The Fort Meade garrison hosted the Installation Management Command’s first Cyber Installation Support Summit last fall in First Army Division East’s Perishing Conference Room.

The goal of the day-long summit was to gather all stakeholders to achieve a common level of understanding of the cybermission, requirements, issues, impacts and resources required to support the short- and long-term growth on Installation Management Command installations.

About 50 Department of Defense (DoD) leaders and garrison representatives throughout IMCOM attended the summit.

“The Cyber Installation Support Summit was a great success,” said Garrison Commander Col. Brian Foley. Senior leaders from the Army staff, IMCOM and Joint Service CyberCommands spent an entire day discussing projected growth and associated installation resources needed at Fort Meade; Fort Gordon, Ga.; and Fort Belvoir, Va.

The generals who attended included Maj. Gen. LaWarren Patterson, deputy commanding general for operations/chief of staff for IMCOM, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; Maj. Gen. George Franz, II, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence Security Command; Maj. Gen. Gary Cheek, assistant deputy chief of staff, Headquarters Department of the Army G3; Maj. Gen. Al Aycock, director of operations for the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management; and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, commanding general, National Capital Region/Military District of Washington.

The event was moderated by Rick Morizen, division chief for IMCOM G5. Foley said the summit is important to Fort Meade because the Army’s leadership was not tracking cybergrowth on Fort Meade, but instead was focused on the growth of the Army CyberCommand at Fort Gordon.

“We have made great strides over the past six months at widening the aperture of discussion from the growth of Army Cyber at Fort Gordon to joint-service cybergrowth across the installations,” Foley said. “We’re moving in the right direction.”

During the morning session, representatives from the U.S. CyberCommand; the National Security Agency; the Air Force Cyber Command; the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Wing; the U.S. Fleet CyberCommand; the Marine Forces Cyber Command; the U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command; and the Intelligence Security Command gave briefings about their respective growth.

After lunch, Foley gave a presentation about the DoD’s plans to expand the presence of cyber operations at Fort Meade.

Fort Gordon Garrison Commander Col. Samuel Anderson and Fort Belvoir Garrison Commander Col. Michelle Mitchell also gave presentations about the expansion of cyber operations at their installations.

“I’m glad we are doing this,” Patterson said about the summit. “I know you [garrison] commanders feel out there by yourselves, an island amongst a bunch of islands. … I believe cyber is a top priority for the president and the DoD, and this is a good opportunity to share best practices and ways ahead.”

Garrison leaders discussed the challenges they face in building the necessary infrastructures to accommodate the expansion of cyber commands, while maintaining security at their installation gates and ensuring the best quality of life for DoD employees and their families.

“Growth and requirements are now much better understood, but the Army’s overall military construction and renovation budgets remain very limited,” Foley said. “Cyber installation requirements will continue to compete with other critical mission needs that remain, even as we downsize.

“This event was just the beginning,” he said. “Weekly staff meetings will continue in preparation for the next Army chief of staff cybergrowth update.”

This article was submitted by the Fort Meade Public Affairs Office.