PENSACOLA, Fla. – Rear Adm. Jeffrey Czerewko, commander, Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), made his first official visit to the Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT) on Jan. 16, to discuss CIWT’s new Curriculum Development Branch (CDB).
Capt. Chris Bryant, commanding officer of CIWT, explained that CIWT had determined under the current curriculum development process there are several deficiencies including the cost, time requirement, and lack of agility to address emerging requirements that do not meet fleet needs. The command’s findings led to the creation of CIWT’s in-house CDB.
Under the CDB, continued Bryant, once fully staffed, all course design and project management tasks will be completed by CIWT. The initial proof of concept for the CDB occurred during the recent revision of the Cryptologic Warfare Officer Basic Course, resulting in a 50 percent reduction in development time with close to a 40 percent cost savings.
Czerewko said that he sees CIWT’s CDB initiative being aligned to the goal of correcting training development deficiencies to make a more “lethal and survivable” force. Czerewko affirmed his committment to being CIWT’s biggest advocate on its CDB initiative, stating that he sees the efficiencies in time saved as being a “competitive advantage”.
Czerewko emphasized that the training development process should be a closed loop, conditions-based system driving constant curriculum development and continuous improvement and recognized that the CDB supports that vision. “You don’t have something for the IW community, you have something for the Navy,” said Czerewko.
With four schoolhouse commands, two detachments, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT trains more than 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, cyber warfare technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.