryan Derreberry, left, and Chairman of the Board Patrick Bryant, right, congratulate Michael Johnson as he graduates from the Leadership Charleston Class of 2017.

Photo provided

Elendu Dickens



Local leaders give male perspective in WiD panelSSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller makes a point during an Aug. 24 Women in Defense (WiD)-sponsored panel on women in the workforce from the male perspec-tive. The panelists gave their views about what women bring to the defense industry, how to increase the number of women in the industry, and how closing the gender gap directly supports the warfighter and the nation. Moderated

by Rachel Link, right, the panel featured, from left, Kevin Pickering, Chief of Systems, Coordination and Implemen-tation and Travel Card Program, Department of State; Capt. Mark Gordon, CO of USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753); Josh Hatter, President, Charleston Defense Contrac-tors Association; Miller; and James Ward, Executive Vice President of Scientific Research Corporation.

Citadel graduate Samuel Douglas, fourth from right, poses with family and friends as he receives the Robert G. Miller Memorial Sword during an awards convocation May 4. The award honors Robert G. Miller, an Army veteran and the father of SSC Atlantic employee Bob Miller, right. The elder Miller served as commander of the Palisades Power Squadron in New Jersey and taught public boating classes until his death in 1996. He and his wife Dorothy raised four children. Bob Miller and siblings Patricia, Maureen and James established the award, which is presented annually to a graduating Navy midshipman or officer candidate who excels in a Navy Battalion leadership position, graduates in the top 25 percent of the class, and embodies Robert G. Miller’s leadership skills, dedication to public service and love of the sea. Doug-las, who was commissioned a Navy ensign, is the 10th recipient of the Miller Memorial Sword.

The Citadel’s Douglasreceives Miller Sword

Photo provided


Jurand’s mother-in-law’sSSC Atlantic-inspired paintings adorn Bldg. 3446

When artist Melinda Hoffman learned about the project her son-in-law Jason Jurand was working on at SSC Atlantic, she was inspired.

Thanks to this inspiration, Bldg. 3446 now features three of Hoffman’s oil paintings that serve as a daily reminder of the warfighters who are SSC Atlantic’s ultimate customers.

Jurand, currently director of the SPAWAR Red Team and architect of SPAWAR’s cybersecurity service delivery to the Military Health System, helps protect sensitive and Protected Health Information for Defense Health Agency sites SSC Atlantic supports, including USNS Comfort and Tripler Army Medical Center.

When his mother-in-law learned how his work for medical cybersecurity programs supports the warfighter, she started painting. An active supporter of a warrior support group, Upstate Warrior Solutions, Hoffman recently completed a series of oil paintings entitled “Body Language,” featuring warfighters in Afghanistan.

Hoffman, of Greenville, South Carolina, has long been artistic but just started painting six years ago. While finish-ing her degree through Clemson University and Indiana University she became a printmaker, painter, sculptor and installation artist. Recently she installed her piece called “Jumpers” in Lake City, South Carolina, for the acclaimed art competition ArtFields, sponsored by Darla Moore. Her work has been displayed in the Greenville Chamber of Com-merce, the Anderson Arts Center, the Upstate Warrior Solu-tions, Artistphere and Greenville’s Center for Creative Arts.

Hoffman’s interest in Afghanistan, love for children’s books, and passion to make a difference in the lives of those effected by the difficulties in the Middle East led her to start the Afghan Book Collection (ABC) project. The nonprofit provides children’s books to Afghan children.

Jason Jurand Melinda Hoffman


Local kids excel in DoD Math Games

SSC Atlantic hosted top middle school teams from the Dorchester II School District in the 2017 Department of Defense Virtual DimensionU Math Competition May 23.

DimensionU provides interactive multiplayer video games that focus on pre-algebra and algebra. The games develop academic and strategic skills. Students engage in a series of first-person action adventure missions with three-dimensional graphics, sounds and animation similar to those in popular video games.

Students from Gregg Middle, Alston Middle, and Rollings Middle School of the Arts, all located in Summerville, South Carolina, had qualified at the Tricounty Regional Dimen-sionU Math Competition held at SSC Atlantic March 24.

