Stanton takes over at DISA, JFHQ-DODIN

Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton took the helm of the Defense Information Systems Agency and Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Networks in a ceremony Friday.

Stanton, an Army officer, takes charge from Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, who headed both organizations the past three-and-a-half years and will retire after a 40-year career that started as an enlisted sailor in the Navy.

DISA is 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 is a subordinate headquarters under U.S. Cyber Command responsible for protecting and defending the Pentagon’s network globally.

“I leave this agency and command with a deep sense of humility, optimism, confidence and, most importantly, honor,” Skinner said, according to DISA. “I have truly been privileged to lead and be among our nation’s finest, working the most difficult problems, making the impossible possible. It is my hope today as I relinquish leadership of these two organizations, that I too have given more than I have received.”

Skinner helped stand up JFHQ-DODIN as its first deputy commander roughly 10 years ago, and oversaw many transformative efforts within DISA. In May, he crafted a strategic plan that aimed to get DISA back to its combat support agency roots.

Stanton, who most recently was the commander of the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence and a veteran of Cybercom, lauded Skinner’s leadership over the years.

“Lt. Gen. Skinner has been a mentor of mine for years, providing valuable counsel and sage advice,” he said. “I’m honored for the opportunity to join the amazing team in stride as we remain trusted to connect, protect and serve.”

The ceremony was also attended by several top DOD cyber and IT leaders.

“This team, all of you, are engaged with our adversaries and our competitors on a daily basis, 24/7, and the very definition of success is nothing short of mission assurance for the joint force and for serving our nation’s decisive advantages,” said Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of Cybercom and director of the National Security Agency. “The mission has been accomplished by all of you over the past three years, enabled by Bob Skinner’s leadership. It is a fantastic way to wrap up a career of dedication serving our nation. JFHQ-DODIN and DISA will be in terrific and very capable hands with Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton at the helm and all of you working missions. Paul was built for this job.”

Acting DOD CIO Leslie Beavers noted that Skinner was the right leader for the right time to guide the department through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Commercial Virtual Remote platform efforts necessary to keep personnel connected, adding it will take a “warrior-scholar to take the handoff from Bob and move those and many other initiatives down range, and we found one” in Stanton, who is “the perfect person to take on this challenge.”

For Stanton, who earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, taking on that challenge comes during “an unprecedented period of significant change in an unsettled world that has an insatiable appetite for data,” he said.

“At the core of our responsibilities, we must securely and reliably get the right data to the right place at the right time to make a better and faster decision than our enemies, period,” Stanton said. “This is our business. This is warfighting as it has been, it is today and will be in the future. This agency and command are critical to our nation’s warfighting success. Failure is not an option, and excellence is our standard.”