Update: This story has been updated with comment from Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Army organization responsible for modernizing the service’s tactical network will soon have a new leader, the army chief of staff announced Monday.
Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey, the J-6 of Central Command, will replace Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher as director of the Network Cross-Functional Team, a critical piece of the Army’s modernization efforts.
“BG Jeth Rey is the perfect choice to serve as the next director of the N-CFT,” Gallagher said in a statement to C4ISRNET. “His years of experience as a Soldier, NCO, Warrant Officer, and Officer with a multitude of conventional and Special Operations Signal and Cyber assignments make him uniquely qualified to lead this critical modernization effort for the Army.”
Rey will move up from Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to the home of the N-CFT at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Justine Ruggio, spokesperson for the N-CFT, said Rey didn’t yet have a start date and that it’s unclear what’s next for Gallagher.
Under Gallagher, the first director of the N-CFT, the Army started is capability set process, in which new sets of tactical network tools are developed and delivered to soldiers every two years. This year, the service is deploying Capability Set ’21, which focuses on addressing immediate gaps in the tactical network.
Gallagher, along with the N-CFT’s acquisition arm Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical, have already started planning Capability Set ‘23. That set, which is scheduled to undergo preliminary design review in April, is focused on increasing network resiliency and increasing broadband.
Rey will take over as the Army’s newly separated G-6 and CIO offices focus on connecting the service’s enterprise network with the tactical network to support multidomain operations. Gallagher is deeply involved with that effort and hosts biweekly meetings with stakeholders.
Prior to his position as CIO/J-6 of Central Command, Rey served as the director of operations/G-3 for Army Cyber Command. He also served as the executive officer to the Army CIO/G-6 and commander of the 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion.
Rey will work closely with PEO C3T director Brig. Gen. Rob Collins.
Andrew Eversden covers all things defense technology for C4ISRNET. He previously reported on federal IT and cybersecurity for Federal Times and Fifth Domain, and worked as a congressional reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. He was also a Washington intern for the Durango Herald. Andrew is a graduate of American University.