The South Carolina students competed against teams from All Saints Academy in Parsippany, New Jersey, (hosted by the Army Armament Research, Development and Engi-neering Center, Picatinny Arsenal), and teams from George R. Staley Upper Elementary School in Rome, New York, (hosted by the Air Force Laboratory Information Directorate and the Griffiss Institute.) They competed under the watchful eyes of SSC Atlantic volunteers and mentors.

A federal intern now serving at SSC Atlantic under the Pathways Program, Murray Burn was such a mentor at Vir-tual DimensionU Math Competition. Now a student at The

Citadel, Burn played DimensionU while attending Hanahan Middle School.

“The 6th grade series was a heated round with extremely close scores,” said Steven Hoy, DimensionU CEO. “Teams should be proud.”

Winning first place in the 6th grade series were Logan Farless, Brady Jackson, Sebastian Thomas-Sarmiento, with coach Jessica House, of Alston Middle School. According to Farless, he was really there to have fun.

Caleb Davis, Aydin Abaza, Jakob Gaillard and coach Su-zanne Hughes of Gregg Middle School were also overjoyed to earn first place in the 7th grade series.

Rollings Middle School of the Arts’ Evan O’Neill, Dmitri Robinson, Trey Bass and Caleb Rodgers, coached by Vincent Joy, took 3rd place in the Mixed A series.

SSC Atlantic volunteers serve as role models, mentors, content experts, competition judges and in other roles that show students the value of STEM careers. The competition is one of many outreach vehicles to inspire, develop and

attract the STEM tal-ent needed to deliver innovative informa-tion warfare solu-tions for SSC Atlan-tic and the nation.

At left, kids from G r e g g M i d d l e School compete in the Virtual Di-mensionU Math Competition under the watchful eyes of SSC Atlantic judges. The Gregg Middle team won first place in the 7th grade series. Above, SSC Atlan-tic STEM Outreach Director Shanda Johnson looks on as a student from A l s t o n M i d d l e School competes.



Palmetto Cybersecurity Summer CampRising 9th through 12th graders in Charleston had a

chance to see if they have what it takes to be cybersecurity warriors during the fifth annual Palmetto Cyber Security Summer Camp, held June 19 to 23 at at Burke High School.

Campers, more than 135 students from Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester county schools, were able to choose from tracks such as cybersecurity, programming, robotics and computer network defense.

More than 30 SSC Atlantic volunteers were on hand for the camp. Along with volunteers from Trident Technical College, they taught courses and facilitated exercises related to cybersecurity and national defense.

SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne helped kick off the camp on the first day. Commanding Of-ficer Capt. Scott Heller spoke to the kids on the last day of the camp, emphasizing that their generation will lead in the cyber domain, understanding it, protecting it and leveraging it for our nation’s cybersecurity.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller poses with Palmetto Cybersecurity Summer Camp volunteers.

Students take part in activities focused on programming, robotics and computer network defense during the cyber-security summer camp.


Fifth annual camp draws 120 students


The fifth annual Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition (PCDC), hosted by SSC Atlantic in collaboration with the South Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), and SC Cyber, was held April 8 through 10 at Trident Technical College in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The goal of PCDC is to energize South Carolina high school and collegiate students to focus on the development of networking and cyber security skills through science, tech-nology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). During the competitions, students from each school formed Blue Teams that operated and secured the network of a small shipping company. The teams were challenged to properly configure/reconfigure an IT network, add new services, and respond to additional requirements; all while defending against Red Team hackers attempting to disrupt their network.

“We have a vested interest to ensure that future cyber war-riors and leaders from this part of the country have teamwork principles and the right technical skills,” said Peter Reddy, SSC Atlantic Chief Engineer.

Over 450 dedicated high school and collegiate students

Cybersecuritycompetition boosts student interest in STEM careers

High school and col-lege Blue teams an-swer the challenges posed by the Red Team hackers during the fifth annual Pal-metto Cyber Defense Competition.


gave up their first taste of spring break to compete, and 100 plus volunteers from SSC Atlantic, AFCEA, corporate partners, South Carolina National Guard and Navy Reserve also participated in the weekend competition.

