Obama names Gilday to head Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command

President Obama has nominated Navy Rear Admiral Michael Gilday as commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the Tenth Fleet at Ft. Meade, Md., Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.

President Obama nominated Navy Rear Adm. Michael Gilday as commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the 10th Fleet at Ft. Meade, Maryland, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this week.

The president also named Gilday for promotion to the rank of vice admiral, an appointment that must be approved by the Senate. The nomination has been referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee for review.

Gilday, a veteran surface-warfare officer, currently serves as director of operations for the U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade. The Fleet Cyber Command, the Naval component of the U.S. Cyber Command, is responsible for the military branch’s cyber warfare efforts.

The Fleet Cyber Command directs the Navy’s cyberspace operations and oversees its networks, intelligence and information operations, electronic warfare requirements and space programs in support of forces afloat and ashore. The command also runs Navy cryptologic operations worldwide and defends its portion of the Global Information Grid, the Defense Department’s all-encompassing communications system.

Gilday has served in a variety of assignments with the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at sea and on land over the course of his career. He commanded the destroyer USS Higgins during the early combat missions of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and later became sea combat commander for the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group.

His joint assignments include the White House, where he served as naval aide to the president. He also was executive assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A 1985 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Gilday earned master’s degrees at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and at the National War College in Washington, D.C.

Among other personnel reassignments relating to the Defense Department’s cyber operations at Fort Meade, the Army chief of staff announced this week the appointment of Maj. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commanding general of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, Georgia, as chief of staff to U.S. Cyber Command. The appointment does not require Senate approval.

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Technology

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Threats

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Policy

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