Information warfare experts are increasingly in demand across the U.S. Navy, and in a move made this month, they’ll now be eligible for sea command.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro amended service regulations to create more command opportunities for information warfare officers. He released a message about the change this month.
Vice Adm. Mike Vernazza, the commander of Naval Information Forces, told DefenseScoop the change represented a “pivotal evolution in how the Navy views and employs IW capabilities across all domains of naval warfare” and meant that personnel steeped in information warfare are eligible for “command for sea.”
Information warfare, or IW, is a fusion of offensive and defensive electronic capabilities and cyber operations. It combines data awareness and manipulation to gain an advantage, before, during and after battles.
Years ago, the Navy installed information warfare commanders in carrier strike groups to supplement air warfare and surface warfare commanders. In 2022, the service also established the Fleet Information Warfare Command Pacific, which combats false narratives from malign actors in the information domain.
“While the information age has been net positive, it has also provided malign actors numerous new outlets and mediums to spread disinformation, propaganda and lies,” Vernazza said at a conference earlier this year.
“Our ability to influence is critical across the spectrum of conflict, competition and crisis.”
Vernazza told DefenseScoop the new command opportunities for information warfare officers was a “direct acknowledgement of the centrality of information as a warfighting discipline.”
Nikki Wentling covers disinformation and extremism for Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for eight years and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
