Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler Visits IWTC San Diego

SAN DIEGO – Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval operations for Information Warfare and director of Naval Intelligence, visited Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) San Diego as part of a fleet-wide tour of information warfare (IW) commands, May 17.

During his visit, Trussler met with IWTC San Diego leadership, staff, and students to deepen his understanding of the intelligence, cryptology, and information technology courses taught at the fleet-focused schoolhouse and to discuss future growth and alignment of IW training more broadly.

After a command brief, Trussler was able to visit several courses in session that included the International Maritime Intelligence Course, Ship’s Signal Exploitation Equipment Increment Foxtrot (SSEE Inc F) Operator Course, Information Warfare Team Trainer (IWTT), and the Operational Intelligence Analyst Course.

IWTC San Diego instructors provided an overview of their respective courses and described their ability to update curriculum to keep pace with technological advances in the fleet.

Lt. Elizabeth Powers, lead instructor for the IWTT, briefed Trussler on the transition towards Great Power Competition and the value of getting the intelligence teams into the schoolhouse’s premier intelligence team trainer as early as possible.

“Because we do individualized training in the team environment, it’s always better to have the afloat intelligence teams come earlier in the pre-deployment training cycle,” stated Powers. “We can really help strengthen their knowledge of the western pacific and middle-eastern areas of responsibility.”

“It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to interact with your senior leadership,” remarked Cryptologic Technician (Collection) 2nd Class Christian Close, a lead instructor for the SSEE Inc F Operator Course. “Visiting with our community leader was exciting, not only for me but for the students as well.”

Trussler was also able to meet with several students from Navy Reserve, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Information Warfare Enterprise Team (CPF IW).

"Admiral Trussler's visit with our team consisting of Sailors from Camp Murray, Camp Parks, Denver, Fort Worth, and San Diego was a great opportunity for them to interact directly with a leader that has a direct influence on their future as IW professionals,” commented Lt. Cmdr. Jody Wang, executive officer of CPF IW San Diego. “He gave our Reserve Sailors insight and motivation, emphasizing the importance of reservists in the fleet."

Cmdr. Tim Raymie, commanding officer IWTC San Diego, observed that Trussler’s visit was a superb opportunity for the command.
“Vice Adm. Trussler was eager to engage us on the topics most important to us today,” said Raymie. “His engagement on subjects such as the transition from traditional to virtual training environments, curriculum improvement, and the effects upon the training mission from the Training Delivery Optimization initiative and pandemic-driven distributed workforce/telework were timely and well received by the staff.”

At the end of his visit, he thanked Raymie and his staff. “I appreciate all the hard work,” said Trussler. “The visit was very eye-opening.”

IWTC San Diego, as part of the Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT), provides a continuum of training to Navy and joint service personnel that prepares them to conduct information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations.

With four schoolhouse commands, a detachment, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT trains approximately 26,000 students every year, delivering trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services. CIWT also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.

For more news from the Center for Information Warfare Training domain, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/CIWT, www.facebook.com/NavyCIWT, or www.twitter.com/NavyCIWT.