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AFRC Community Spotlight: A6X division keeping pace with cyber needs of the nation

  • Published
  • By Robert Helton, HQ AFRC Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga --  Cyber is critical to our nation’s defense. And it’s a mission area that is expanding across the Department of Defense. Air Force Reserve Command’s A6 directorate is keeping pace with the frantic demand for additional capabilities.

Within the A6 directorate, the plans, programs, and resources division, or A6X, is developing cyber units and modernizing information technology for AFRC.

AFRC has 13 dedicated cyber warfare units, and A6X is slated to add four more units in the coming years.

To build these cyber units, A6X reviews and determines the requirements each unit needs to be fully operational.

Once the funding requirements are established, A6X then determines how many of the elite cyber warriors are required in each unit.

It’s a process that has A6X examining the broader geo-political environment.

“We evaluate the military cyber capabilities and political intentions of our adversaries to include the threat and implications to U.S. national security. We also develop the strategy to meet the threat and help devise force levels to support our national strategy for cyber. So this has an effect from the unit level all the way to the national level,” said Maj. Maria Gronning, chief of cyber planning and resource development for A6X.

To build these units from the ground up, she relies on the symbiotic relationship between A6X and the entire AFRC team.

“Collectively, we facilitate a lot of information sharing with our cross-directorate team members,” said Gronning.

Building these cyber units is a total team effort.

The senior enlisted leader of A6 provides manpower expertise; functional managers in A6 operations division provide input for assignments, training, and readiness; and the cyber operations officer in the AFRC A3 directorate advises on current operational issues, said Gronning.

For the information technology know-how, the chief information officer support branch is the go-to office.

“We have the liaison function with the 38th Engineering and Installation Group at Tinker Air Force Base. They have resources called Cyber System Integrators who help our bases and help the Command here do some IT planning and network infrastructure planning. So our office functions as the intermediary between them and the bases in communicating the headquarters guidance to them,” said Lisa Woodson, chief of A6XC, CIO support branch.

The CIO branch is also responsible for staying up-to-date on the information technology needs of nearly 70,000 Citizen Airmen.

“We are in a unique position to see all those requirements coming through. We get to see how things are progressing and what the needs are and be able to find the money for those needs. We also ensure that IT solutions are compliant,” said Woodson.

While their jobs are serious, Woodson and Fred Massey, A6X division chief, say their jobs are enjoyable.

Woodson says she has fun serving as a mentor to PALACE Acquire interns assigned to the A6 directorate.

Massey says he finds fulfillment in helping customers from the beginning of the project to its implementation.

“Sometimes that can happen in the matter of weeks, months, or years, and there is a delayed sense of accomplishment. But in the end, it’s worth it because usually in those types of programs there is a huge leap in capability for customers in the field.”