High school students from around South Carolina com-peted Saturday. First place winners, Porter-Gaud School, each received $500. Palmetto Scholars Academy earned second, and third was taken by South Aiken. Each competing school received a laptop and programmable drone. Aiden Durand of Palmetto Scholars Academy was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP), receiving a $1,000 award. Other high schools competing were Ashley Ridge, Blythewood, Home School Network, Stratford High and Wando.

The high school competition is open to all schools in South Carolina but only eight teams can compete. The top three teams of the previous year are invited back while the remaining five positions are available to the top five from the second round of the state’s CyberPatriot Competition.

One theme resonating across all teams was the importance of teamwork. Gabby Martin from Ashley Ridge said, “We learned teamwork through a real-world scenario.”

The collegiate competition held Sunday was open to col-leges and universities in South Carolina. Three of the eight slots are designated for the top three teams of the previous year. The remaining five teams must qualify through the Southeast Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.


SSC Atlantic’s Jeff Sweeney confers with volunteers dur-ing the competition.


MyBrother’sKeeper

Girls rule at STEM eventRising 8th and 9th grade young ladies get some hands-on ex-perience as they learn about STEM-related degrees and career opportunities at Girls Day Out Summer Camp July 27 through 20 at the College of Charleston. Remotely con-trolled robots and experiments related to the solar eclipse Aug. 21 were among the activities that showed the fun of STEM study. A session for parents emphasized the importance of STEM careers and how to prepare for college admission.


More than 100 rising 7th, 8th and 9th grade boys and their parents take part in the second annual Lowcountry My Brother’s Keeper summer camp Aug. 3 through 5 at Charleston Southern University. The camp is designed to help young men reach their full poential by enpowering them to build opportunities through education and career prospects. STEM-related events encouraged the boys to learn more about the technical careers that are in demand to ensure our national security.


Visitors

Mayor Tecklenburg visits Charleston campus


City of Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, left, listens intently as SSC Atlantic Execu-tive Director Chris Miller gives a command overview brief in the Executive Conference Room July 25. The mayor was at SSC At-lantic as part of a day-long tour of major Joint Base Charleston tenant commands. Below, Tecklenburg, center, poses on the quarterdeck with, from left, SSC Atlantic Executive Officer Cmdr. Lane Askew; Miller; Col. Jeffrey Nelson, Commander, 628th Air Base Wing; and Cmdr. William Edenbeck, Naval Support Activity, Executive Officer; upon arrival. During the visit Tecklenburg learned about SSC Atlantic’s worldwide mission to deliver Information Warfare solu-tions to warfighters and about the economic impact of the center’s operations on the city of Charleston, the Tricounty area and the state of South Carolina.


Visitors

Naval Sea Systems Command’s Selby visitsRear Adm. Lo-rin Selby, second from left, Chief E n g i n e e r a n d D e p u t y C o m -mander for Ship Design, Integra-tion and Naval Engineering at Naval Sea Sys-tems Command (NAVSEA), is wel-comed at the SSC Atlantic quarter-deck by, from left, Executive Direc-tor Chris Miller; Deputy Executive Director Bill Del-igne and Cmdr. George Carami-co, 5.0 military deputy. During the March 7 visit Selby received a command over-view, as well as a brief on the C4I Fleet Readiness Portfolio and a 5.0 capabilities brief, before tour-ing the Clemson University Restoration Institute/SCE&G Energy Innovation Center. At SSC Atlantic the admiral also toured Bldg. 1648 and the Digital Integration Facility (DIF).


Continued from page 15Etter award winnersidentify optimum solutions to the most complex problems. As SSC Atlantic’s Cyber Forensics technical lead, Lewis is often sought after to provide cybersecurity expertise and guidance on some of the most complex projects. An advanced level Ethical Hacker, Certified Digital Foren-sics Analyst and expert Network Security Engineer, he has in-depth understanding of cybersecurity, his award nomination noted.

