ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - A ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground Oct. 28 marked the transfer of responsibility for leading the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) from Dr. James Streilein to Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco. Streilein, who assumed leadership of ATEC from Maj. Gen. Roger Nadeau when he retired March 19, 2009, takes on a new assignment within the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, at the Pentagon.
Dellarocco served as the program executive officer, Missiles and Space, at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., before assuming command of ATEC. Streilein said he was proud of ATEC's workforce for a variety of reasons, including its excellent reputation across the Army. Teamwork throughout
the command - not his work as executive director - is the basis for that reputation, he said.
"I never had to worry about the ATEC team when I was its executive director," Streilein observed. "You just have to give them the support and the resources, and then let them do it. It's a great organization. We've got great workers running the ranges and running the tests. I'm really proud of the work we've done on body armor, the work with unmanned aerial systems - all
the work done on rapid-acquisition systems. I've been involved in discussions with senior Army
leaders about the outcomes of these."
Streilein said he was glad to see initiatives under his tenure that are bringing Army evaluators and operational and developmental testers closer together as a single collaborative team.
"One of the things that has really been heartening to me are initiatives to integrate our work between the developmental, operational and evaluation people," he said. "We've been working that hard, and I'm sure that work is going to continue under (Major) General Dellarocco."
Streilein, who earned a doctorate degree in mathematics from Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University, spent 23 years with the U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA). He completed the Army Logistics and Acquisition Management Program in 1990, became a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1991 and became certified as a test-and-evaluation member of the Army Acquisition Corps in 1994.
Streilein entered the Senior Executive Service when he was selected to become the chief of the AMSAA division that focuses on the reliability and maintainability of military systems. In a 1996 reorganization of Army test and evaluation, he was selected to be the first director of the former Operational Test Command's Evaluation Analysis Center. When ATEC was created in September
1999, Streilein became the first director of the newly formed Army Evaluation Center (AEC). He became the technical director and deputy to the ATEC commander in January 2007.
A long-time, active member of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA), Streilein earned ITEA's lifetime achievement award this year, and in 2005 he earned the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive. Each year, the President recognizes and celebrates a small group of career senior executives and senior career employees with this prestigious award. Recipients
are "strong leaders, professionals and scientists who achieve results and consistently demonstrate strength, integrity, industry and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service."
Streilein's successor took up this theme during his remarks at the ceremony.
"That's a tough competition," Dellarocco said of the Presidential Rank Award. "You get selected by being the best of the best. Doctor Streilein is that."
Dellarocco said ATEC's movement from its headquarters in Alexandria, Va., to its new headquarters at APG portends well for the future of the command if it is willing to embrace change.
"We are at a very interesting time in the history of this organization," he said. "We are now at Aberdeen. This is where the flag is, and this is where our headquarters is. We have an opportunity for transformation and change, and we have to take advantage of it - for the U.S. Army, for our nation, for the Department of Defense and for our organization. That means we've got to take a look at our organizations and its processes, not only here at Aberdeen but at each one of the centers down range."
The goal of this self-analysis should be even better support for Soldiers, he added.
Dellarocco served as the deputy commanding general responsible for system-of-systems integration at the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, at Fort Belvoir, Va. There, he was responsible for ensuring that warfighting technologies got into the hands of Soldiers as quickly as possible while integrating research, development and engineering across the Army, including Army laboratories and centers that conduct this mission.
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