AFSPC commander visits cyber wings

by 2nd Lt. Meredith Hein
24th Air Force Public Affairs

12/13/2013 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The Commander of Air Force Space Command, General William L. Shelton, visited the 67th and 688th Cyberspace Wings during a visit to Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland Dec. 4-6.

The General toured the facilities and met with personnel from both wings.

General Shelton's first stop was the 67th CW and its units, whose mission is to operate, manage and defend Air Force networks. In addition, the wing trains and readies Airmen to execute computer network exploitation and attack.

"Our Airmen enjoyed showcasing our mission and initiatives, and there's no better venue than the operations floor for General Shelton to personally engage with our Cyber Airmen, witness innovation in action and admire our talented force," said Col. William Poirier, 67th CW commander.

In addition to updates on the Cyber Mission Force and mission evaluation, the AFSPC commander was briefed on the status of personally identifiable information breaches and the efforts to reduce those breaches.

"It was an amazing opportunity to be able to tell our message directly to General Shelton," said Senior Airman Matthew Welch, 68th Network Warfare Squadron cyberspace operations controller. "He was extremely enthusiastic and to see such a high ranking leader caring about what we do was an uplifting experience."

The wing commander agreed.

"Our Airmen gained unique senior leader perspective firsthand while they shared stories with the general that will help inform the discourse among senior Air Force leadership on this exciting mission area," said Poirier.

General Shelton then visited the 688th CW, which delivers proven information operations and engineering infrastructure capabilities integrated across air, space and cyberspace domains.

"General Shelton's visit was a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate how the 688th Cyberspace Wing is delivering asymmetric advantage across the air, space and cyberspace domains," said Col. Michael Harasimowicz, 688th CW commander.

The 688th CW represents the largest single growth area in the Air Force, noted Harasimowicz. He cited the Cyber Protection Teams and National and Combat Support teams, who make up the majority of Air Force investment in the Cyber Mission Force construct.

"We were able to reinforce that we are his 'go-to' leaders in the still largely uncharted domain of cyberspace," said Harasimowicz.