Military

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 27, 2003) -- The Army just got a bit closer to truly being an Army of One -- at least in the information management field.

Lt. Gen. Peter M. Cuviello, Army chief information officer/G-6, and Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, signed a memorandum of agreement that aligns all Army Reserve information management governance and security under the Army staff G6 and its subordinate Network Enterprise Command at a ceremony in Crystal City, Va., June 25.

Cuviello said the MOA signing was the next logical step in a process he started two years ago when the Army Reserve and National Guard assigned officers to his office. Those officers are fully integrated with their active-duty counterparts -- working Army issues, not Guard advisers working Guard issues or Reserve advisers working Reserve issues, he said.

While the Army National Guard is working toward fuller Army Knowledge Management integration, it is not part of the MOA as it has its own system that communicates within the National Guard Bureau that also contains the Air National Guard, Cuviello explained.

The G6's vision for the Army is an Army Knowledge Enterprise network for all components, with the same policies and procedures for all. The MOA is a major step toward achieving that goal, Cuviello said.

"We're breaking the culture paradigm -- if I don't own it, if I don't run it, I don't trust it," Cuviello said. "Look at the chief communicator in the Iraq theater -- he's a Reserve two-star; and in another place of interest in the world today, Korea, there is another Reserve two-star chief communicator. There is nothing the Army does today where you don't have active, Guard and Reserve soldiers working side by side."

Helmly said the MOA is about equal satisfactory services across all of the Army.

"It's a signal about putting your money where your mouth is -- (that) we are walking the walk -- that we are moving along in Transformation," Helmly said. "It's about increased efficiencies."

Both generals agreed the agreement will save money, but warned against anyone expecting to see a savings in the form of future smaller Army Knowledge Enterprise budgets.

"The fact is the information demands of the Army are so great and are growing significantly every year," Cuviello said. "The challenge is to get those efficiencies now. The demand just keeps going up."

Part of those efficiencies is including the purchase of all Reserve Army Knowledge needs -- to include computer hardware and software, and phone, cell phone, handheld wireless e-mail devices and service contracts -- with those of the active Army. This economy of scale allows far greater purchase power in terms of getting more for a lesser-per-item cost than the former method of competing for the same needs with separate purchase orders or contracts, Cuviello explained.

While NETCOM will provide advice to what needs to be purchased and do the actual purchasing of Reserve Army Knowledge needs, the money for those purchases will still come out of the Army Reserve budget. By Congressional mandate, "the Army Reserve is still legally accountable for the control and disbursement of those funds," Helmly said.

And while the Army Reserve will follow the same information management rules the active Army follows, there are still some special Reserve needs that will be met, the G6 said.

"General Helmly knows that if there is ever a problem, all he has to do is pick up the phone and call," Cuviello said.