DISA to get new director, Cybercom defense arm new commander
Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton has been nominated to be the next director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network, the Pentagon announced Friday.
If confirmed, Stanton will pin on his third star with the new role.
He comes from the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence where he took command in June 2021 and has been charged with helping the Army with its data problems as well as focusing on the future of cyber and electronic warfare.
A Ph.D., Stanton has an extensive military cyber background with several roles at Cyber Command and within the Army cyber enterprise, mostly in the defensive sphere.
If confirmed, he will take on the so-called dual-hatted role of leading DISA — a combat support agency responsible for operating and maintaining the DOD network along with providing the warfighter with critical IT-related capabilities — and JFHQ-DODIN, a subordinate headquarters under Cybercom responsible for protecting and defending the Pentagon’s network globally.
DISA released its strategic plan in May aiming to get back to its combat support agency roots. JFHQ-DODIN has been facing calls from Congress to be elevated to a sub-unified command under Cybercom as a means of increasing its ability to respond and defend the network from increasing attacks.
Stanton would take over for Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, who has been in the role since February 2021. Skinner was JFHQ-DODIN’s first deputy commander when it was first established.
