AKO receives charter, new project manager

By Renee Mongo Jenkins (AKO/DKO)June 27, 2008

AKO/DKO Change of Charter Ceremony
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – As outgoing Project Manager, Col. James Barrineau looks on, Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems, Mr. Gary Winkler hands the new Army Knowledge Online/Defense Knowledge Online Project Offices operating charter to Col. Earl Nob... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
AKO/DKO Change of Charter Ceremony
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Col. James Barrineau, outgoing project director for Army Knowledge Online / Defense Knowledge Online reflects on his two years as leader of the Army intranet. Barrineau helped prepare the Army portal to support the DoD community as a Defense-wide ent... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
AKO / DKO Change of Charter Ceremony
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
AKO / DKO Change of Charter Ceremony
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Gail Clarke gives the invocation at a ceremony marking both a change in the operating charter for the Army Knowledge Online / Defense Knowledge Online Project Office, and a change in leadership as Col. Earl Noble assumes leadership and Col. ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT BELVOIR, VA. (Army News Service, June 27, 2008) - Army Knowledge Online and Defense Knowledge Online received a change to their operating charter Friday, along with a new leader.

AKO/DKO, the Army's knowledge-based learning organization, has been upgraded from a project directorship to board-selected project management. Along with the new PM comes new leadership. In a ceremony officiated by Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems, Gary Winkler, Col. James Barrineau, outgoing project director, handed leadership of AKO/DKO over to Col. Earl Noble, incoming project manager for AKO.

"This is a testament to the importance of this program and paves the way to a defense-wide enterprise portal, "said Col. Barrineau.

"Our vision for the future is to provide a single entry point that empowers knowledge dominance, ensures synchronization of resources, and aggressively enables situational awareness and operational security throughout the DoD community," said Col. Noble, incoming project manager

"Eventually, we envision even extending access to the portal to our critical mission partners," he said.

Although users will not see a change in AKO functionality as a result of the change in charter, the new charter enables AKO to move forward in its mission to transform the Army and DoD into a network-centric, knowledge-based force.

AKO began as a communication project in the Pentagon's General Officer Management Office in 1996 by then-Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer. At the time, Reimer used it to collaborate with other general officers via e-mail and online chat capability. The senior Army leadership liked the Reimer program.