Army IT management regionalized at Fort Riley
By Margaret Ziffer
Fort Riley Public Affairs

To keep up with major information technology advancements over the past decade, the U.S. Army’s IT management program has evolved to stay ahead of the changes.  The latest strategy-regionalization-is evolving at Fort Riley, Kansas, with the expansion of the Network Enterprise Center, or NEC.

The regionalization process started in late 2014 and divided Army
installations into eight sections across the United States.  It was then
when Fort Riley became home to the Midwest regional NEC.  Eventually, every Department of Defense installation with a NEC located within the Midwest region will fall under Fort Riley’s regional management.

It didn’t take long after the stand-up of the NECs that the Army started
thinking one step further-about “regionalization and what the command and control structure should look like,” said Robert Windham, Fort Riley’s NEC Midwest regional director.  “Our name changed, but it was more than a name change, it was a cultural change.  There was a complete change in mindset on the part of both employees and leaders.  I wouldn’t even say it was an evolution-it was more like a revolution.”

The goal of regionalization is to streamline IT processes and services, to
help save taxpayer dollars and minimize the effects of tight budgets and
personnel shortages.  The Midwest regional campus at Fort Riley will take over many of the functions currently being performed at individual
installations, increasing efficiency.

“Right now, every post, camp and station has their own campus area network,” Windham said.  “Every post, camp and station has network people.  At every post, camp and station you have somebody who is responsible to scan the network looking for vulnerabilities and another person who takes those results and applies patches.  At every post, camp and station, there is somebody who images computers.

“So instead of every post, camp and station trying to do everything, they
can concentrate on core things,” Windham added.  “We know we can’t always hit every computer, so (even with personnel cuts) there will still be some people (at individual locations).  But that’s how we go toward compensating for losing people-by leveraging technology and the network.”

But leveraging technology does not necessarily mean personnel cuts for
everyone.  Even though some positions at other installations are going away due to downsizing, Fort Riley’s NEC workforce is growing, specifically, with higher-level positions in the GS-11 to GS-13 pay grades.  These positions are critical to fill in order for Fort Riley’s NEC to fully assume its role as a regional headquarters.

“A typical organization has a pyramid structure-there’s a few high-graded jobs at the top and a lot of lower-graded jobs at the bottom.  What’s happening at Fort Riley is that the pyramid is getting a little more like this,” Windham explained, shaping his hands like a V.

Fort Riley’s new authorizations will be filled by identifying people at
other NECs who are impacted by reductions and interested in relocating to the Flint Hills.  Those employees will be have priority for hiring at Fort Riley and, afterward, remaining jobs will be advertised to the public.

“There have been a lot of jobs advertised and we have a number of people that are coming here from other installations.  That’s good for us and for the local communities because it brings in families that otherwise may have never been here in Kansas or in the Flint Hills Region,” Windham said.

He added that the process of regionalization is good news for Army civilians looking for a future in the IT field because it provides increased
opportunities for upward mobility.

“There are three kinds of people-people who have a job, people who have a job and recognize it’s a career, and people working for the Army who consider it a profession.  So for those last two, this is a great thing,” he said.

NECs are capable of providing a wide variety of services to their
installations, ranging from the obvious-computers, desktops, the network-to other systems people might not expect, such as programming and running radios for law enforcement, firefighters and military police, and a variety of security services, IT-related services and traditional security services.

Anyone interested in applying for a position at the Midwest regional NEC
should visit www.usajobs.com to see vacancies and submit a resume.