Navy redesignates Information Professionals as ‘Communications Systems Warfare Officers’

Sailors serving as Information Professionals have a new title, “effective immediately.”

The Information Professional community, made up of sailors in roles with the 182X designator, are now known as the Communications Systems Warfare Officer (CSWO) community, according to a new Naval Administrative Notice, or NAVADMIN. The NAVADMIN, released on Saturday, July 25, says that the move is a “direct warfighting imperative.” 

“The title ‘Information Professional’ no longer captures the strategic reality of a community charged with stewarding our digital environment and delivering the maritime information advantage from seabed to space,” the notice from Rear Adm. Mark D. Behning, Acting Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, says.

In a release last month, an officer in the profession described the community’s tasks as keeping the crews of a carrier strike group linked, restoring command and control networks when they go down or are disabled and managing those systems in combat. The name change, he said, “gives the fleet a name that explains what we do without an interpreter.” 

The notice formally codifies a change already underway in recent months, with Navy documents from this spring referring to the position by the new designation. July marks the 25th anniversary of that career field in the Navy.

The Navy established Information Professionals in July 2001, in response to changing telecommunications technology. The Navy’s career page describes the role of Communications Systems Warfare Officers as covering cybersecurity, figuring out how to overcome enemy jamming and serving as information technology and network specialists. The new notice does not mention any specific changes to the nature of the job, but Behning says that this career field “exists to execute a clear mission: connect the Fleet, accelerate decisions, and enable the kill.”

Naval Information Fores has been working in recent years to overhaul its specialized information warfare personnel, such as standing up a new kind of naval intelligence unit. The move reflects similar efforts across the armed forces to prioritize and modernize electronic warfare and information capabilities.

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