DISA’s Robert Skinner Discusses Information Superiority at AFCEA Event

Ensuring that capabilities are constantly available to warfighters and whoever else needs them is crucial to the U.S. military achieving and sustaining information superiority over adversaries, according to Defense Information Systems Agency Director and Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner.

DISA said Wednesday that Skinner, a three-time Wash100 awardee, made the remarks at AFCEA WEST 2024, during a Feb. 14 panel titled, “Do We Have the Tools and Technologies We Need to Enable Information as a Warfighting Multiplier?”

Technologies like data transport modes, the cloud and various applications come together to provide decision-makers the information they need to choose a course of action before the adversary does, Skinner explained.

The DISA chief also highlighted the importance of partnerships, which facilitate the development and acquisition of services and capabilities that enable information superiority.

“I’ve talked about how partnership is key, and it’s partnership not just within the department or with the federal government; it’s with industry; it’s with academia,” Skinner said.

The Air Force official discussed the need for technology, personnel and processes to be harmonized and for legacy systems to be integrated seamlessly, noting, “We need to be able to have the same capabilities no matter what network we’re operating on, no matter what classification level.”