FORT HOOD, Texas – The 1st and 5th battalions of 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade cased their colors before their upcoming deployment to United States Central Command in front of the brigade’s headquarters here, Sept. 19.

The advisors will deploy to USCENTCOM for six months. The Soldiers will advise, support, liaise and assist nations within their area of responsibility, which includes 21 different countries. The goal is to support and assist allies in the region so they can build capacity and maintain stability.

Security advisor teams increase interoperability and achieve strategic goals by providing experienced leaders from the maneuver, combat engineer, signal support, intelligence, medical and logistics career fields.

“The advisors, of Force Package 23-1 are about as ready as it could possibly be,” said Col. Zachary Miller 3rd SFAB commander. “They’ve trained intensively on individual and collective skills that make them ready to partner in any environment. They built teams where everyone looks out for each other and pushes their fellow advisors to be their best.”

In his remarks to the Soldiers and families gathered for the ceremony, Miller spoke about the 3rd SFAB being a new type of formation in today’s Army and how its mission of enabling combatant commanders to accomplish theater security objectives by training, advising, assisting, accompanying, and enabling allied and partnered security forces. Miller explained that the unit provides an essential capability for the Army and fills a critical need in today’s operational environment.

“Our advisors’ presence matters in Iraq because we are enabling the Iraqi security forces to contain and defeat ISIS without external assistance,” Miller said. “We deter Iran … (which has) for more than 40 years, aggressively supported terrorism or terrorist organizations,” Miller said. “Our advisor’s presence matters, because it helps deter Iran and its proxies from continuing activities that destabilize not only that region, but global security and commerce.”

With advisors already deployed and present in theater, this force-package deployment of SFAB teams to the CENTCOM area is significant because it will be the first time this many advisors will deploy to the region, Lt. Col. Patrick Caukin, 1st Bn., 3rd SFAB commander, said.

“This is our first deployment as a dual battalion headquarter package with the 1st Battalion and 5th Battalion going out as a team to CENTCOM,” Caukin said. “You know, the teams that are over there, 3rd Squadron, they’ve really set the tone, and the groundwork for us to come in and continue the advising efforts to broaden the U.S. is mission there.”

Miller finished his speech with a quote from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who said, “Presence buys you influence, which is built on trust. You can’t surge trust.”

By Eric Franklin, Fort Hood Public Affairs

FORT MEADE, Md. — The U.S. Army recently celebrated the activation of the new Army Counterintelligence Command with a ceremony at the command’s headquarters on July 28, 2022.

The command’s activation, directed by Army senior leadership to ensure Army counterintelligence is aligned with protecting Army and Department of Defense modernization efforts, resulted in the inactivation of the 902nd Military Intelligence Group in a ceremony held earlier that day.

Officiated by Maj. Gen. Michele H. Bredenkamp, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, the Army Counterintelligence Command, or ACIC, replaced the 902nd MI Group as an INSCOM major subordinate command.

The ceremonies highlighted an important moment in Army and INSCOM history, honoring the lineage of the 902nd MI Group and the massive undertaking to transform Army Counterintelligence, and celebrating the significance of the new command.

During the assumption of command ceremony, Bredenkamp passed the colors to Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, charging him with the responsibility as the ACIC’s first commanding general.

Cox began his 29-year career at the Virginia Military Institute where he commissioned in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps. Cox led blended teams of service members and civilians at the tactical, operational and strategic levels during assignments to South Korea, 10th Mountain Division, the 513th MI Brigade, the 704th MI Brigade, Fort Huachuca, the Pentagon, the Defense Intelligence Agency and NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey.

During his remarks, Cox spoke of the Army special agents who carry the ACIC shield every day.

“To the members of the former 902nd MI Group, your legacy will not be forgotten. We will continue to build this command on the foundation you have built,” Cox said. “Today’s military environment is defined by rapid technological change and intense strategic competition from our adversaries. We must do our part to ensure we are competing, imposing costs and shake our enemy’s belief that they can operate uncontested.”

Since the Army’s decision to initiate counterintelligence reform and stand up the ACIC, the command has established critical partnerships, increased operational capacity, and postured the organization to further protect the Army’s strategic advantage. The ACIC’s core mission is to conduct worldwide counterintelligence activities to detect, identify, neutralize and exploit foreign intelligence, international terrorists, insider threats and other foreign adversaries in order to protect the U.S. Army and DoD strategic advantage.

The ACIC is a trusted Army asset capable of defeating current and emerging threats across all domains, supporting U.S. Army overmatch in any operating environment. The ACIC’s motto is: “Protect the Force, Exploit the Enemy, Vigilant Always, Army Strong!”

Last commanded by Col. Maria C. Borbon, who participated in its inactivation ceremony, the 902nd MI Group, then known as the Counterintelligence Corps, was first activated on Nov. 23, 1944.

On June 30, 1974, the unit was reassigned to the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency and given a new mission of providing counterintelligence coverage to the eastern part of the United States. In 1977, the unit was part of the largest restructuring of Army Intelligence since the end of World War II. Assigned to the newly established U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, the 902nd was charged with bringing counterintelligence and communications security functions together in a unified mission, becoming the Army’s principal shield against the threat posed by foreign intelligence services and simultaneously protecting forces in the U.S. before deployments.

The 902nd MI Group responded to the Global War on Terrorism by further providing tactical support to the warfighter. In support of deployed forces, the unit tailored a tactical counterintelligence deployment package that gave both theater commanders and their supporting military intelligence brigades a dedicated counterintelligence capability.

