USAG Yongsan -- As part of the focus on the Pacific, the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer met with military communication leaders in the Republic of Korea and Japan during a week-long visit to the region.
While in Korea, Teri Takai, DoD CIO, met with senior communications officers in United States Forces Korea, Eighth Army and 1st Signal Brigade and Defense Information Systems Agency (Pacific) to assess the progress being made on the build-up of USAG Humphreys from a communications infrastructure perspective.
As part of the visit, Takai was given an aerial tour to see the magnitude of the construction efforts at USAG Humphreys, before the actual discussion began at the 304th Expeditionary Signal Battalion conference room.
"This is a great opportunity to see what is going on here first-hand," said Takai.
Col. Richard J. Turner, U.S. Chairman, Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence Joint Working Group and Chief, Task Force Mercury, discussed the Yongsan Relocation Plan and the Land Partnership Plan that moves the majority of U.S. Forces to the central hubs of USAG Humphreys and USAG Daegu, in terms of both physical construction and providing the communications infrastructure necessary for the footprint.
Col. Paul H. Fredenburgh III, commander, 1st Signal Brigade, explained that his brigade essentially fulfills the joint C4I service provider mission here on pen, being integrated into USFK and Eighth Army to provide the majority of the communication backbone for all U.S. military networks in the Republic of Korea.
Takai asked how wireless service would be included within the new information infrastructure and whether there would be issues bringing in the Korean Wireless companies to provide commercial cell towers and mobile access.
Turner said, capability will easily fit into the infrastructure and the infrastructure and is being designed into the build process. Specific design of office buildings to provide military wireless services is not included in the currently funded scope of work.
Fredenburgh added that based on the great partnership that has been established with the Korean wireless companies, adding wireless when the details are worked out won't be an issue.
"We are asking for that capability to be implemented in Korea and we realize we really need that capability," said Fredenburgh. "We just renegotiated our wireless package and have included the capability to increase our wireless data packages and purchase minutes on mobile devices."
Takai said the Army is well set-up to take advantage of wireless capabilities and that Korea is a good place to start the overseas effort.
Turner went on to discuss the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence functions of construction. He said that the team is working to ensure that everything is being purchased and installed in order to meet the requirements for the Department of Defense Joint Information Environment, a shared information technology infrastructure being implemented across all military branches.
Turner said that 2014 is our critical year for completing the engineering phase for our moves. To ensure success, he is establishing critical partnerships with the DISA and the Defense Intelligence Agency to ensure that all detailed engineering specifications are correct, especially for higher level facilities, for both the C4I aspect but also to make sure requirements for JIE implementation are met.
"We are trying to make sure this is incorporated into all joint efforts across Korea to get to a virtual environment and a joint solution," said Fredenburgh.
He also added, in terms of movement, that timing and sequencing is essential given the operational risk that is ever present in Korea.
Takai, also met with representatives from the government leaders of the Republic of Korea, Ministry of National Defense officials and ROK military leaders to discuss cyber security and joint communication interoperability between ROK and U.S. forces.
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