Previously Lewis had completed a successful rotation with NCDOC, advising the command on cyber policy and technical solutions, which had an impact Navywide. At the

request of NCDOC technical leadership, he was engaged to gather NCDOC’s requirements for reengineering and bringing the center’s incident response and forensic ca-pability up to necessary and effective standards.

Lewis designed a cutting-edge Cyber Forensics Local Area Network (FLAN), running a powerful enterprise environment with the latest technology and most efficient toolsets. This major upgrade to NCDOC’s capabilities establishes NCDOC as a cutting-edge network defense organization with the ability to identify vulnerabilities, rapidly detect, identify and isolate attacks, and strengthen the defense of Navy networks against repeated similar attacks.


Visitors

Leadership Charleston Class of 2017 seesSSC Atlantic capabilities


Members of the 43rd class of Charleston Metro Cham-ber of Commerce’s Leadership Charleston 10-month professional development program visited SSC Atlantic recently to learn about the center’s capabilities and con-tributions to the region. Since it was established in 1974 Leadership Charleston has graduated more than 1,900 alumni who are part of a network of educated, socially responsible and engaged civic leaders.

While at SSC Atlantic, Leadership Charleston members received a command brief from Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and visited various labs and facilities that are helping provide Information Warfare solutions to warfighters.

Leadership Charleston provides community immer-sion and interactions with diverse leaders. Activities give participants a unique understanding of South Carolina’s most pressing issues. Each year, just 50 participants are selected to take part in the highly competitive program.


The Final Word

What’s happening in your world that you’d like to see in The Chronicle? The power of your experiences is even greater when you take the time to share them! We look forward to reading about the great work you are doing as part of the SSC Atlantic team.

If you have a story or story idea that you’d like to see published here, send it to [email protected] or call the editor anytime at (843) 218-4973, DSN 588-4973.

The Chronicle is ac-cessible on the Internet on SPAWAR’s official U.S. Navy website at http://www.

Check out The Chronicle online; send in your storypublic.navy.mil/spawar/Atlantic/Press/Pages/default.aspx. Check out The Chronicle on the Intranet at https://blog.spawar.navy.mil/chronicle/.

Check out SSC Atlantic news on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. If you wish to become a SPAWAR

Facebook fan, visit http://www.face-book.com/spaceandnavalwar-

faresystemscommand. See us on Twitter http://twitter.com/

SPAWARHQ, You Tube www.youtube.com/teamspawar and Flickr www. flickr.com/

teamspawar.

The April 6 WOW leadership train-ing featured briefs by several guests, including Karen Davis, SES, NAV-SEA Executive Director for Surface Warfare (SEA21B), and SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller.

A surprise guest from history -- Harriet Tubman -- also addressed the crowd, highlighting her experiences working for the union Army during the Civil War, first as a cook and nurse, later as an armed scout and spy.

Born Araminta “Minty” Ross to slave parents in 1822, Tubman es-caped to Philadelphia, then returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought her relatives out of the state, eventu-ally guiding dozens of other slaves to freedom.

In 13 missions Tubman rescued approximately 70 enslaved people, family and friends using a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. Traveling by night in extreme secrecy, Tubman “never lost a passenger.” The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves. After the war, Tubman was active in the women’s suffrage movement.

WOW speaker provides historical perspective

Tubman’s presentation to the WOW group brought history to life and exemplified the many traits of leadership that had been discussed and explored earlier in the day.

More information on WOW training is featured on page 20.

Tubman discusses the Underground Railroad as she gets assistance from SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller.



We are now soliciting submissions from SSC Atlantic employees for next issue’s contest.

Send your best shot to [email protected] or [email protected].

Hit us with your best shot

And the winner is...

The Chronicle Photo ContestThank you to all who submitted!


SSC Atlantic employees don their eclipse glasses and gather in the horseshoe on the Charleston campus to catch the last glimpses of the Aug. 21 solar eclipse before it is overtaken by cloud cover. More on the eclipse and SSC Atlantic’s space-related projects begins on page 8.

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