The ACIC will continue the long and distinguished history of dedicated service by the thousands of counterintelligence Soldiers and civilians who have protected our Army for the past 48 years. The command is dispersed across over 73 locations in the United States and overseas and ACIC will continue to adapt and posture itself to contest our nation’s adversaries.

By Deborah J. Varga

Fort Shafter, Hawaii—United States Army Pacific commander, Gen. Charles A. Flynn, constantly reminds people wherever he goes that the Indo-Pacific region is the most consequential theater for the United States this century. The Army was listening, and today activated its third multi-domain task force, the second such formation to be aligned to the Pacific.

On Historic Palm Circle here, the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force unfurled its colors in front of assembled leaders and Soldiers, and took its place among the other units that make up U.S. Army Pacific, a command region that stretches over half the world’s surface.

“While they may not have a distinguished and storied history yet, this unit is quite special and unique,” said Flynn. “The multi-domain task force is a perfect example of how the Army creates warfighting advantages for the Joint Force.”

Multi-Domain Task Forces are the signature formations for the Army’s transformation, and are theater-specific units that employ long-range precision effects, including cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence, and long-range fires. The concept of the MDTF brings together existing lethal and non-lethal capabilities by integrating and synchronizing them across multi-domains (air, land, water, space, cyber) in order to overcome a specific target.

The first MDTF became operational in 2017 at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State, focusing on the Indo-Pacific. The second MDTF is in Germany aligned with U.S. Army Europe and Africa. This third MDTF will call Fort Shafter home, and becomes the second specialty unit to operate in the Indo-Pacific, or what the Department of Defense has labeled, its “priority theater.”

“Our MDTFs are essential to building joint readiness, strengthens interoperability with our allies and partners, and denying adversaries key terrain,” said Flynn.

The unit’s first commander is Col. David Zinn, an officer with experience in the theater having served in Hawaii and in Korea.

“Our activation in Hawaii reflects the Army’s commitment to this theater as our nation’s priority. We bring increased capacity, and complementary capability to the joint force in the Pacific. Our formation will provide capability to synchronize long-range precision effects, with long-range precision fires, providing increased freedom of action for the Joint Force,” said Zinn.

U.S. Army Pacific has set a goal for the new MDTF to reach full operational capability in fiscal 2023, and are currently evaluating opportunities for the unit to integrate itself with Theater Army exercises such as “Operation Pathways,” and to also work with allies and partners in the region.

Story by Russell K. Shimooka

Photos by PFC Perla Alfaro and PFC Christopher Smith

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The Data Warfare Company (DWC), Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps, was officially activated on June 1, 2022 during a ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C.

This innovative unit was specifically requested by Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg as America’s Contingency Corps continues to build on a culture of innovation.

The activation of the DWC will set conditions for an enduring force structure across the U.S. Army which allows and empowers units to provide data-centric problem solving to enable command and control and develop tools to improve how the XVIII Airborne Corps fights.

One of the main missions of the company is to leverage the unique skill sets from Soldiers across the Corps to assist with the use of artificial intelligence to enable Corps initiatives.

“The DWC allows individuals taking on different projects within the Corps and actually operationalizing them,” said Capt. Christopher Clarkin, the unit’s commander. “One of the biggest hurdles we find in a large organization like the Corps, is how to take people from small units who have specific issues that only they see, but are important because they help fulfill the Corps’ mission.

Some of the current capabilities of the unit include Soldiers who have skills such as software engineers, program managers, cloud engineers, innovation officers, and who understand digital infrastructure. The unit is currently small compared to traditional Army companies but will be growing and improving as more inbound personnel arrive this summer.

Soldiers in the DWC recently put these capabilities on display when they were called upon to provide support for our European Allies and partners with critical software for warfighting systems.

Many of the Soldiers within the unit are also trained software engineers who are graduates of the TRON program.

TRON is an intensive 12-week software development program teaching critical skills in software engineering to Soldiers by providing them access to various tools and education. The course is a collaboration between the Corps, Joint Special Operations Command and the U.S. Air Force, to send Soldiers through the program to enhance the ability of the Soldiers who get assigned to the DWC and help the Corps achieve its mission.

“The establishment of the DWC is a focal point that will allow the Corps to achieve its vision,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy D. Lawhorn, the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps. “Capt. Christopher Clarkin has been specifically selected to command this company based on his requisite knowledge both in leading and in innovating. I can think of no other person to lead this company.”

The XVIII Airborne Corps is on the leading edge of innovation within the U.S. Army Forces Command and always seeking improvement. In order to remain at the forefront of innovation, the Army must become more agile and adaptable.

The DWC allows for faster innovation maintaining the advantage as we fight and win the nation’s wars.

“Innovation is a top priority for our Corps commander,” Lawhorn said. “Creating this company represents the Corps’ acknowledgment that we must innovate or become irrelevant . As America’s Contingency Corps, we have a moral obligation to the people we serve and the organization to innovate. To prepare our Soldiers, Army Civilians and Families, to ensure that we can deploy, fight, win, survive and thrive.”

The U.S Army is an army in transition that must win in the current environment and build for the future. Everyone, regardless of rank, is empowered to solve problems and identify opportunities to improve how we fight and how we take care of our Soldiers, Civilians, and Families.

Units like the DCW highlight the XVIII Airborne Corps’ dedication to foster and sustain an innovative culture while capturing initiatives that will continually improve the U.S. Army as a whole.

Story by SPC Joshua Cowden
Photos by Nathaniel Gayle