CECOM town hall focuses on high-tech capabilities; MSC updates
By Rachel Ponder, CECOM
The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command workforce learned more about CECOM’s modernization efforts to meet the needs of the Army during the first town hall of the calendar year, Feb. 19, 2026. The meeting, held in person at the Myer Auditorium and virtually, opened with a new CECOM command video showcasing key capabilities and global reach.
The host for the town hall, CECOM Commanding General Maj. Gen. James (Jim) D. Turinetti IV, said he is pleased the command has “hit the ground running” in the first months of 2026.
New technology
Turinetti discussed a few of his recent key site visits, including Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; Fort Wainwright, Alaska; and Fort Carson, Colorado, where he witnessed a demonstration of the Army's Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2, program by the 4th Infantry Division, called Ivy Sting IV.
Turinetti said he was impressed by the technology demonstrated during these visits, including the Maven Smart System, a tool that allows commanders and staff to see themselves on the battlefield and receive analysis of courses of action in minutes. Turinetti stressed the importance of the CECOM workforce staying current with the newest technology.
“The Army will succeed,” Turinetti said. “Are we going to be there to help the Army, or is someone else going to fill that gap?”
Turinetti told the workforce, as they are fielding new equipment and going through experimentation phases to include the CECOM leadership team, “so we can help you in the future.”
"Our world is changing; we can either watch it pass us by or be a part of where the Army needs us to go,” Turinetti reiterated.
Turinetti also addressed the updated CECOM website, which includes more interactive features. On the homepage, he showed attendees the new “CECOM Placemat,” which will be used by leadership during briefings. This placemat demonstrates what CECOM does at a glance and includes links to capabilities across the command.
CECOM Campaign Plan
Carly Garrett, of the CECOM G5 Strategic Planning and Integration Branch, discussed the command’s roadmap for the future, the CECOM Campaign Plan.
“This campaign plan does not exist in a vacuum; it is our deliberate framework to formalize and execute the Army’s strategic vision,” she said. “Every one of our lines of effort and supporting objectives is directly nestled within the Army Continuous Transformation Campaign Plan and AMC Campaign Plan. What we do daily at CECOM directly enables the highest level of the Army.”
Garrett challenged attendees to read the CECOM Campaign Plan and reflect on how their daily work fits into the LOEs and supporting objectives. Additionally, Garrett asked supervisors, branch chiefs, and directors to ask themselves if they are leading with this campaign plan in mind.
“This is how strategy becomes execution,” she said. “This is how you, as an individual, drive real measurable strategic impact.”
The CECOM Campaign Plan is available along with supporting documents on the CECOM SharePoint page. The campaign plan includes a vision and mission statement, and CECOM lines of effort.
Turinetti recognized Garrett, who is new to the G5 team, for all her hard work since joining the team and for receiving the Army Force Protection Civilian of the Year award for fiscal year 2025. Turinetti said the G5 team is in contact with Army Headquarters and the Pentagon to ensure that CECOM is integrated into where the Army is heading.
Army PAE update
Deputy to the CECOM Commanding General Nicholaus Saacks, gave a Portfolio Acquisition Executive update. He recognized CECOM Sustainment Enabler to PAE Command and Control/Counter Command and Control Jenn Reed, who recently briefed Gen. David Hodne, the commanding general of the United States Army Transformation and Training Command. As a result of this briefing, Reed will work with T2COM to improve processes for divesting equipment.
Saacks said he thinks CECOM is making traction and showing value by supporting all six PAEs, citing Artificial Intelligence Assisted Maintenance, or AIAM, and Enterprise Supply Chain Management, or eSCRM, as examples. Saacks said CECOM is currently in the “learning” or “demonstration” phase of supporting the PAE concept, so there might be some changes to come.
“We are really enabling the PMs to be able to get capability out to the field faster, and, in some cases, they wouldn’t be able to do it without us,” he said. “And you guys are really critical to making that happen.”
Turinetti said PAEs empower Senior Executive Service members or general officers to make decisions faster.
ADOC
CECOM Command Sgt. Maj. Jay High gave an overview of how CECOM will support the Army Data Operations Command, which oversees the Army's data ecosystem.
High said APG is the ideal location to stand up the ADOC to enable a quick Initial Operating Capability with CECOM Headquarters and the CECOM Army Software & Innovation Center on-site.
High said CECOM can leverage our existing functions for immediate support, because most of the required ADOC support functions are already being performed by CECOM and only need to be coordinated with ADOC for operability.
High repeated Garrett’s challenge to the workforce to think about how they fit into the CECOM Campaign Plan and LOEs and “own it.” “We owe it to the Soldiers fighting in the field to work hard together,” he said.
MSC updates
After High’s briefing, representatives from each of CECOM’s five major subordinate commands gave an update.
Rob Lantka, who serves as the deputy commander to the commanding officer of CECOM Tobyhanna Army Depot, highlighted radar campus expansion, advanced manufacturing, and microelectronics expansion.
Lantka said by June of 2026, Tobyhanna is projecting to be the first government entity to produce fully blue listed motors. This means all elements of the supply chain for these motors will be U.S. based and listed on Amazon Marketplace for small unmanned aircraft systems.
Col. Matthew Miller, commander of CECOM Information Systems Engineering Command, discussed the Installation Resiliency Roadmap.
“ISEC stands at the forefront of fundamental transformation and how the Army views its installations,” Miller said. “We are no longer simply maintaining facilities. We’re engineering installations as power projection platforms. Our mission is clear—to be the Army’s premier systems engineers responsible for building, fielding, and supporting the continuous modernization of information systems infrastructure at Army installations worldwide.”
William Wall, director of the Medical Maintenance Operations Division, CECOM Army Medical Logistics Command, discussed Medical Logistics in Campaigning/Medical Maintenance Operation. The goal is to fully integrate medical logistics in the Army’s primary sustainment system GCSS-Army, to eliminate historical data silos.
Wall said by integrating, we resolved historical data disconnects and gave commanders true visibility of their medical equipment readiness.
“Our goal at AMLC is to ensure that medical sustainment is never an afterthought,” Wall said. “It must be a fully integrated, data driven, and agile component of the Army’s combat power.”
Executive Director of CECOM ASIC Garrett Shoemaker talked about the recent transformation from the CECOM Software Engineering Center to CECOM ASIC.
Shoemaker said the name changed to reflect the center’s focus on modernizing software capabilities for the Army, changing from a development and sustainment model to a continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment, or a CI/CD model.
Shoemaker said they started looking at what those unique needs and gaps are as a software organization and identified eight core capabilities. To learn more about these capabilities, visit https://cecom.army.mil/ASIC/Core_Competencies.
Col. Cory Armstead, military deputy of CECOM ILSC, discussed AIAM. This tool provides Soldiers with 24/7 access to expert-level troubleshooting, reducing diagnostic time and accelerating equipment return- to- service.
Armstead noted that a year ago AIAM did not exist, and now the organization is looking to improve AIAM as a way forward by seeking Soldier feedback.
The town hall also included a question-and-answer session and awards. The next CECOM town hall will be on May 20.
To view a recording of the CECOM town hall, visit https://dod.teams.microsoft.us/l/meetup-join/19%3adod%3ameeting_567360c493d945df875ad1d0b44f85d9%40thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22 Tid%22%3A%22fae6d70f-954b-4811-92b6-0530d6f84c43%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%225367987d-e4d5-4dc5-b5b6-6b7ef39f5fbc%22%2C%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3Atrue%2C%22role%22%3A%22a%22%7D&btype=a&role=a
To view the 2026 CECOM Command video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNjc3A3yw9w
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